Good afternoon fairy tale lovers!

While we are still confirming the conference program, we have an exciting announcement to make. We are delighted to reveal that Sophie Masson‘s book launch for Hunter’s Moon will be held as part of the AFTS conference! Thank you so much to Sophie and to Random House for teaming up with us and enriching our 2015 conference.

Sophie is the prolific and award-winning author of more than fifty novels for young adults and children, many of which have been published internationally. Her most recent novels with Random House Australia are the young adult fairytale novels Moonlight And Ashes (2012), Scarlet in the Snow (2013) and The Crystal Heart (2014). She has also written under the pen-names Isabelle Merlin and Jenna Austen.

Here’s a bit about Hunter’s Moon:

“Bianca Dalmatin wants for nothing. As the heir to a department store empire and stepdaughter of the beautiful Lady Belladonna, the only thing Bianca longs for is a friend. It seems that her wish is granted at the duke’s Presentation Ball when she meets the handsome, mysterious Lucian Montresor.

 

 

Good morning fairy tale enthusiasts,

It’s Fairy Tale Ring time again!

Our Fairy Tale Rings have been buzzing away with inspiring discussions around the country. Our local branch discussion groups have brought fairy tale lovers together for some wonderful exchanges of ideas.

Our chosen fairy tale for April is “Cinderella.” Even if you can’t manage to get to a Fairy Tale Ring, you are always welcome to send in stories or artwork inspired by the tale.

The wonderful Jo Henwood has compiled a reading list for the tale to get you thinking. View the reading list here: Cinderella Reading List

Not to mention our chosen tale coincides with the release of Disney’s new motion picture version of “Cinderella.” Looking forward to seeing that one!

If you’re not part of a local Fairy Tale Ring, but would like to be, Contact us for more information.

Belinda Calderone
The Australian Fairy Tale Society

 

 

Looking for an amazing artistic experience this weekend?

One of our valued members, Debra Phillips, is presenting an exhibition entitled Forget-Me-Not at the North Sydney Community Centre this Saturday, 14^th March 2015.

This exhibition is based on eight separate trips into the Baltic States, and is a non-Latvian’s observations and interpretation of Latvian life since 2009.

The exhibition includes paintings, water-colours, photographs, collage and a display of travel journals (sketches, water colours, ephemera, notes) completed during the travels.

Plus, The Artist Talk at 10:00 am is a 20-minute performance-presentation to highlight works of art in this exhibition.

For full details, see the flier here: Forget Me Not Exhibition

Have an enchanted weekend,

Belinda Calderone
The Australian Fairy Tale Society

 

 

 

The CFP has officially closed for our second annual conference, Transformations: Spinning Straw into Green and Gold. 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 open now!

REGISTER HERE

Conference details:

When:  Just to make things even more enchanted, the conference will be held on a magical day – the Winter Solstice on Sunday 21st June, 2015.

Where:  For our venue, we have chosen the Judith Wright Room at the NSW Writers’ Centre – Garry Owen House, Callan Park, Balmain Road, Rozelle (enter from the Balmain Road gate opposite Cecily Street and follow the green signs to the Writers’ Centre).

Magical regards,

Belinda Calderone
The Australian Fairy Tale Society

 

 

 

 

The Grimms’ “Das Mädchen ohne Hände” (The Maiden Without Hands) is certainly one of the most disturbing and fascinating fairy tales.There are over a hundred variants, often known as “The Handless Maiden,” “Silver Hands” or “The Armless Maiden.”

A whole weekend workshop focussing on this tale? Yes, please!

This beautiful workshop is run by Heather Keens, an experienced individual and family therapist, and Joan Harcourt, an experienced body psychotherapist and group leader. Together they will help attendees explore this rich fairy tale from a Jungian psychological perspective.

As Keens and Harcourt remind us, “The Handless Maiden is a story about individuation, about developing one’s inner strength, resilience and creativity. It is a story about losing your hands, living with silver hands and finding your hands.”

The part I love the most is that these inspiring women take this tale of loss and healing, and make it personal to the attendees: “there will be an opportunity to explore your own journey to the conscious feminine and the inner positive masculine in a safe and contained setting. We work through discussion, metaphor and symbol, movement, dream work and art in this process.”

Sounds incredible!

This workshop will be of interest to health professionals, counsellors, expressive therapists, storytellers, writers or anyone engaged in their own psychological journey.

To download and print a PDF with all the details, click here: Handless Maiden flier

 

Belinda Calderone
The Australian Fairy Tale Society

 

Good morning fairy tale enthusiasts,

It’s Fairy Tale Ring time again!

Well, our Fairy Tale Rings have been buzzing away with inspiring discussions around the country. Our local branch discussion groups have brought fairy tale lovers together for some wonderful exchanges of ideas.

Our chosen fairy tale for February is “The Little Mermaid.” Even if you can’t manage to get to a Fairy Tale Ring, you are always welcome to send in stories or artwork inspired by the tale.

We’ve compiled a reading list to get the mental juices flowing! View it here: Little Mermaid Bibliography

For details of individual Fairy Tale Rings in your state, see our Events page.

No Fairy Tale Ring in your state? Why not start your own? Contact us for more information.

I hope you are all having a magical 2015 so far … and be on the lookout for mermaids…

Belinda Calderone
The Australian Fairy Tale Society

Hello fairytalers!

Well, I don’t know about you, but those videos from last year’s conference got me excited for our next one in June this year.

I’d like to announce that our Call for Papers has actually been extended until Friday 27th February. We already have some wonderful submissions – exciting! We’ll announce the 2015 program in March.

For all the details, see our updated call for papers below:

Updated Call for Papers 2015

Keep spinning those submissions!

 

Magical regards,

Belinda Calderone
The Australian Fairy Tale Society

 

 

Happy New Year Fairy tale lovers!

We are delighted to begin the year by finally releasing the videos from our inaugural conference last year!

One of our valued committee members, Thang Luong, has worked tirelessly to get these videos ready for you all. Thank you, Thang!!

As the conference was in June last year, feel free to refresh your memory by reading a re-cap of the day and those who presented at the Monash Fairy Tale Salon blog here.

And without further ado, here they are:

View the presentations here.

Enjoy!

 

Magical regards,
Belinda Calderone
The Australian Fairy Tale Society

We are delighted to announce the theme of our 2015 conference…

 

Transformations: Spinning Straw into Green and Gold

 

After the success of our inaugural conference in June, we are so excited to bring you another day of fairy tale discussions.

Here are the details:

When:  Just to make things even more enchanted, the conference will be held on a magical day – the Winter Solstice on Sunday 21st June, 2015.

Where:  For our venue, we have chosen the Judith Wright Room at the NSW Writers’ Centre – Garry Owen House, Callan Park, Balmain Road, Rozelle (enter from the Balmain Road gate opposite Cecily Street and follow the green signs to the Writers’ Centre).

Our call for papers in now officially open, and will close on January 30th. See the call for papers below, or print off a PDF version here: Call for Papers 2015

 

Call for Papers

Conference theme: ‘Transformations: spinning straw into green and gold’

Transformation is a key element within the enchanted realm of fairy tale, both within the stories themselves and the history of the genre. The possibilities of change are explored in tales where frogs become princes, boys become swans, and many a poor girl is revealed as a true princess following a trial of courage and endurance. Over time and across cultures universal ideas have wrapped themselves in an array of motifs, shifting to suit their audience, setting, and times while retaining the same underlying truth. How have Red, Cindy and Snow adapted to the Australian climate? Are there fairy tales born of our cultural landscape? What changes and what remains the same in a transformation?

Proposals are invited for presentations on the following fairy tale topics:

* cross cultural transformations

* cross generational transformations

* cultural appropriation

* European tales from an Australian perspective

* oral to written and back again

* folkloric to academic

* magical transformations – human / non-human

* therapeutic – personal transformation through story

* adaption across forms – storytelling, music, dance, film, visual arts, etc

* personal to public and back again

* maturation / coming of age

* changing status

* objects of transformation

* myth to fairy tale

* adapting for audience (age, gender, class, sexual orientation, dis/ability), place, and time

* curses to blessings

Performers are invited to present short works or a taster to showcase longer works.

Artists are invited to exhibit and discuss their work.

Along with academic papers, performance, and exhibitions, we are also seeking panelists.

Presentations will run between 15-30 minutes.

The conference will be recorded, with the permission of presenters, and uploaded to the AFTS website.

Please send 100-200 word abstract submissions to: austfairytales@gmail.com

Submissions close 5pm Friday 30th January, and presenters will be announced in March 2015.

Conference tickets will be discounted to $50 for successful applicants.

 

So, fairy tale lovers. Start spinning those abstracts and stories, and we hope to hear from you soon!

Let the enchantment begin!
The Australian Fairy Tale Society Committee