I’ve got a new essay on fairy tales and feminism up on All Lit Canada. In it I tell all of you to read Amanda Leduc’s excellent book on fairy tales, disability, and making space… and quietly hope you’ll also read my book on fairy tales, contemporary rape culture, love and healing. I also tell you why I (a feminist) wore a tiara on my wedding day nearly eight years ago.
I don’t tend to publish a lot of my prose, so I’m extra excited that this essay has a home and that I can share it with you. It’s such a pleasure to get to dive into the reasons I love fairy tales, the way I distrust some of the ways they’re handled by patriarchal models, and the ways in which I believe we can make the sharing of them a community-building, joy-affirming activity.
“If the power in fairy tales lies in their ability to connect and build communities, we need to think about ways to make communities that support everyone. Who gets to have a happy ending?”
Read the whole essay over on All Lit Up Canada: “Wearing Tiaras: On Fairy Tales, Community, and Happiness.” And if you enjoy it, and especially if you’re into fairy tales and feminism and you haven’t got your copy of The Brightest Thing yet, I hope the essay will entice you into buying, too.
Ruth Daniell 