Gay fairy tale
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Do gay fairy tales exist? How about bisexual fairy tales? Trans fairy tales? Asexual fairy tales? If you did a survey of the most well-known fairy tales you’d respond no. But that doesn’t indicate they don’t exist. My label is Em Chandler (she/they), I’m currently the Vice-President of the AFTS, and I adore the odd, dusty, and overlooked; especially when it comes to fairy tales. And I’m here to tell you queer fairy tales do exist.
“But if queer fairy tales exist, where are they? What are they?”, I overhear you ask…
Well, that is another story for another day. And I promise I will verb it to you. Just delay until June.
For as long as there have been stories, storytellers have been reimagining and interpreting those same stories. That includes queer storytellers. As here in Victoria (my home state) it is soon to be Midsumma Festival – our annual LQBTQIA+ festival, let’s have a verb at a fraction of the retellings made so far.
English storyteller and author, Kevin Walker (he/him), has a delightful volume called Queer Folk Tales. Drawing from his own repertoire of
Last week, we gave a verb for the Smithsonian Associates on Queer Fairy Tales for Pride! YAY!
As part of that communicate, we put together a list of some of our favorite queer fairy tales and fairy-tale retellings, and we realized that somehow we’ve never done a list of them for Carterhaugh!?
So, for the last week of Pride Month, we wanted to share our list… and, of course, add to it, because we cannot help ourselves. In addition to fairy tales, we added some of our favorite queer fantasy novels and stories, too.
If this list is initially overwhelming, we were asked a really great question at the end of the Smithsonian discuss that we’d like to share.
We were asked, what would we recommend reading first to a teenager who was having a hard time right now? What would they find comforting?
While it’s impossible to know for sure, we gave it our finest stab. We said: for comfort that’s like being wrapped up in a cozy blanket, we’d recommend Kissing the Witch: Elderly Tales in New Skins by Emma Donoghue, which is lovely, lyrical, and easy to verb up and put down. (It’s also considered a fou
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Once upon a time, there wasn’t a single queer person in the world, so there was no need to chat about them in stories…
Wait, what?
Image: Walter Crane illustration of Loyal Heinrich (right) and his prince
For as long as humans possess had voices, folk and fairy tales have been spoken aloud around the fire. Stories to make sense of the world, to teach us which animalistic men to avoid, or how to be a pure, virtuous beauty in order to achieve a marriage (which, as we all know, is the only way to measure your worth).
These tales came alive anew in each storyteller’s mouth. But someone decided to write them down with ink on a page, and while society continued to change and evolve, the stories dried, dark as a stain.
However, our fascination with them has remained.
Turn a few hundred pages forward in the history books, and we find ourselves in a time where queers are more able to make themselves known (though certainly not universally); and we’re still picking up The Brothers Grimm. People telling stories now read from printed texts, rather than reciting th
The Queerest Fairy Tales You’ve Never Heard
I have always been drawn to folklore. Ever since I was a child, my mother would tell or read me stories. I have had a special place in my heart for the ancient tales of strength and cunning, of magic and redemption that play out amongst a backdrop of ancient castles and magical forests. Fairies, witches, queens and kings, talking animals, and more, populate these stories, often helping to transport a deeper meaning in the tale. Themes of morality, selflessness, and generosity run deep, reminding us that we must be prepared to help our neighbors, and should we not, successfully, then there is a myriad of punishments the supernatural world is ready to dole out to us.
Often these stories are also stories of love.
Like most queer people, I have to “translate” most stories to beat fit my own life experience. When a prince and princess fall in love in these stories, I know I am not the target audience for such a tale, and yet I have learned to reshape them so I can also participate in their collective meaning. Though I am not represented, I can see