Ceallaigh's Blog
Hello, and welcome to the Folklore & Fiction newsletter. At the summer and winter solstices, I mimic the sun and pause to reflect on my own creative work. In this edition, I'll be discussing folkloric elements in my new short story entitled "B is for Burned/Every Broken Creature," which was recently released in the F is for Fairy anthology of short fiction.
ani-mism noun 1 the attribution of a living soul to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena (Barber 2005, 51).
The When Words Collide festival has released its tentative final program, so I thought I'd share my itinerary:
Friday 3 PM - Canmore - Fairytales, Fables and Folklore Remade
C.S. MacCath, Carol Parchewsky, Jim Jackson, Ron Oswald [PM]
Fairytale remakes, historical reimaginings, using themes from the past to create a new story. What is being done in today's Young Adult fiction, and how can past inspiration be made new again?
I've written a short article for the #FolkloreThursday project covering a bit of folklore history, a bit of folklore theory, and a bit of contemporary folklore studies. It's live on the website now, and you can read it at: https://folklorethursday.com/folklore-folklorists/what-is-folklore
I'm seeing so much disappointment online over the Game of Thrones ending that I want to weigh in a bit more on the series finale than I already have on social media. So here goes:
On the Matter of Prophecy:
Happy book day to F is for Fairy, which contains my short story "B is for Burned/Every Broken Creature." Here's a bit of that story to entice you across the veil:
This blog entry is an effort to externalize my thinking on a possible relationship between the search for authenticity among contemporary Pagans and the problem of racism in contemporary Paganism. I include under the Pagan banner all people practicing a reconstructed or revitalized polytheistic animism, such as Wiccans, Druids, and Heathens. My own practice is a gnostic, hybridized Druidic Heathenry, and I'm a PhD candidate in the Folklore Department at Memorial University of Newfoundland, so my perspective and approach are rooted in these spiritual and intellectual traditions.
To begin, I want to problematize authenticity via the work of Regina Bendix, whose book In Search of Authenticity: The Formation of Folklore Studies has influenced my thinking. She writes that:
Hello, and welcome to the Folklore & Fiction newsletter. In this edition, I'm writing about the personal experience narrative genre with help from scholars William Labov and Joshua Waletzky, Sandra K.D. Stahl, Gillian Bennett, and others, helping you analyse a personal experience narrative, and discussing ways to bring personal experience narratives to your story craft.
Last night I was a guest on CKDU 88.1 community radio's The Witching Hour discussing folkloric aspects of the Satanic Panic, especially as they relate to legend studies. The show is archived in three segments: 7:00-7:30, 7:30-8:00, and 8:00-8:30. You should listen to the whole show, but my contribution begins just after 7:30.
For the fairy enthusiasts among you, here's a story bundle curated by Sandra Kasturi containing the new F is for Fairy anthology, which includes my short story "B is for Burned/Every Broken Creature." Other contributors include Jane Yolen, Gemma Files, Marie Bilodeau, Nancy Springer, and more! You can buy the bundle here.
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Folklore Genre Series
2019 Newsletters
January 2019
Introduction to Folklore Genres
February 2019
What is a myth?
March 2019
What is a legend?
April 2019
What is a memorate?
May 2019
What is a personal experience narrative?
June 2019
Summer Solstice Newsletter 2019
July 2019
What is a ballad?
August 2019
What is a märchen?
September 2019
What is a fable?
October 2019
What is a tall tale?
November 2019
What is a ritual?
December 2019
Winter Solstice Newsletter 2019
2020 Newsletters
January 2020
What is a rite of passage?
February 2020
What is a superstition?
March 2020
What is a charm?
March 2020
Folklore & Fiction Supplement: Keeping a Journal in Uncertain Times
April 2020
What is a curse?
May 2020
What is a folk custom?
June 2020
Summer Solstice Newsletter 2020
July 2020
What is material culture?
August 2020
What is a conspiracy theory?
September 2020
What is language and verbal lore?
October 2020
What is child lore?
November 2020
What is performance?
December 2020
Winter Solstice Newsletter 2020
ATU Tale Type Series
2021 Dispatches
January 2021
Introduction to the ATU Tale Types
February 2021
ATU 60 "Fox and Crane Invite Each Other"
March 2021
ATU 365 "The Dead Bridegroom Carries off His Bride"