BENDIGO readers will soon have the chance to explore the mystic world of fairytales, with a distinctly Australian flavour.
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Collaborators on a new collection of Australian fairytales South of the Sun will share their joy in the genre at an upcoming Bendigo Writers Festival event.
The work is a collection of stories for the 21st century, in part driven by Bendigo resident Louise John-Krol.
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A co-editor of the volume Ms John-Krol has a lifelong interest in fairies, which she has expressed through several albums of music, as well as poetry.
She said the collection was inspired by the output of the Australian Fairy Tale Society, which members wanted to share more broadly.
Ms John-Krol said fairytales offered a way of going more deeply into reality, rather than an escape from it.
"Through fairytales you have some of the most profound psychological insights, you have solutions to problems, you have a way of elders passing on wisdom to youngers," Ms John-Krol said.
"They're wisdom tales, they're wonder tales. They reawaken your wonder with the world.
"Something creative, that is beautiful, well told, well crafted, with magic in it, wisdom in it ... has a lot to offer the culture."
Ms John-Krol said as the group compiled the work, members realised they had a huge responsibility to make the work reflect what they would like Australia to strive to be.
She said the group wanted the freedom to question and play with the tropes of fairytales within their own national context, without being subject to European or American cultural pull.
The collation features works from writers of a wide variety of backgrounds, including Indigenous Australians.
Ms John-Krol said the group wanted to see what could come from the mix of cultures within Australia sharing fairy stories, rather than imposing a European framework.
The result includes well-known writers, as well as people whose work was previously unknown, but had entered a competition to be published in the collection.
Ms John-Krol said stories for the volume had to meet two criteria: to be set in Australia, and include a magical or supernatural element.
She said in some it came through a talking bird, other a totem, a dryad in a tree, or a strange dream.
Ms John-Krol will discuss fairytales with contributors and Eugen Bacon at session Once upon a time, as part of the Bendigo Writers Festival.
The session will take place on Friday May 7, from 4.30-5.30pm. More information is available at: bendigowritersfestival.com.au/
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