April 2021

Fairy Tale Retellings


What is it about fairy tales that make them relevant to both young and old and why do we keep returning to them? Through her latest fantasy novel, THE LIGHT OF THE MIDNIGHT STARS, Rena Rossner will discuss the very real place in her books where fantasy and history meet - and the places where fairy tales, legends, folk tales and local history can often converge in relation to her work and others in the genre. How do we decide as writers how much or how little of a fairy tale to use, and how close our stories should stay to the original? For historical settings - how true must we stay to history, and where are the places where history and fantasy meet? What stories are ours to tell and which should we avoid? Rossner looks forward to discussing the nuts and bolts of using folklore, mythology and the fantastic with you.

Lecture replays are available after the free trial ends. To end your trial early, email brooke@inkedvoices.com .

About Lecturer

About Rena Rossner

Rena Rossner hails from Miami Beach, Florida. She is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University's Writing Seminars program, Trinity College, Dublin, and she holds a MA in history from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She currently lives in Israel, where she works as a Literary Agent at The Deborah Harris Agency. Her debut novel, THE SISTERS OF THE WINTER WOOD, was listed as "One of the 100 Best Books" of the year by Publisher's Weekly. Her sophomore novel, THE LIGHT OF THE MIDNIGHT STARS, comes out April 13, 2021 from Redhook/Orbit Books. Her grandparents and great grandparents immigrated to the USA from Hungary, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, and Moldova - their stories, together with her love of Jewish mythology and fantasy, inspire her work.