Here’s a list of all the events and publications that we can link you to in the coming weeks–including into September.

Events

August 3 and 4

Dublin Irish Festival – We gave three talks at the Dublin Irish Festival in Columbus, Ohio last week! Our talks were:

Saturday, August 3
2:30PM-3:15PM – “Irish Folklore and Bram Stoker’s Dracula”
5:30PM-6:15PM – “Terrors of Irish Fairylore”

Sunday, August 4
11:00AM-11:45AM – “Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray and Irish Fairylore”

While this event is over for 2024, we’re definitely planning to speak again next year, so mark your calendars and come hang out with us in person in Columbus! Click here for more information about the festival and get your tickets!

August 7 at 7:00 PM

Fairy Tale Salon – We saw a meme a few days ago that said “sometimes I really wish I were living in precedented times,” and we felt that so hard. It seems like every day you turn on the TV and something new and historic and unprecedented is happening, and it’s all just… a lot. Sometimes it’s terrifying. Sometimes it’s infuriating. Sometimes it’s just profoundly heartbreaking. What do you do when the world seems overwhelming and scary? What helps? What doesn’t? How do you find hope again?

This month’s salon happened yesterday, and the discussion was so brilliant, compassionate, and actionable. The participants have given us permission to share their insights with you, so more is coming soon. If you’d like to join us next month, make sure that you’re on the Salonnières tier or higher on Patreon for September!

August 22 at 7:00 PM

Book Club – On August 22nd, we’ll meet to discuss Mary McMyne’s new novel A Rose By Any Other Name… and Mary herself will be joining us! Mary is the best! Come hang out with her with us!

Y’all, this book has got Shakespeare, witchcraft, masques, and so much more – you’re going to LOVE it!!

Here’s the description:

“My name has only been whispered, heretofore…

England, 1591. Rose Rushe’s passion for life runs deep—she loves mead and music, meddles with astrology, and laughs at her mother’s warnings to guard her reputation. When Rose’s father dies and a noble accuses her and her dear friend Cecely of witchcraft, they flee to the household of respected alchemists in London. But as their bond deepens, their sanctuary begins to feel more like a cage. To escape, they turn to the occult, secretly casting charms and selling astrological advice in the hopes of building a life together. This thriving underground business leads Rose to fair young noble Henry and playwright Will Shakespeare, and so begins a brief, tempestuous, and powerful romance—one filled with secret longings and deep betrayals.

In this world of dazzling masques and decadent feasts, where the stars decide futures, Rose will write her own fate instead.

From the author of The Book of Gothel comes the lush, magical story behind Shakespeare’s sonnets, as told by one of his most famous subjects—the incendiary and mysterious Dark Lady.”

Can you even??

Here are some reviews:

“A fascinating fictional exposé [with] a touch of mysticism and an LGBTQ twist.” – Booklist (starred review)

“A delightfully impish heroine… a tempestuous erotic connection… a captivating imagining of the life of the Dark Lady, the illusive inspiration for Shakespeare’s later sonnets.” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)

If you would like to join us, make sure you’re on the $7+ tier on our Patreon for the month of August!

September 30 at 6:45 PM

Smithsonian Associates: Witches in the Grimms’ Fairy Tales – Once upon a time, there was a witch. She was beautiful and powerful. She was frightening and dangerous. She was everything people feared and everything many of them wanted to be.

On September 30th at 6:45PM ET, folklorists Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman discuss the versatile figure of the witch in the folkloric medium of the fairy tale. Using the collection of the Brothers Grimm, Cleto and Warman explore the many distinctive witches they gave us and their relationships to self-determination, community, and nature. Then Cleto and Warman focus on the witches who appear in five fairy tales: “Rapunzel,” “Hansel and Gretel,” “The Three Spinners,” “Frau Trude,” and “All Kinds of Fur.” By illuminating different aspects of the figure of the witch as she appears in the Grimms’ tales, they demonstrate the complexity and power that characterize her, even within a single collection of stories.

These witches represent the many ways of being a woman in the world and are a rich repository of education, inspiration, and enchantment, Cleto and Warman say.

Click here to grab your tickets!

Publications

Eternal Haunted Summer
We’re so excited we have a poem in Eternal Haunted Summer’s Summer Solstice issue! The title of our poem is “The Knife She Wouldn’t Use.” Read the poem (and other beautiful pieces) here.