So I'm drooling over this one. This August, about 40 of my favorite children's authors and prominent scholars in the field are getting together to discuss "The
Fairy Tale Belongs to the Poor." It sounds so fun, and a number of the authors who write fantasy retellings of fairy tales will be there. It's here in Boston, so I'd only have to come up with tuition, which is $1000.
http://www.clne.org/works.htmBut that doesn't list all the authors and scholars who are going to be there. I have a brochure from it that says all the following will be there:
Susan Cooper (I'd go just for her if I could afford it!)
Monica Ediger
Neil Gaiman
Michael Patrick Hearne (a scholar of The Wizard of Oz, who also taught part of my picturebook class)
Betsy Hearne (folklore scholar who has written a number of my Beauty and the Beast sources)
Kathleen Horning
Gregory Maguire (of
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister and
Wicked fame)
Donna Jo Napoli (has written a number of fantasy retellings of fairy tales--
Zel, Crazy Jack, Beast, etc.)
Maria Tatar (the number one scholar in the fairy tale field right now--she's a prof at Harvard)
Jill Paton Walsh
John Rowe Townsend (one of the most preeminent British children's lit scholars)
Virginia Euwer Wolff
Jacqueline Woodson
Tim Wynne-Jones
Paul Zelinsky (amazing picturebook artist--has done some great things to illustrate a number of fairy tales)
Jack Zipes (another preeminent fairy tale scholar in the U.S.)
That's a pretty long list, man. Of course, if I end up getting a full-time job, who knows if they'd let me have a week off in August anyway. But it would be so fun.
