Fairy Tale Review Archive
Browse submissions from past editions, web exclusive content, author Q&A, and more.
The practice of retelling fairy tales in the form of literary fiction is, if not quite hallowed, certainly established. The great Angela Carter’s revelatory 1979 story collection, “The Bloody Chamber” — a brocaded work of heady sensuality, intelligence and violence — remains the benchmark, but Kate Bernheimer’s Fairy Tale Review and the several excellent Bernheimer-edited anthologies spun off from it carry the standard forward. Those are just some of the more overt homages; Western literature owes as much to fairy tales as it does to Greek myth and the Bible.
-The New York Times
De vilde svaner (Wild Swans)
That first time I saw myself miraculous, we baked swan-fat
into bread when Satan whispered
The Girl, the Wolf, the Crone
More than once there was a soon-to-be-old woman who had a loaf of bread, held it in her hands she did, and it was inconvenient to have a loaf of bread always sitting in her hands…
Pinnochia from Pleasure Island
Now I think of what I’d die to forget. Now I forget.
Where did I grow up, get out—was I as rich as a golden
yolk waiting to crack in the hay?
Pins & Needles No. 24: Carrie Messenger
No. 24: Carrie MessengerQ. "I couldn’t remember before the Dust, but my sister could. She had two years on me. She was four when the Dust came." Do...
Fairy-Tale Files: Little People, Hans Christian World
ThumbelinaPeople come in all shapes and sizes in the world of fairy tales and real life. The main character of this Hans Christian Andersen story is...
Pins & Needles No. 23: Grace Bauer
No. 23: Grace BauerQ. The craft aficionado in me adores your poem’s stanza construction, particularly the transition between stanzas two and three....
Fairy-Tale Files: Angered Ogres
Hop o' My ThumbA Hansel and Gretelesque tale, the witch is replaced by an ogre who possesses a strong body, great height and cannibalistic streak....
Pins & Needles No. 22: Kat Meads
No. 22: Kat MeadsQ. I’m curious about the process here—how did you come into this piece? Did you have it already written before The Emerald Issue...
Fairy-Tale Files: The Ballet Is No Place for Sleeping, Beauty
The Sleeping Beauty BalletBased on Charles Perrault's La Belle au bois dormant, with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and choreography by Marius...
Fairy-Tale Files: Silent Skin
Several fairy tales have used the theme of hiding in another creature’s skin—usually a donkey’s or cat’s—in order to escape a dysfunctional home,...
Pins & Needles No. 21: Carrie Bennett
No. 21: Carrie BennettQ. The withholding of the journey itself is interesting, in that the story is what comes before the journey. What compelled...
Fairy-Tale Files: When One Isn’t Enough
Fairy-Tale Files, published once weekly, feature three variations of a fairy tale chosen by one of Fairy Tale Review’s editors.Fairy tales seem to...
Fairy-Tale Files: Vagabond Fortresses, Flying Shadows Coming to a Town Near You
Fairy-Tale Files, published once weekly, feature three variations of a fairy tale chosen by one of Fairy Tale Review’s editors.Howl’s Moving Castle...
Fairy-Tale Files: Seven's Up
Fairy-Tale Files, published once weekly, feature three variations of a fairy tale chosen by one of Fairy Tale Review’s editors.The number seven...
Pins & Needles No. 20: Daniel Olivas
No. 20: Daniel OlivasQ: Your piece features a great deal of dream logic, such as Pánfilo accepting without question his ex-lover sitting atop a...
