March 2017 Writing Show: Fairytales, Folklore & Stories that Endure

Fairytales and folklore are a part of our storytelling culture from our earliest days of childhood, yet these tales as old as time are still as relevant as ever. How can they teach us about writing stories that will endure? How can we borrow their themes, motifs, and characters and create them anew? How do they shed light upon who we are? This panel packed with award-winning literary talent will be sure to illuminate, educate, and inspire.

Date: Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Time: 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm (Meet & Greet at 6:00; program starts at 6:45)

Location: Firehouse Theatre 1609 West Broad Street, Richmond, VA, 23220

Price: $12 – Members; $15 Non-members ($5 for students)

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Speakers

Susann Cokal is the author of the 2014 Printz Honor book, The Kingdom of the Little Wounds, which has been described as “Game of Thrones meets Grimm’s Fairy Tales.” She holds two PhD’s: one from Berkeley in comparative literature and one from Binghamton University in creative writing. Susann has published critical work on writers such as Jeanette Winterson, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Georges Bataille and currently reviews fiction for The New York Times Book Review. She moved to Richmond in 2004 to teach creative writing and contemporary literature at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Harry Heckel started by writing pen and paper roleplaying games, notably for White Wolf Game Studio, before moving into novels. As Lee Lightner, he co-authored two Space Wolf novels set in the Warhammer 40K universe. He is currently half of the writing team of Jack Heckel, and under that name has written The Charming Tales series from Harper Voyager Impulse. His latest novel from Harper is The Dark Lord, a parody of epic fantasy, stuffed with geek references. He is currently writing the next book in the series, The Darker Lord, and preparing for The Darkest Lord, both scheduled for release in 2018. He also has a few independent novels under his own name and does freelance work for roleplaying, board game, and miniature wargame companies. He lives in central Virginia with his wife, daughter, and two cats. He can be found at www.harryheckel.com and www.jackheckel.com.

Solveig Eggerz, a native of Iceland, is the author of Seal Woman, an award-winning novel informed by the selkie legend. For many years she told folk and fairy tales in schools in Alexandria, Virginia. Using a blend of told and written story, she teaches writing at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland, as well as “Sharing our Stories,” a writing program for individuals emerging from difficult circumstances. She holds a PhD in comparative literature from Catholic University. Her writing has appeared in such places as The Northern Virginia Review, Delmarva Review, and Palo Alto Review.

Moderator

Douglas Jones has written and seen produced more than forty plays and screenplays. BBC’s Bernard Mayes cited Jones’s “ability to write in ways which are appealing to the general population without condescension, and focus on the essentials without sugaring the pill.” A Richmond News-Leader critic said Jones’s work for young audiences “has a fascination with the infinite expressiveness and flexibility of the English language that rivals Sesame Street.” And J. Christie noted that Jones’s plays combine “the rhythms of Gilbert and Sullivan, references and rhymes from countless familiar tales, and a bit of the late Jim Henson’s gift for finding the inner voices of children.”

Recent projects include a one-act play Frankenstein Lives!, which aired on Virginia’s PBS stations, and four films commissioned by the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation for its 400th Anniversary (currently playing at the Jamestown Settlement & Yorktown Victory Center).

James River Writers is grateful for the following sponsorship for the March Writing Show:

Don’t miss the Thursday, March 30, Master Class with Solveig Eggerz:

Play Before You Write: Deepening Your Story & Escaping Writer’s Block through Pre-writing