Reimagining Folktales, But for the Ear: A Conversation with Mahsuda Snaith, by Carolyne Larrington

Interviews Carolyne Larrington Audible’s new fiction podcast, Hag, launching August 29, features eight reimaginings of traditional British folktales by eight contemporary female writers, with folktales chosen from across the UK. The collection will be released in audio only, building on the time-old tradition of oral storytelling. Mahsuda Snaith’s story, “The Panther’s Tale,” is written as a lost “full version” of Staffordshire’s “Legend of Chillington Hall.” Keeping the original setting, Snaith tells the story of Sir John Giffard and his fondness for wild beasts but with a modern outlook. Narrated in Snaith’s vivid, visceral style, her version of the story speaks of imprisonment, fierceness, and female solidarity. Carolyne Larrington, who teaches medieval English literature at St. John’s College, University of Oxford, was the consultant on the HAG project, researching the original tales that inspired each writer, chatting with the authors who wanted more background, and then interviewing each writer after the stories were finished. These fascinating conversations range back and forth between discussing themes and motifs in folk tradition and the authors’ own feelings about the tales they had been given. Carolyne Larrington: How did you become involved with the project? What drew you to it? Mahusda Snaith Mahsuda Snaith: Harriet Poland from Audible approached my agent about writing a story for the project. She’d read my previous... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'

[ World Literature Today | 2019-08-30 14:21:50 UTC ]

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Joy Williams’ first novel in 20 years is coming this fall.

While we don’t know what the state of the our pandemic society will be come September, we can at least be sure that we’ll all be getting a little Joy Williams, as a treat. Specifically, a new novel—her fifth, and her first since 2000’s The Quick and the Dead, which was a runner-up for the […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

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In Kazuo Ishiguro’s ‘Klara and the Sun,’ a robot tries to make sense of humanity

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Olga Tokarczuk's 'magnum opus' finally gets English release – after seven years of translation

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Faber bags Caldwell's 'beautifully moving' wartime novel

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Open the Portal: A Conversation with Patricia Lockwood

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Unseen work by Proust announced as ‘thunderclap’ by French publisher

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Here’s the cover of Jonathan Franzen’s next novel.

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HarperNorth snares first novel with Woods' gangland thriller

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Power to the Peepal: Leeds-based indie enjoys reward of second major award win

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US magazine Poetry faces outcry for publishing work by sex offender

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Roffey's Peepal Tree tale wins Costa Book of the Year

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Trying to Teach English Literature in the Wake of Mao’s Cultural Revolution

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Costa Book Awards Names Its Three Short Story Finalists

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Duchess of York’s first novel to be published by Mills & Boon

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Am I Argentine? On Identity, Tradition and Finding Ties to One’s Homeland

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UK: The 49th Costa Book Awards Name Category Winners

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In ‘The Liar’s Dictionary,’ People Work on the Definition of Love and Many Other Words

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