Reading Children’s Fairytales

Mette Lindahl-Wise is a children's literature PhD researcher at Goldsmiths. Her research focuses on the representations of females (children and adults) in the Carnegie Winners. A central component of her PhD is action research with a group of teenage girls to understand how they read and perceive these representations. She holds an MA in Anglo-American Literary Relations from University College London and an MA in Children’s Literature from Goldsmiths. Mette has published several articles on her research and is also an Associate Lecturer on Goldsmith's Children’s Literature MA programme.Harry Oulton is currently in the final year of his creative writing PhD and is an associate lecturer in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths College. His YA novel is an adaptation which combines elements from 15th-century letters, a Robert Louis Stevenson novel from the 19th century and a family biography from 2004 to create a piece of original fiction. Harry worked at the BBC and Granada for over 20 years, including stints as a script editor, drama producer and ultimately executive producer of the BAFTA-nominated The Great Train Robbery. He has written and published three middle-grade novels, a book of writer’s prompts, short fiction, articles on adaptation and three award-winning short films.Vicky Macleroy is a Professor of Language and Literacy, Head of the MA Children’s Literature programme (2021–2025) and Director of the Research Centre for Language, Culture and Learning at Goldsmiths, University of London (2016–2025). Her work focuses on linguistic diversity, multimodality and children’s/Young Adult literature; literacy and digital storytelling; language development, poetry and multilingualism; and activist citizenship and transformative pedagogy. Underpinning her research is a commitment to research methodologies that embrace collaborative and creative ways of researching. Vicky is co-director of an international literacy project ‘Critical Connections Multilingual Digital Storytelling’ (2012-ongoing) that uses digital storytelling to support engagement with language and literacy.Emily Corbett is a children’s and YA literature specialist with particular interest in the British book market and paratextual materials. Emily serves as General Editor for The International Journal of Young Adult Literature. Her monograph In Transition: Young Adult Literature and Transgender Representation (2024) was published with the University Press of Mississippi.

• Preface Harry Oulton, Mette Lindahl-Wise, Vicky Macleroy and Emily CorbettIntroduction Jack ZipesSection 1: Theoretical Perspectives 01. 'Silently Taking up Space': Gretel Retells Alice Penfold02. A Word after a Word after a Word is Power: Fairy-Tale Misogyny Reinforced and OverthrownMette Lindahl-Wise03. Using Critical Race Theory to Explore the Potential of Children’s Texts as CounternarrativesSeraphina Simmons-Bah04. Defamiliarising the Forest: An EcoGothic Reading of ‘Hansel and Gretel’ Sara Shahwan05. Translating and Transforming Hansel and Gretel Jack Zipes06. 'Hansel and Gretel' and The Hourglass of Adaptation Harry OultonSection 2: Multimodal Approaches 07. The Fairy Tale Lives On: Marketing ‘Hansel and Gretel’ and Other Tales to a Young Adult Audience Emily Corbett08. Exploring the Transgressive, Taboo and Far Out in a Graphic Novel of ‘Hansel and Gretel’ Vicky Macleroy09. Feeling the Story: A New Materialist Approach to Exploring an Embodied Reading of Hansel and Gretel in The Singing Bones Helen Jones10. Hip Hop 'Hansel and Gretel' Christian Foley11. Entangled Adaptations: Gretel, Redesigned Sam HoldstockSection 3: Personal and Creative Responses12. Approaching ‘Hansel and Gretel’ Inside Out Michael Rosen13. Using ‘Hansel and Gretel’ to Nurture Creative Healing and Augment Psychic RealitiesFrancis Gilbert14. ‘Hansel and Gretel’: Sustaining Stories and the Ache for Home in Red Leaves Sita Brahmachari15. We'll Leave The Light On For YouAnna Dempsey16. Hanif and Gazal Ardashir Vakil