Writing Fairy Tales of Resistance

Class Description

The fairy tales, fables, and folk tales that have been told and retold over the years are often intended as moral instruction. They tell us about the cultural values, norms, and fears of the societies in which they were written. From fairy tales, we learn what was expected of children, how women and outsiders were viewed, the role of violence and money, and the mythological vocabularies of a time and place. And while the original stories don’t often endow women, children, and outsiders with much power or agency, contemporary writers today are rewriting fairy tales as a means of resistance and empowerment.

In this fiction workshop, we’ll read original fairy tales by writers like Giambattista Basile and Charles Perrault along with more contemporary writers who are subverting the form, including Bora Chung, Nalo Hopkinson, Fernanda Melchor, Rosario Ferre, and Lily Hoang. We’ll use the conventions we’ve learned from our reading to write our own fairy tales, which we’ll each have the option to workshop at least once. Note that this means we’ll be reading and commenting on each other’s drafts each week outside of class, alongside published works. We’ll come away from the class with a better understanding of how to use fairy tale themes, tropes, and aesthetics for our own narrative experiments, social commentaries, and stories of protest and resistance.

Class Format

This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. About 15 minutes before your class is scheduled to begin, you'll receive an email from your instructor with a link to join the class meeting!

Scholarship Information

Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.

For more more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.