Myth and Folklore

Beren and Lúthien: Some First Thoughts (and radio interview)

J.R.R. Tolkien’s Beren and Lúthien, edited by Christopher Tolkien, was published yesterday. The book is an attempt by Christopher Tolkien to extract one of the most beautiful, moving, and personal stories of his father’s ‘legendarium’ into a standalone book, allowing the…

By Dimitra Fimi | 2nd June 2017 | Books, Fantasy Literature, Folklore, Interviews, Media, Myth and Folklore, Tolkien, Worldbuilding | No Comments |

Literary Tourism: Wales, Land of Legends

Literature Wales (http://www.literaturewales.org/) launched today their new literary tourism website: Land of Legends – http://www.landoflegends.wales/. This was a project funded by Visit Wales (http://www.visitwales.com/) and I was delighted to have been one of the consultants on literary connections of specific…

By Dimitra Fimi | 12th April 2017 | Celtic Myth, Children's Fantasy, Children's Literature, Fantasy Literature, Folklore, Literature Wales, Media, Myth and Folklore, Welsh myth an folklore | No Comments |

The book is out! (plus “extended” table of contents!)

This week, the e-book version of my new monograph, Celtic Myth in Contemporary Children’s Fantasy, was released. This is my first experience of the braver new world of simultaneous e-book and hardback publication. The hardback won’t be out there for…

By Dimitra Fimi | 12th March 2017 | Books, Celtic Myth, Children's Fantasy, Children's Literature, Fantasy Literature, Henry Neff, Irish myth and folklore, Lloyd Alexander, Myth and Folklore, Welsh myth an folklore | No Comments |

“Twas the Night Before Christmas” and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Tinfang Warble

Following family tradition, the bedtime book I read to my near-four-year-old son on Christmas Eve was “The Night Before Christmas”, aka “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, by Clement Clarke Moore*. I used my mum’s old copy of the poem, a…

By Dimitra Fimi | 31st December 2016 | Christmas, Fantasy Literature, Folklore, Myth and Folklore, Tolkien | No Comments |

An interview with Henry Neff: Celtic myth, liminal times and fantastic creatures

My forthcoming monograph, Celtic Myth in Contemporary Children’s Fantasy, examines a number of ‘Celtic’-inspired works of fantasy literature, including Henry Neff’s The Tapestry. The Tapestry is a series of five fantasy novels that create an alternative world of ambitions scope, and…

By Dimitra Fimi | 8th December 2016 | Books, Celtic Myth, Children's Fantasy, Children's Literature, Fantasy Literature, Folklore, Henry Neff, Interviews, Myth and Folklore, Worldbuilding | No Comments |

Solving a little puzzle in Lloyd Alexander’s Welsh research

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about one of the main authors I have included in my forthcoming monograph (Celtic Myth in Contemporary Children’s Fantasy): Lloyd Alexander. Lloyd Alexander’s fantasy world of Prydain is modelled upon a particular vision…

By Dimitra Fimi | 17th October 2016 | Books, Celtic Myth, Children's Fantasy, Children's Literature, Fantasy Literature, Lloyd Alexander, Myth and Folklore, Welsh myth an folklore | No Comments |

A Beginner’s Guide to Researching Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain

Well, my new book (third book, but second monograph) is due to appear in the new year from Palgrave Macmillan. It is titled Celtic Myth in Contemporary Children’s Fantasy: Idealization, Identity, Ideology and it explores the creative uses of ‘Celtic’ myth (mainly…

By Dimitra Fimi | 25th September 2016 | Books, Celtic Myth, Children's Fantasy, Children's Literature, Fantasy Literature, Lloyd Alexander, Myth and Folklore, Welsh myth an folklore | No Comments |