Beauty is a collection of twelve stories arising out of the Magical Journeys Creative Writing workshops for the Queen’s Park Arts Centre. Each story is linked to a different calendar month and by the unifying theme of Beauty.
These stories are contemporary fairy tales: retelling, re-imagining and rediscovering what it is to be human. They are true in the way all stories are true, and they are all absolutely a work of the imagination, spooled out of the creative flux of which we are all a part.
We write to capture the ordinary and make it glow, to take risks on the page, to be fully present in the world, to entertain and to make a kind of magic. We write because story is at the heart of who we are and how we belong to each other. This collection of short stories grew out of a series of workshops designed by Claire Steele and Magical Journeys for the Queens Park Arts Centre to prompt creative flow.
The writers in this collection have come together in random ways, drawn by the power of imagining our way into the hearts and minds of an extraordinary array of characters and situations. The way the groups work is fluid, organic, open to chance, but it is a space in which charm, candour and creativity can all flourish. The Queens Park Arts Centre is a space in which to make remarkable discoveries with people who generously and imaginatively share their creative energy. This book arose out of a series of workshops designed to re-imagine fairy stories, the deep, cultural stories at the heart of who we are. We write because we are human, and full of passion. It’s mortal work, but it tells you that it’s good to be mortal.
Contents:
- January: Ice Sanctuary – Georgia Reilly
- February: Shoes – Babybel
- March: Fée Marraine – H.A.C. Simm
- April: The Water Sprite and the Waterfall – Denny Bradbury
- May: Little May Ju Yishin
- June: Secret, Black and Midnight Hags Christine Garvey
- July: Swipe Right for Danger – Lynn Hillston
- August: The Cloud Fairies – Jackie Brett
- September: Last Letter – Coco Jones
- October: The Maiden, The Vulture & The Magic Mirror Alison Gale
- November: Amongst the Captain’s Unfinished Works Claire Steele
- December: If This Were a Fairy Story… Jill Glenn
