Fancy a folkloric read? Check out #FolkloreThursday’s books!
Fancy a folkloric read? Check out FolkloreThursday’s books!
Margaret Helen James: a forgotten feminist folklorist in Victorian East Anglia
British regional folklorists of the 19th century remain, in many cases, rather obscure figures. Margaret Helen James (1859–1938) deserves particular attention for using her writing about folklore to give a voice to ordinary women and critique a patriarchal society, but until 2017 James was completely forgotten.
Finnish Folklore: Louhi, Witch of the North
Do you know the stories of The Kalevala? If you do you are in select company like J.R.R. Tolkien who loved the stories and drew on them for his own writing.
Bold Sisters in Fairy Tale Families
Fairy tales often focus on relationships within families — interrogating the many ways in which these can break down, but also celebrating family.
Curiouser and Curiouser: How the 100 Year Old Cottingley Fairies Hoax Just Got Better
Hidden in plain sight for a century, two recently reappraised Cottingley Fairy photographs bring a whole new dimension to the celebrated hoax.
“The neck! The neck! The neck!” – Kern Dollies, Corn Spirits & Harvest Home
Incorporating folklore can add authenticity, richness and whole new layers of meaning to historical fiction. Novelist Melissa Harrison explores how traditional practices and beliefs around the harvest informed her creative process when she was writing her new book, All Among the Barley