Spotlight 18. Fairies and Fairy Tales

Fairies in Literature and Art - Podcast

Always unashamedly scholarly.  In this archive episode of In Our Time, Melvyn Bragg discusses the literary and visual depiction of fairies. Supernatural creatures inhabiting a half-way world between this one and the next, fairies are ubiquitous in human culture.

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Fairies re-fashioned in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Shakespeare's enduring influence can be seen all around us; from many of the words we speak today, to our popular understanding of large tracts of British history.  Thanks to A Midsummer Night's Dream, the same is perhaps also true of how we picture fairies.  

Discover more in this article from the British Library website 

The Meaning behind Fairy Tales and Folktales 

Fairy Tales and Folktales are so much more than entertainment. They reflect our history and culture, our fears and our dreams. When did we start to write them down and how have they changed over time?  Check out this great section of the British Library's Discovering Children's Books website, and learn more.

Visit the British Library website

Feminist Fairytales with authors Jessie Burton and Kiran Millwood Hargrave 

In this Guardian Books podcast, author Jessie Burton discusses her book, The Restless Girls; a feminist retelling of the Brothers Grimm story The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s third book, The Way Past Winter, is not a retelling of a particular fairytale, but is inspired by Scandinavian and Slavic folklore.  Hargrave tells the story of three sisters who go searching for their missing brother in a magical and dangerous land. 

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Creativity during Corona

Visit our Facebook page where everyday, Claire from Central Library is linking to a poem and posting prompts to spark your creativity during lockdown.  Today, the theme is fairies.

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Once Upon a Time... and other fairy tale language

In this interesting article we discover that every culture has its own version of ‘once upon a time’ – and perhaps many, are more interesting than the English.

This article delves a bit deeper into the language of fairy tales and asks why they continue to affect what we read today.

Recommended retellings of classic fairytales for 5-8 year olds

A list compiled by the Book Trust.  These clever and often humorous books will engage children with their witty takes on old tales. 

Read the list and watch the video of former Children's Laureate, Chris Riddell reading from his beautifully illustrated book, Once Upon a Wild Wood.  A richly imagined story packed full of familiar fairy tale characters as you've never seen them before. 

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Twisted Fairy Tales

Check out this list of some of the Book Trust's favourite twisted fairy tales for kids - fun and anarchic new takes on traditional stories.

View the list

How to Draw a Unicorn

In this video, Sheffield based children's author and illustrator, Lydia Monks shows us ow to draw a Unicorn like the one from her book, Sugarlump and the Unicorn.

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