Salonline is a new webseries telling the stories of our stories in a whole new way.
Watch the subversive fairy tale writer of the French Salons meet to discuss their scandalous lives and share their latest stories.
Created between August 2021 and September 2022, this original webseries communicates the stories of the origins of the fairy tale genre in the French Fairy Tale Salons of the late 17th century through the fictionalised dramatic lives of the most significant Salonnières: D’Aulnoy, Murat, and De La Force, and their performances of fairy tales they wrote.
Catch up with both well-known and little-known fairy tales and behind-the-scenes gossip on the Salonline AFTS You Tube channel.
Meet our Salonnières –
Alyssa Curtayne – storyteller, Ring Leader of the Perth Fairy Tale Ring, and academic, currently researching Charlotte Rose Caumont De La Force for her Master of Arts in Creative Writing at Deakin University. Alyssa re-enacts De La Force’s romantic life and performs some of her stories – Green and Blue, Fairer Than a Fairy, The Good Woman, and most famously, Persinette, the story which became known as Rapunzel.
Jo Henwood – storyteller, tour guide, and President, Ring Maiden and co-founder of the Australian Fairy Tale Society, is a museum theatre creative, and workshop leader on literature, history, creative writing, folklore, and storytelling. As Henriette-Julie de Murat, most scandalous of the scandalous Salonnières, she performs The Savage, The Pig King, The Isle of Magnificence, and The Turbot, re-telling these stories, just as Murat retold stories she found in Straparola.
Eliane Morel – writer, actor, producer, and singer of cabaret and opera, continues to perform her award-winning show ‘Disenchanted: A Cabaret of Twisted Fairy Tales’ which plays with the character of Marie Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, the Baroness d’Aulnoy, the leader of the fairy tale writers. Eliane performs some D’Aulnoy stories – The Ram, The White Cat (which you might know from the ballet of Sleeping Beauty), and Belle-Belle, which the AFTS explored in September 2020.
The Salonline webseries, edited by our website Guardian, Kathy Smart, is already available on YouTube for free viewing.
And very soon, an eBook full of biographies, timelines, essays, and the retellings of these forgotten fairy tales, illustrated with art by Debra Phillips and with graphic design by Devahuti Chahlia, will be for sale from this website.
Kathy SmartDr Debra PhillipsDevahuti Chaliha
We hope you enjoy this magnificent fairy tale offering from the Australian Fairy Tale Society.
Alyssa Curtayne, Eliane Morel, and Jo Henwood, stars of the Salonline series.
Our next members’ exclusive eZine, ‘Magical Transformations’, will be published in March 2023.
Each issue contains works as varied as short stories, essays, poetry, interviews, Fairy Tale Ring reports and visual art. Your fairy tale related news, events, and releases (e.g. albums, books) are as welcome as original lyrics, music and audio performances – in fact any medium we can reflect in print!
Be sure to follow the members’ only submission guidelines and e-mail to austfairytaleszine@gmail.com by November 29.
In anticipation and warmest regards: Melanie, Patsy and Spike; the AFTS eZine Editorial Troupe.
2022 AFTS Award nominees: Sophie Masson, Spike Deane, Jo Henwood
Sophie Masson, Spike Deane and Jo Henwood are our shortlisted nominees for the 2022 AFTS Award for Inspiration and Contribution to Australian Fairy Tale Culture.
And while you’re here! A word about Brisbane accommodation and transport.
(PS. Monday Oct 3 is a public holiday for Queen’s Birthday)
If coming from interstate, accommodation ($ to $$$) is available in/around the CBD, Woolloongabba, South Brisbane, South Bank precinct areas. (Perhaps consider a room share if coming with friend/s.)
We recommend somewhere close(-ish) to the Ship Inn (opp. Qld Maritime Museum) so that you can walk, train or bus to the conference.
Options are easily searched with the aid of Google maps and booking engines like Wotif.com, Booking.com, and car clubs like RACQ, NRMA.
Those flying into Brisbane can travel direct by Airtrain to South Bank and South Brisbane stations.
Please note: Paper tickets and ‘Go Cards’ can be used on public transport. Translink will also trial a ‘smart ticketing’ system (i.e. using a credit card, or smart phone.) For updates, visit Translink online.
Keen to come? We’d love to see you!
Registrations close (absolutely) on September 18, due to catering requirements.
The Victorian Fairy Tale Ring has forthcoming events, to which you are all invited.
1. 28 May 2022 2pm: Ourfreefairytale event at the quaint & historic Athenaeum Library, 188 Collins St, Melbourne.
Add some much-needed magic to your life!
Why are fairy tales still so fascinating? What is a fairy tale? Are there Australian fairy tales? Come to the Athenaeum Library at 2pm on Saturday 28 May 2022 to hear Carmel Bird and the other writers and illustrators of South of the Sun – Australian Fairy Tales for the 21st Century discuss this and other questions.
South of the Sun is an enchanting, illustrated book of fairy tales, but not the kind you read to children at bedtime. They are strictly for the grown-ups. There are dark stories where things don’t end happily ever after, tales to make you laugh out loud, stories of sweet revenge and scenes of sheer delight in the world of magic and the fey.
There will be magical music, readings, book sales and free refreshments, too!
2. 23-30June 2022 Bendigo Library: Winter Solstice Celebration: Love of the Fey.
A week-long exhibition of Lorena Carrington’s illustrations bumps in on Thurs June 23rd and will culminate in two sessions of Louisa John-Krol’s storytelling and music on June 30th.
June 30th includes guests for South of the Sun readings, informal author chat, face-painting, costume prizes, signings & sales.
The 2pm session will probably be for ages 8 – 12, by library’s request, and
The 5.30pm session is for grown-ups with dress-up theme, which is likely to have gothic, psychedelic, steampunk, pre-Raphaelite, cross-dressing and other flamboyant elements. All genders welcome.
October 1-2, 2022 at Brisbane’s South Bank precinct
The Australian Fairy Tale Society investigates and creates fairy tales from an Australian perspective. Local Fairy Tale Rings gather in person and via Zoom to explore specific fairy tales. We have mined rich themes at previous conferences, and celebrate members’ talents through our eZine and a new anthology, ‘South of the Sun: Australian Fairy Tales for the 21st Century’.
Invitation
As always our focus is on the Australian interpretation of fairy tales, particularly contemporary multicultural, diverse Australia. As AFTS Conference-goers delight in diversity, we are looking for –
Talks of no more than 25 minutes, including Q&A
Case studies of projects, with a fairy tale basis
Performances of no more than 10 minutes, with an option for 5 minutes’ Q&A
Panel discussions of no more than 25 minutes, including Q&A
Stalls to sell your merchandise.
Feel free to contact us with a new idea. We want to celebrate your creativity not stifle it!
Proposals
By midnight May 6, 2022, please submit your proposal using the online form. This will include –
Name/s
Email address and phone
Bio (max 150 words)
Type of presentation (as above)
Title / Topic, plus a 100-200 word description
Your experience in delivering this material or something similar
Resources … a) that you will provide, b) that the AFTS needs to supply.
What happens next
If your presentation is accepted for the conference, we will ask you to provide –
A colour photograph in high resolution, preferably a close-up of your face, for the program
A two-paragraph introduction which can be used by the MC
Permission to video-record your presentation for later access by AFTS members. (This will be subject to grant funding.)
Permission to use the material you have given us, including your photograph, in any conference promotions. If this includes media interviews, we will discuss this with you first.
Permission to use elements from your presentation (e.g. photos, summaries, links to your publications) in future AFTS publications, such as the eZine. We will discuss these needs as they arise.
We intend to respond to your submissions by the end of June, in order to announce the program in July 2022.
Benefits
The joy of sharing your fairy tale passion with like-minded enthusiasts.
A discount to the conference, and a gift of an annual membership. You will need to complete forms for both of these.
Want updates?
Sign up to receive the latest 2022 Conference news. (This feature is coming soon.)
AFTS Anthology South of the Sun was featured in a radio interview for RTR-FM in Perth, when contributor Melissa Min Harvey chatted with Myke Bartlett on Artbeat on 8 October 2021.