It’s European Literature Night tonight, and this whole week the British Academy in London is celebrating fairy tales.
(c) Jan Pieńkowski, The Kingdom Under the Sea
This lunchtime Jack Zipes, who translates fairy tales in German, Italian and English, will be talking at the British Academy about his The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, the first translation into English of the first edition of Grimm’s tales. There are more events throughout the week.
Tickets sold fast, but you can still get to the exhibition, Telling Tales from around the world. Angela Carter illustrated by an Azeri, Igor Karash, and George MacDonald illustrated by a Romanian, Madalina Andronic, Chinese and Native American tales are all being exhibited around the events, and the images are gorgeous.
And if you’re not in London, but still want utterly gorgeous fairytale illustrations, Polish artist Jan Pieńkowski is your man. I was raised first on his Meg and Mog and later The Kingdom Under the Sea (Joan Aiken’s retelling of various Eastern European tales). It may be no coincidence that his retelling of Polish folk tales with David Walser, The Glass Mountain, was published the month before Zipes’ translation of the Grimm brothers last autumn. You can find a wealth of his illustrations on Pintrest.
(c) Jan Pieńkowski, The Glass Mountain
Translator, editor, writer, reader
found in translation 
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