Events

Coming up

Deloitte Ignite 2010: A Three Day Festival of Contemporary Arts

  • 3-5 September, 2010 Royal Opera House, London
    • Curated by internationally renowned pianist, composer and auteur Joanna MacGregor
    • Inspired by the theme of forests: forests as a place of quiet, reflective beauty, mystery and discovery, as places of fairytale narrative, as well as metaphorical spaces
    • Features an event by writer and cultural historian Professor Marina Warner, entitled “Into the Woods,” a series of films, animations and performances exploring the light and darkness of fairytales

Mervyn Peake Centenary Events in Chichester

  • July, 2011 University of Chichester
    • A conference entitled “Mervyn Peake and the Fantasy Tradition” to be held in the University of Chichester on 15/16th July 2011, to mark Peake’s 100th birthday and the publication of Titus Awakes, Maeve Gilmore’s conclusion, as she envisaged it, of her husband’s Titus Groan or Gormenghast trilogy. For further details and the Call for Papers for this conference—organised by the University in association with the Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy—see under News at http://sussexfolktalecentre.org/news/ and at Chichester University website: http://www.chiuni.ac.uk/english/MervynPeakeConference.cfm
    • Speakers to include Joanne Harris, Michael Moorcock, Peter Winnington, Colin Manlove, Farah Mendlesohn and Sebastian Peake.
    • At least two exhibitions of Peake’s illustrative works to be held in and around Chichester concurrently with the conference

Ongoing events

Surreal Friends

19 June – 12 September 2010 Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, UK See http://www.pallant.org.uk/exhibitions/current/main-galleries/surreal-friends/surreal-friends

Previous events

Festival in the Shire

13-15 August, 2010

Pafiliwn Bont, Pontrhydfendigaid, Ystrad Meurig, Ceredigion, SW 25 6BB
http://www.festivalintheshire.com/index.html The Festival in the Shire will be the most comprehensive event ever held for the fans of J.R.R. Tolkien, with a conference, a fan exposition of original art, rare books and memorabilia as well as a large festival with stalls and entertainment.

Anti-Tales: The Uses of Disenchantment Symposium

  • 12-13 August, 2010 University of Glasgow Arts and Humanities Graduate School
    • An interdisciplinary research forum and subsequent publication of proceedings (Cambridge Scholars Publishing) based around the currently under-researched notion of the ‘anti-tale.’ The anti-fairy tale has long existed as a shadow of the traditional fairy tale genre.
    • Plenary speakers include Dr. Anna Kérchy (Senior Assistant Professor, University of Szeged) and Professor Aidan Day (Professor of English, University of Dundee)

Leonora Carrington’s Magic Tales (Talk at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester)

Thursday 29th July, 6:00pm Alongside her paintings Leonora Carrington has also produced an extensive body of writing such as ‘The Debutante’, ‘Little Francis’, ‘The Hearing Trumpet’ and ‘The Invention of Mole’. Her stories are imaginative, surreal, and often funny. The distinguished writer, critic and historian Professor Marina Warner introduces Carrington as a writer. See http://www.pallant.org.uk/events/all-events/2010/july/leonora-carringtons-magic-tales

George MacDonald: Master of Fantasy, Seer of Arundel

The Case for Owen Barfield

  • 3 June, 2010 6:00pm – Magdalen College, University of Oxford
    • “Not only a decisive influence on both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, but also in his own right an original interpreter of Coleridge’s thought, Owen Barfield is highly relevant to the aims of the Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy.”
    • Prof. Fanfan Chen (Professor, Department of English, National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan)
    • Owen A. Barfield (only grandchild of Owen Barfield, presently publishing both existing and previously unavailable works by Barfield)
    • The event is organized by the Owen Barfield Literary Estate to mark the opening of the Owen Barfield archive at the Bodleian Library, Oxford University

England – the land without folklore?

The Supernatural, Folklore Society Conference

The Rose on the Ash-Heap

  • 25 March 2010, 1.30-5.30 pm – St. Ethelburga’s, 78 Bishopsgate, London
    • Owen Barfield, Independent Scholar
    • More information at event flyer

Race and the Fantastic

Dragon Tails or Tales of Gragons and Woodland Wyrms (A Folk-Arts Theatre Production for Children)

  • 6 March 2010, 2:00 pm – Clair Hall Studio, Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 3DN

The Dragons of England

Exhibition on illustrations by Mervyn Peake

De-Disneyfying the Fairy-Tale Film

  • 3 February, 2010, 4:00-6:00 pm – House Auditorium in Mary Allan Building, Homerton College, University of Cambridge
    • Professor Jack Zipes (University of Minnesota, USA) “De-Disneyfying the Fairy-Tale Film”

The Undomestic Witch: Scottish Witches, Fairies, and Old Religions

  • 9 February, 2010, 5:15-6:30 pm – Mitre Lecture Theatre, University of Chichester
    • Dr. Diane Purkiss (Faculty of English, University of Oxford/ Fellow and Tutor, Keble College Diane Purkiss) “The Undomestic Witch: Scottish Witches, Fairies, and Old Religions”

At the Back of George MacDonald

From Fata to Fairies