Cambridge Research Network for Fairy-Tale Studies

30/04/2026

✨🦋 Telling it Otherwise: How Fairy Tales Foster Diversity in Children’s Literature ✨🦋

In-person workshop

📚 When: 11 May 2026, 5:30-7:00 pm
📍 Where: Murray Edwards College, Buckingham House Seminar Room, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0DF

Join us for the in-person workshop 𝘛𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘦: 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘍𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘺 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘍𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘋𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘴 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, led by Dr Anna Finozzi (University of Stockholm).

This workshop takes fairy tales as a lens through which to examine how children’s literature shapes ideas of identity and difference, paying particular attention to the dynamics of visibility and invisibility: who is represented, who is excluded, and why. From canonical stories to contemporary retellings by authors of diasporic backgrounds, participants are invited to consider how storytelling can reinforce dominant cultural frameworks or, alternatively, open up more inclusive and transformative possibilities. Can storytelling do otherwise – and if so, how?

🔗 To register, please scan the QR code or follow this link: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/cambridgefairytalenetwork/2192679

23/02/2026

Theatre play Tessitrici di fiabe (Weavers of Fairy Tales). Coming soon at St John's College, University of Cambridge!

📅 Dates: 13-14-15 March 2026
🎭💫 Tickets available here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/cambridgeuniversityitaliansociety/2050019

The Cambridge University Italian Society presents Tessitrici di fiabe (Weavers of Fairy Tales), directed by Ludovico Nolfi, head of the international theatre company Ars in Fieri. Freely based on Italian fairy tales adapted for the stage by Ludovico Nolfi and Elena Sottilotta, the play features a cast of native and non-native speakers performing in Italian with live English captions.

📜💫Once upon a time, in the oral and literary realm of fairy tales, stories travelled from voice to voice and from hearth to page, carrying the power to awaken fear and desire. Tessitrici di fiabe draws on the great Italian fairy-tale tradition that later spread across Europe.

The performance is inspired by Lo cunto de li cunti (The Tale of Tales), the baroque masterpiece of Neapolitan fairy tales by Giambattista Basile (c. 1575–1632), and by the great nineteenth-century collectors of Sicilian folklore Laura Gonzenbach (1842–1878) and Giuseppe Pitrè (1841–1916), whose death marks its 110th anniversary this year. Many of the tales Pitrè recorded were told to him by Agatuzza Messia, a gifted Sicilian storyteller whose voice still resonates through these narratives.

At the heart of the play stand Italian women who passed down fairy tales by word of mouth around the fireplace and within the domestic spaces of everyday life. Their stories were filled with hopes and struggles, with abductions and ordeals. Through them, they confronted the shadows of oppression and violence. Women’s courage lies at the centre of the staging, casting light on their imaginative narratives as a path towards justice and a way of reclaiming an alternative destiny. 💫📜

23/02/2026

Complicating Cinderella, a free webinar taking place tomorrow, 24 February 2026, at 6pm (UK time)!

🍃💫 Registration link: https://advaya.life/learn/webinars/rewilding-cinderella-fairytale

In this webinar, Dr Joanna Gilar and Dr Michelle Anya Anjirbag will gather together to discuss the wild history of fairy tales. Diving into the stories of Cinderella, they will explore versions from across the world, exploring what has been left out of our memories of this tale, and how it is igniting people’s imaginations today. From skull-wielding teenagers to those who speak in words of wing and fin, from children who weep with trees to those who tend the bones, we will work with the threads of the story, and witness the complexity that is too often erased.

Cinderella is frequently dismissed as a poor role-model for young women, passive, subservient and rescued by a prince. Yet in tales across the world she has far more agency and power, changing the world around her with the force of her will and the strength of her wild companions. Together we will explore the world of this much-maligned heroine, witnessing the different forms and shapings of her power.

In fall 2026, Cinderella: A Cultural History, a ground-breaking new book by Dr Anjirbag will be released with Bodleian Publishing. In spring 2026, Dr Gilar will curate a ten-teacher course for Advaya on Rewilding Fairy Tales. The webinar will be a space to celebrate and explore both these offerings, answering questions about this crucial, urgent dialogue around re-encountering our feminist archetypes and reweaving our common stories.

19/11/2025

Thank you to the participants who joined 🧶✨Rifiabare: A Literary Geography Workshop✨🧶 at Murray Edwards College last week. It was a pleasure to spend the afternoon exploring how narratives shape our understanding of place. Your curiosity and reflections helped create a space where stories and territories could meet in imaginative ways.

A warm thank you to the wonderful workshop leaders Maria Luisa Mura and Francesca Nardi (Ischìre - Collettivo mobile di geografia letteraria) for guiding us through a multisensory and multilingual journey inspired by Sardinian fairy tales. Here are a few photos from the event that capture the spirit of the workshop!

14/11/2025

Tomorrow! 🌿❤️ Register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rifiabare-a-literary-geography-workshop-tickets-1956001947479

✨🧶 𝑹𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒂𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒆: 𝐀 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐆𝐞𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐲 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩 🧶✨

What do the places we live in tell us? Who do they belong to? How do we inhabit them?

Step into the world of Sardinian storytelling in this 𝐢𝐧-𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩, led by Maria Luisa Mura and Francesca Nardi (Collettivo Ischìre).

📚 When: 15 November 2025, 4:00-6:30 pm
📍 Where: Murray Edwards College, Long Room, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0DF

🔗 This event is free, but spaces are limited! Register and find all the details here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rifiabare-a-literary-geography-workshop-tickets-1956001947479

05/11/2025

✨🧶 𝑹𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒂𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒆: 𝐀 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐆𝐞𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐲 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩 🧶✨

What do the places we live in tell us? Who do they belong to? How do we inhabit them?

Step into the world of Sardinian storytelling in this 𝐢𝐧-𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩, led by Maria Luisa Mura and Francesca Nardi (Collettivo Ischìre).

📚 When: 15 November 2025, 4:00-6:30 pm
📍 Where: Murray Edwards College, Long Room, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0DF

🔗 This event is free, but spaces are limited! Register and find all the details here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rifiabare-a-literary-geography-workshop-tickets-1956001947479

27/10/2025

Check out this Cambridge-based theatre initiative! This year’s theme is all about fairy tales🌟🎭

You can find all the details and the registration form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSehGYPb9tNOw4qcVSxF_JL23_g9t4IyOE5wYYjTb9YQ4OQsKQ/viewform

The Cambridge University Italian Society is thrilled to partner with Ars in fieri and director Ludovico Nolfi for a series of theatre workshops on the theme:

Once upon a time... at the Theatre

📅 from 7th to 30th November
🕖 7 PM - 9 PM
📍 Locations:
Long Room, Murray Edwards College, Huntingdon Rd, CB3 0DF
Old Labs, Newnham College, Sidgwick Ave, CB3 9DF (only on Wed. 19th Nov.)
✍️ Registration: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSehGYPb9tNOw4qcVSxF_JL23_g9t4IyOE5wYYjTb9YQ4OQsKQ/viewform

First session is free of charge!

30/09/2025

See you tomorrow! 🌿✨

🍃✨ Troubling Wonder: Online Symposium on Fairy-Tale Studies✨🍃
1-4 October 2025

Join us for four days of fresh perspectives and inspiring research into the world of fairy tales. The programme features panels on a wide range of topics, along with these special sessions:

✨ Book Presentation: Justice in 21st-Century Fairy Tales and the Power of Wonder (2025), with Cristina Bacchilega (University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa) and Pauline Greenhill (University of Winnipeg)

✨ Special Issue Presentation: “Norm and Transgression in the Fairy-Tale Tradition” (2025), Marvels & Tales, with Alessandro Cabiati (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice) and Lewis Seifert (Brown University)

✨ Lecture: Creative and Critical Approaches to Fairy Tales and Disability Studies, with Beth O’Brien (University of Birmingham), founder of Disabled Tales and author of Wolf Siren (2025)

📅 1-4 October 2025
🕒 UK time zone
📍 Online via Zoom

The event is free but registration is required. Book your ticket now to receive the joining details: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/cambridgefairytalenetwork/1859086

The full programme is available here: https://cambridgefairytalenetwork.wordpress.com/2025-symposium/

19/09/2025

A truly unmissable moment at Troubling Wonder!

✨ Lecture: Creative and Critical Approaches to Fairy Tales and Disability Studies with Beth O’Brien (University of Birmingham), founder of Disabled Tales and author of Wolf Siren (2025)

💬 Discussant: Anna Kérchy (University of Szeged)

📅 4 October at 18.00-19.30 UK time
📍 Online (free, registration required)

✨ Book your ticket now: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/cambridgefairytalenetwork/1859086

✨ Check the symposium programme here: https://cambridgefairytalenetwork.wordpress.com/2025-symposium/

📖 Check the Disabled Tales project here: https://www.disabledtales.co.uk/

🐺 Have a look at Wolf Siren here: https://www.bethobrienwriter.com/childrens-books.html

18/09/2025

✨ The journey through Troubling Wonder continues!

Join Alessandro Cabiati and Lewis Seifert for a presentation of the special issue of Marvels & Tales “Norm and Transgression in the Fairy-Tale Tradition” (2025).

📅 3 October at 18.00-19.30 UK time
📍 Online (free, registration required)

✨ Book your ticket now: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/cambridgefairytalenetwork/1859086
✨ Check the symposium programme here: https://cambridgefairytalenetwork.wordpress.com/2025-symposium/
📖 The special issue of Marvels & Tales can be viewed here: https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/marvels/vol39/iss1/

16/09/2025

✨ Coming soon: the first special session of the online symposium Troubling Wonder!

📚 Cristina Bacchilega & Pauline Greenhill will present their new book Justice in 21st-Century Fairy Tales and the Power of Wonder (2025).

📅 1 October at 19.00-20.30 UK time
📍 Online (free, registration required)

✨ Book your ticket now: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/cambridgefairytalenetwork/1859086

✨ Check the symposium programme here: https://cambridgefairytalenetwork.wordpress.com/2025-symposium/

📖 Download the book here: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/justice-in-21stcentury-fairy-tales-and-the-power-of-wonder-9781350348264/