Best-selling mythographer to present fairy tale collection at Chichester

International writer and mythographer Dame Marina Warner presents a selection of her short stories tinged with fairy tales at the University of Chichester.

The best-selling British novelist read from and signed copies of her most recent collection Fly Away Home at the institution on Wednesday 3 February.

Dame Marina, a Professor of English and Creative Writing at Birkbeck College, University of London, has also authored a number of critical and historical books exploring myth and fairy tale, such as the popular From the Beast to the Blonde (1994) and No Go the Bogeyman: Scaring, Lulling, and Making Mock (1998).

Her more recent work includes Stranger Magic: Charmed States, and the Arabian Nights (2011) as well as Once Upon a Time: A Short History of Fairy Tale (2014).

The event was hosted by the University’s Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales, and Fantasy, which provides a forum for writers and artists to explore folk and fairy tale narratives, alongside its Department of English and Creative Writing.

Sussex Centre Director Professor Bill Gray said: “I am absolutely delighted to have the privilege of welcoming Marina Warner to our University.

“She has been on our advisory board for quite a few years and was also one of the leading keynote speakers at our 2012 Grimms Bicentenary conference, After Grimm: Fairy Tales and the Art of Storytelling.

“Marina was elected a fellow of the British Academy in 2005, and was last year appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to higher education and literary scholarship.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to hear one of the world’s most popular mythographers reading from and signing her exciting new collection of short stories.”

To find out more about the Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales, and Fantasy and its upcoming guest lecture series visit www.sussexfolktalecentre.org.

Alternatively for more on the Department of England and Creative Writing at the University of Chichester go to www.chi.ac.uk/english.