Our 3rd Annual Conference is THIS Weekend!

Instagram banner of FINAL APPROVED Australian Fairy Tale Society 2016 Conf Program

‘Into the Woods’ is a phrase that has become closely linked to the fairytale genre. It conjures up all manner of fairytale images, such as roguish wolves waiting behind trees and lost children stumbling upon gingerbread houses. But how does it translate into the Australian fairytale tradition? The third annual conference will explore what happens when we venture … ‘Into the Bush’, and will include academic papers, readings, music and storytelling performances.

(from the City of Glen Eira website)

This year, we are having our conference in the lovely state of Victoria, at the Glen Eira Town Hall in Caulfield. You can check the great presentations we have lined up HERE.

It’s also a great opportunity to have a full day of rubbing elbows with fairy tale enthusiasts and experts of all kinds, over cups of tea and delicious offerings during the breaks too.

In addition, we’ll be live tweeting, and posting on Facebook and Instagram using #aftsconf2016. Feel free to join the conversation by using the hashtag, whether you’re at the conference or following along from afar.

Hope to see you there! (Psst! Make sure to register before Sunday!)

Our 2016 Conference Program Is Here!

HappyNewYearFromPrague

Good morning fairy tale enthusiasts,

We are delighted to release the program for our third annual conference!

There’s such a wonderful mix of presentations this year – it’s sure to be a great day. So without further ado, feel free to go to our Upcoming AFTS Events page and take a look at the great presentations we’ve got lined up.

Also, remember that registrations are open online: visit our Conference Registration page here.

Getting so excited for the conference now!!

Warmest fairy wishes,
Dr Belinda Calderone
President
Australian Fairy Tale Society

A Special Fairy Tale Edition of TEXT: CFP

IMG_2503
Good morning fairy tale enthusiasts!

I’m so excited to announce that three members of the Australian Fairy Tale Society committee – Dr Nike Sulway, Dr Rebecca-Anne Do Rozario, and myself – are collaborating to produce a special edition of the scholarly journal TEXT. This edition is all about Australasian fairy tales and will compliment our 2016 conference coming up on June 26.

We are now calling for submissions! All details below:

______________________________________________

Into the Bush: Australasian Fairy Tales
A Special Issue of TEXT
http://www.textjournal.com.au/
Editors: Dr Nike Sulway, Dr Rebecca Anne Do Rozario,
Dr Belinda Calderone

The fairy tale has a long tradition in both oral and literary forms. Indeed, recently Sara da Silva and Jamshid Tehrani have argued, using a phylogenetic analysis of tales in the Aarne Thompson Uther (ATU) index, that some of the tales still told today ‘can be securely traced back to … between 2500 and 6000 years ago’ (8). Such an ancient tradition has left its mark across a range of literary traditions, including those of Australasia. While old and gnarled, the fairy tale is also alive and well, informing contemporary literary practice across a range of forms and genres, in works written for both children and adults.

This Special issue of TEXT, developed in association with the Australian Fairy Tale Society, responds to the challenge of honouring the long-lived traditions of the fairy tale in the Australasian context, of exploring and expanding our understanding of fairy tales and their tellers in a postcolonial context.

This issue seeks to reflect on Australasia’s unique creative and scholarly contributions to this long-lived genre, and seeks submissions that address the growing interest in fairy tale narratives across a range of platforms, particularly those stories set in and around Australasia.

Submissions may address, but are not limited to, the following:
• Writing about fairy tales and their tellers
• Fairy tales in the Australasian landscape/context
• Fairy tales in the colonial and postcolonial context
• Appropriations and adaptations
• Gender, sexuality and the fairy tale
• Teaching and learning about fairy tales
• Tale types and tropes: critical discussions of the ATU and Propp models, of Dundes’s motifemes or similar schemas
• Other relevant topics and issues

Scholarly papers should be no more than 6000 words in length. Creative works will usually be up to 3,500 words in length, or as agreed by editors.

Creative work must be accompanied by an ERA research statement that clearly explains the submission’s relevance as a research outcome. Peruse any of TEXT journal’s Creative Writing as Research special issues to familiarise yourself with research statements.

Please also contact us with ideas for book reviews.

Please include a brief biography (200 words max, in TEXT style) and ensure that you include your email address for reply. Submissions MUST be in TEXT style and formatting. Please see http://www.textjournal.com.au/speciss/info.htm for submission guidelines.

Deadline for initial submission: July 29, 2016
Final revised submissions will be due: September 15, 2016
Publication date: April, 2017
Email: nike.sulway@usq.edu.au, rebecca.dorozario@monash.edu, or belinda.calderone85@outlook.com
_______________________________________

Enchanted regards,
Dr Belinda Calderone
President – Australian Fairy Tale Society

 

CFP Closed, Registrations Open!

 

Bush

The CFP has officially closed for our third annual conference, Into the Bush: Its Beauty and Its Terror. We have received some fantastic submissions and are currently deciding on the successful applicants. We look forward to releasing our conference program soon!

In the meantime, registrations are now open!

REGISTER HERE

Magical regards,
Belinda Calderone
The Australian Fairy Tale Society

Our 2015 Conference Videos

Good morning fairy tale lovers!

The videos from our 2015 conference are finally online – woo!

A HUGE thank you to AFTS member Thang Luong, who worked tirelessly to bring these videos to you, almost killing his computer in the process!

To refresh your memory, here is a PDF version of our 2015 conference program: 2015 AFTS Conference Program

View the videos on youtube here. (Note: some will play as a full video, and some will only show an image with audio over it, for copyright reasons.)

Wondrous wishes,
Dr Belinda Calderone
AFTS President

Reminder: CFP Closing this Week

Clock1

Good afternoon fairy tale lovers!

We know that January is a hectic month for a lot of people, but just a quick post to remind everyone that our CFP will be closing this Friday, 29 Jan, at 5pm.

*******************************************

The details again:

Conference title: Into the Bush: Its Beauty and Its Terror

When: Sunday, 26 June 2016

Where: Glen Eira Town Hall, Caulfield, VIC, 3162.

Call for presentations: See the call for presentations below, or print off a PDF version here: AFTS 2016 Conference – CFP

*******************************************

Australian Fairy Tale Society – 2016 Conference

Call for Presentations – Into the Bush: Its Beauty and Its Terror

‘Into the Woods,’ is a phrase that has become closely linked to the fairy tale genre. It conjures up all manner of fairy tale images, such as roguish wolves waiting behind trees and lost children stumbling upon gingerbread houses.

But how does it translate into the Australian fairy tale tradition? For our third annual conference, we will be exploring what happens when we venture… ‘Into the Bush.’ Australian fairy tales reflect many of the realities of the bush, while also reimagining it as a space of magic and mystery. Whether it is depicted as real or otherworldly, the bush always encompasses duality – it is a place of both beauty and terror.

We are now accepting proposals for storytelling performances, musical performances, academic papers, and creative readings. We would also love to hear from artists wishing to display and/or sell their works at the conference.

Presentation topics may include (but are not limited to):

  • Into the unknown
  • Getting lost, getting found
  • Native flora and fauna
  • Environmental concerns
  • Drought and fire
  • Elements of nature: earth, wind, fire, water
  • Urban and rural
  • The bush as sexual metaphor
  • Fear and danger in the bush
  • Secrets and hidden treasures
  • Havens, homes and holes in the ground
  • A place to breathe in: spiritual nourishment
  • National identity and our relationship to the bush
  • Tales of colonisation
  • Culture clash, culture meld
  • A fork in the road
  • The bush as a liminal space
  • Making your own path
  • Following tracks
  • Blazing trails and dropping breadcrumbs
  • Survival kits (including a storyteller’s swag bag)
  • Stories like wildfire
  • The wildness of stories (and their seeding)
  • Changing nature and ‘the changing nature’ of the Australian bush and the stories we tell there
  • When European fairies and tales re-root themselves in the bush
  • The changing landscape of fairy tales and tellings in Australia

Academic papers will be up to 20 minutes in duration and performances and readings will be up to 15 minutes in duration. All presentations will be offered the option of 10 additional minutes of question time.

Please email your proposal of no more than 200 words to austfairytales@gmail.com by 5pm Friday January 29, 2016.

Fairy wishes,
The AFTS Committee

 

Rough Magick

 
Rough Magick
 

We are delighted to announce that our very own Tegan Elizabeth Webb has published a short story entitled “Selkie” in Rough Magick, a collection of haunting stories and poems about the darker side of love and sex. Congratulations, Tegan!! This sounds like an amazing collection. As the blurb explains:

Some of the stories are magical; some are more realistic and the “magic” comes through in language and lyricism. Some protagonists are teens and some are adults. There is romanticism and eroticism and even horror. What unites the stories is that the writers have boldly faced love’s shadows in unique and gripping ways.

 

Tegan Webb

Tegan Elizabeth Webb

Tegan is a student and writer based in Melbourne. Her work has appeared in various publications, including Moss Piglet Journal, Grotty, and A Sharp Knife. She writes mostly about strange creatures who have a lot of feelings.

 

I had the chance to ask Tegan about how she came to write “Selkie” for the anthology , and she responded:
Rough Magick is a collection of stories about the darker side of love and sex, and so I thought the theme of possession that runs through selkie mythology would be an interesting angle from which I could explore some of the darker elements of romantic relationships, and in particular the power dynamics in said relationships.”

 

She also elaborated on the symbolism of taking the selkie cloak in this thought-provoking comment:
“For me, the taking of the cloak is a perfectly explicit metaphor for the kinds of power that men have been known to take from women in unhealthily possessive and emotionally abusive relationships. What I wanted to do with “Selkie” was to take this mythology and bring it forward into a contemporary setting, in order to highlight that this narrative is still being played out in the countless tales we hear of women being abused, both physically and emotionally, by men they know, trust and love.”

 

What an incredible idea. Tegan’s comment also demonstrates how older mythologies can still have relevance for the lives we are living today. There is always something we can absorb, always something to reflect upon.

 

If you’d like to read Tegan’s story, and others in the collection, you can get a copy here.

 

Magical regards,
Dr Belinda Calderone
AFTS President

 

A Magical Writing Retreat

 

Cotswolds

 

Fancy a writing retreat in England next year? (Okay, that question is really redundant – who wouldn’t?!)

Kate Forsyth, award-winning author and valued AFTS member, will be running a writing retreat and literary tour in England from June 19-June 26 2016.

Kate will guide you as you write, read, listen, learn and discover all aspects of creative writing, covering everything from the initial discovery of your story all the way to finding a publisher.

Woven into this writing retreat are trips to places that will inspire you to put pen to paper. Some of the locations on the literary tour include Oxford, the Cotswolds, Stonehenge, Warwick Castle, and Stratford-upon-Avon (the birthplace of William Shakespeare).

As Kate has written:

If you’re writing fiction and want to explore history and mythology, or if you wish to instil a little magic and wonder in your writing, then you’ll love this unique experience.

For the full details, click here.

Magical regards,
Dr Belinda Calderone
AFTS President

Our 2016 Conference – Call for Presentations!

After months of discussion and preparation, the AFTS committee is delighted to announce the theme of our 2016 conference…

Into the Bush: Its Beauty and Its Terror

Bush

Here are the details:

When: Sunday, 26 June 2016

Where: We have chosen to hold our conference in Victoria this year! For our venue, we have chosen the Glen Eira Town Hall, Caulfield, VIC, 3162.

Our call for papers is now officially open, and will close at 5pm on Friday, 29 January 2016. See the call for papers below, or print off a PDF version here: AFTS 2016 Conference – CFP

*******************************************

Australian Fairy Tale Society – 2016 Conference

Call for Presentations – Into the Bush: Its Beauty and Its Terror

‘Into the Woods,’ is a phrase that has become closely linked to the fairy tale genre. It conjures up all manner of fairy tale images, such as roguish wolves waiting behind trees and lost children stumbling upon gingerbread houses.

But how does it translate into the Australian fairy tale tradition? For our third annual conference, we will be exploring what happens when we venture… ‘Into the Bush.’ Australian fairy tales reflect many of the realities of the bush, while also reimagining it as a space of magic and mystery. Whether it is depicted as real or otherworldly, the bush always encompasses duality – it is a place of both beauty and terror.

We are now accepting proposals for storytelling performances, musical performances, academic papers, and creative readings. We would also love to hear from artists wishing to display and/or sell their works at the conference.

Presentation topics may include (but are not limited to):

  • Into the unknown
  • Getting lost, getting found
  • Native flora and fauna
  • Environmental concerns
  • Drought and fire
  • Elements of nature: earth, wind, fire, water
  • Urban and rural
  • The bush as sexual metaphor
  • Fear and danger in the bush
  • Secrets and hidden treasures
  • Havens, homes and holes in the ground
  • A place to breathe in: spiritual nourishment
  • National identity and our relationship to the bush
  • Tales of colonisation
  • Culture clash, culture meld
  • A fork in the road
  • The bush as a liminal space
  • Making your own path
  • Following tracks
  • Blazing trails and dropping breadcrumbs
  • Survival kits (including a storyteller’s swag bag)
  • Stories like wildfire
  • The wildness of stories (and their seeding)
  • Changing nature and ‘the changing nature’ of the Australian bush and the stories we tell there
  • When European fairies and tales re-root themselves in the bush
  • The changing landscape of fairy tales and tellings in Australia

Academic papers will be up to 20 minutes in duration and performances and readings will be up to 15 minutes in duration. All presentations will be offered the option of 10 additional minutes of question time.

Please email your proposal of no more than 200 words to austfairytales@gmail.com by 5pm Friday January 29, 2016.

We look forward to receiving your proposals!

Fairy wishes,
The AFTS Committee