Tipsy Scholars Ottawa
The Women Who Defined Fairy Tales (and History Forgot)
Wednesday, June 17 | 7:00 PM | Lowertown Brewery, ByWard Market
A Who’s Who of the fairy tale literary salons of 1690s Paris. At the center is the Queen Bee, Madame d’Aulnoy, a woman with a mysterious past who coined the term “fairy tale.” Surrounding her are accomplished women writers celebrated at court, crowned by the Académie Française, and entangled in scandals from political intrigue to accusations of lesbianism.
In the background is Charles Perrault, who dismissed fairy tales as unworthy of serious literature, yet lives on as Mother Goose, while the women who shaped the genre are largely forgotten. This talk brings the Salonnières back into focus, giving them and their work their fair due as the true creators of the literary fairy tale.
Debut Short Story Collection
Ebony, Blood, and Snow
Inspired by familiar fairy tales, author Tish Black’s debut short story collection takes the tales in new directions and rewrites history: Little Red hunts wolves, Gretel helps the witch, and Bluebeard’s wife gets revenge.
These transgressive stories challenge readers’ ideas of what the tales could mean to them. There’s more to learn from fairy tale heroines than how to be eaten, rescued, or married. These unconventional heroines fight the patriarchy with no time for romance; instead, readers will find tales of revenge, sisterhood, political revolt, and independence.
Conveying the radical feminism of Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber and the defiance of Emma Donoghue’s Kissing the Witch, Black’s collection of thirteen tales redefines the fairy tale heroine.
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Editing Services
I am excited to help writers of short fiction finish their short stories, medium stories, novelettes, and novellas. I believe the short story as a storytelling format is underappreciated. Especially in speculative fiction (fantasy, horror, sci-fi), short stories are some of the most memorable and definitive of the genre.
I would love to read your weird and wonderful short fiction and polish it up with a copyedit so you feel confident submitting it to a publication or publishing it yourself.