AFTS awardCongratulations to the amazing artist and creative Lorena Carrington, such a wonderfully worthy winner of the Award for Inspiration and Contribution to Australian Fairy Tale Culture, announced today at the Australian Fairy Tale Society Conference.

I adore Lorena’s own book, Wiser Than Evening, and her collaborative projects with Kate Forsyth, the beautifully illustrated books Vasilisa the Wise and Other Tales of Brave Young Women, The Buried Moon and Other Tales of Bright Young Women, and Snow White, Rose Red and Other Tales of Kind Young Women, and look forward to the next releases in this magical series, as well as her collaboration with Sophie Masson, due out in November.

Lorena is such a talented, kind, generous person, and contributes so much to the Australian Fairy Tale Society with her wisdom, knowledge and artistic talent, and I am so glad she won the award this year.

Lorenas books

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A Lovely Surprise

May 2020: I’m honoured (and, to be honest, a little shocked) to have been nominated for the AFTS Award for Inspiration and Contribution to Australian Fairy Tale Culture for my new book The Swan Maiden, alongside amazing artist Lorena Carrington and my all-time favourite author Juliet Marillier.

lorena carringtonLorena exhibits her gorgeous artwork, created the lovely book Wiser Than Evening, and has collaborated with author Kate Forsyth on the Long Lost Fairy Tales Collection, which includes Vasilisa the Wise and Other Tales of Brave Young Women, The Buried Moon and Other Tales of Bright Young Women, and Snow White, Rose Red and Other Tales of Kind Young Women. She also runs art workshops and speaks at conferences and literary festivals on topics ranging from visual storytelling, creating art in the Australian landscape, and feminism in myth and fairy tales. You can check out her website here, and her Instagram here.

juliet marillier

And I love every single one of Juliet’s stories, which are steeped in magic, myth, history and the uncanny, with the importance of love and a connection with nature at the heart of each one. She’s the author of some of my all-time favourite books, from the enchanting Sevenwaters Series (six novels including Daughter of the Forest and Son of the Shadows) to the award-winning Blackthorn & Grim Series, the beautiful Bridei Chronicles, the Viking duology Saga of the Light Isles, the Shadowfell and Wildwood Series, stand alone stories Heart’s Blood and Beautiful, the short story collection Prickle Moon, and the new Warrior Bards Series, which includes the gorgeous Harp of Kings. The second in this trilogy, A Dance With Fate, is out in August (I can’t wait!), and later in the year Mother Thorn and Other Strange Tales, a collection of four fairy tale-based stories, will be published. Juliet is a wonderful speaker, an inspiring storyteller, a kind mentor and teacher, a druid and wise woman, and a dedicated carer to her small pack of rescue dogs. Visit her website here.

The award will be presented at the Australian Fairy Tale Society Conference on June 8.