The Guardian’s podcast with MSt alumna Kiran Millwood Hargrave and Jessie Burton talking about feminist fairytales is available online.
From the announcement:
“On this week’s show, we’re talking feminist fairytales with Jessie Burton and Kiran Millwood Hargrave.
Burton’s latest book, The Restless Girls, is a feminist retelling of the Brothers Grimm story The Twelve Dancing Princesses. In the Grimms’ original, a dozen nameless sisters are punished and forced into marriage because they love to dance. Among many changes, Burton gives each of the 12 women at the heart of the story a name – and a racing-driver mother.
Millwood Hargrave’s third book, The Way Past Winter, is not a retelling of a particular fairytale. Inspired by Scandinavian and Slavic folklore, Hargrave tells the story of three sisters who go searching for their missing brother in a magical and dangerous land. Both authors explain the importance of giving their female characters agency, the details they changed to subvert traditional fairytales, and how they deal with male readers who hesitate to read their books.”