Elizabeth Hopkinson's Hidden Grove

Looking back on the year that's almost gone, I've been struck by just how many anthologies my short stories have appeared in this year.  In fact, it's been a bumper crop! I'd like to celebrate with a festive roundup of all my anthology appearances of 2016 (including the title of the short story featured in each). And I've even put up some links, so if you need some last minute Christmas presents, or even somewhere to spend your Christmas money, you know where to look!  https://twitter.com/UnstapledPress/media Venn Unstapled Press, March 2016 "The Ice Queen and the Mer-King" http://18thwall.com/product/those-who-live-long-forgotten-ii/ Those Who Live Long Forgotten II 18th Wall Productions, March 2016 "Claire de le Lune" The Forgotten and the Fantastical 2  Mother's Milk Books, March 2016 "Reve/Revival" Incandescence Transcendent Oloris Publishing, September 2016 "The Spirit of the Underground...

As promised, here is an update on my Big Week in Bradford: Here is my photo from the T&A, publicising the National Poetry Day film, with two of the other readers/writers. Here is a link to the film, with all the poems: http://bradford-city-of-film.com/big-screen/national-poetry-day/ And here I am, reading in the moon at The Wild Wood. Until next time!

It seems that this week, I will be popping up all over Bradford like a meerkat.  (Apologies to those of a nervous disposition!)  Several things have coincided at once, which is no bad thing.  Here's where I shall be: Wednesday 5th October: I may well appear in the Bradford Telegraph & Argus, as publicity for event #2. At any rate, I was photographed for it this afternoon. Thursday 6th October: It's National Poetry Day!  Along with a whole group of other people (mostly poets) I helped Bradford Libraries put together a poetry film, which will be shown on the big screen in Bradford City Park, as well as on YouTube .  I am reading one of the many poems from The Lord of the Rings , which seemed appropriate to my identity as a fantasy writer. (And a fitting thanks for how I began my career, as a LOTR fanfic writer). Friday 7th October: I will be reading three of my stories at the Wild Woods Bradford Launch Party.  This is a wonderful creative initia...

I'm writing this little blog in response to a blog by Book Riot.  http://bookriot.com/?p=109205 You know the sort of thing: if you could go back in time and hand some books to your 12-year-old self...?  So, without further ado, here's my list (in no particular order): 1.  Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne I was about 18 when I first read it, and knew I would have loved it earlier. 2. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien My young self actually thought this was a rival to Narnia, and had no idea Lewis and Tolkien were friends. 3. The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder The book that turned me back to contemporary fiction, after about a decade hiding in the 19th century in case Angela Carter jumped out at me again. 4. Overcoming Low Self-Esteem by Melanie Fennel Enough said. 5. The Dalemark Quartet by Diana Wynne Jones How did I miss her at time of writing?? 6. The Lais of Marie de France So I wouldn't have to wait until uni to know I didn't need to give up fairy...

As part of my research for my ongoing work-in-progress, the Angelio  series, I have been reading Charles Burney's Life and Writings of Metastasio (1796).  Metastasio was a poet, a writer of librettos for opera during the 18th century, who spent much of his career at the Hapsburg court of Vienna.  He was also a lifelong friend of the castrato Farinelli (Carlo Broschi) to whom he wrote many letters. I couldn't help bring caught up short, though, by a couple of letters to a Signora Giacinta Betti Onofri, who was acquainted with Farinelli in Bologna.  According to Burney, "this lady...was a poetess, a musician, and an electrician." (Vol. 3, p. 57) An electrician!  I couldn't help picturing a lady in towering 18th-century headdress and blue overalls, knocking on the door and saying she'd come to fix the wiring!   Of course, what Dr Burney meant was something even more intriguing.  On p.60, he goes on to call her: "a smatterer in natural philosophy and elect...

Forget Super Saturday or Super Sunday.  I've just got back from Super Swanwick, the annual Writers' School in the heart of Derbyshire, where I return year after year to meet old friends and new, learn new things, share tips and enjoy Britain's craziest live entertainment.  My highlights for this year were... 1. Running into Ingrid from the National Gallery/Liars' League prize, and subsequently running a pop-up film showing of both our stories being performed at the National Gallery. 2. Steve Hartley's 4-part course on the Psychology of Characters.  If you have to ask what "knicker net.com" might be, you clearly weren't there! 3. The fancy dress disco, for which I dressed as Jasper Fforde's literary detective, Thursday Next.  Yes, that's THURSDAY NEXT I'm dressed as.  Surprised how many people hadn't a clue, when there were at least three Thursday Next novels lying around the conference centre.  True fans we will pleased to know that I t...

Last Friday (22nd July) I had the most amazing time at the National Gallery in London.  I was one of five winners of a competition run by the Gallery and Liars' League London for new short stories inspired by a painting in the National Gallery.  I chose The Family of Darius Before Alexander by Paolo Veronese , which you can see behind me in the photo.  I was so excited to find the real painting in the Gallery; I was practically dancing about in front of it! Picture courtesy of Liars' League Related Post: Ladies, Gentlemen and a League of Liars The event was part of the National Gallery's Inspiration Late event.  There were loads of different activities going on in different rooms, and our storytelling event was in Room 61.  As you can see from the photos, each story was read by an actor, next to a print of the painting that inspired it.  It was fascinating to hear all the stories, and to discover the different ways in which the authors had...

I would like to thank the wonderful people at Waterstones, Bradford Wool Exchange for a brilliant prize that I won a few weeks ago - free lunch and a copy of The Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave.  You can see the lunch here, right before I ate it! I've now finished reading the book, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  It's one of those books that is a physical object of desire, before you even start reading the story.  It has maps!  (You've got to love a book with maps.)  Actually, the main protagonist, Isabella, is a cartographer's daughter - hence the ink and stars of the title - and maps play a big part in the story.  The book also has blue and yellow map-themed decoration on every page, and blue writing.  Perfect. The story itself is a children's/teenage fantasy, set on an island called Joya.  According to myth, it used to be a floating island, but is now divided and ruled by a cruel governor.  However, when Isabella's friend goe...

31st May is blog link-up day for fairy tale anthology  The Forgotten and the Fantastical II,  published by Mothers' Milk Books.   For the link-up, I'd like to share with you this video from the Royal Ballet, about reviving the 1946 production of  Sleeping Beauty. My contribution to the anthology, a re-imagining of  Sleeping Beauty  called   Rêve/Revival,  was partly inspired by footage of an old Royal Ballet production of  Sleeping Beauty , starring Margot Fonteyn. The version I watched was recorded especially for TV in 1955, but the live theatre version was staged in 1946, to re-open the Royal Opera House after the Second World War. I didn't know about the 1946 version when I wrote  Rêve/Revival , so it's fascinating to discover more connections between  Sleeping Beauty , war and new beginnings.  In my story, both the Napoleonic and First World Wars change the map forever, while humans and fairies fin...

In my last blog, I talked about a book I read while I was ill ( The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee). Well, as it happens, I read quite a lot of books while I was ill - there wasn't much else to do! One of them was the very influential I Am Malala, which led me to produce this re-write of Cinderella, highlighting the difficulty of education for girls in many parts of the world. Please watch and share!  And if you want to know more about the work of the Malala Fund, and how you can help make a difference, visit them at malala.org.

The Silver Metal Love r, here pictured with another unusual romance, The Ghost Bride. During the colder months - while I was ill, in fact - I read Tanith Lee's The Silver Metal Lover for the first time. It was an emotional read, and it's only now that enough time has passed for me to be able to write about it objectively. Briefly, the book is about a girl called Jane, who falls in love with a robot called Silver.  Silver is basically the perfect man - he's been designed to bring pleasure and happiness to people.  But Jane finds it hard to believe that a robot could genuinely be in love with her.  Meanwhile, Silver's creators have pronounced him "faulty" and want to destroy him. It was only when I went looking for fan art of Silver, that I saw someone had suggested the tale is based on the myth of Persephone.  This got me thinking about other aspects of the story, and realising that the book is actually packed with references to Greek myth (and a little bit to ...

Yesterday, I read this excellent blog post by Liberty Hardy (aka @MissLiberty) on Bookriot, listing 100 strange and unusual novels. http://bookriot.com/2016/04/11/i-got-your-weird-right-here-100-wonderful-strange-and-unusual-novels/ I was rather disappointed that I'd only read three-and-a-bit out of 100 (I'm actually in the middle of one right now!) But then I remembered that I've read plenty of other bizarre books. And enjoyed most of them -I do love a bit of weird! So I thought I'd make my own list in response, beginning with the original four and going on from there. Sadly, I could only come up with 30 at short notice (it's Monday morning!) but it's been fun to reminisce. 30 Weird Books I Have Read 1. Viper Wine by Hermione Eyre I believe Bookriot described this as "if David Bowie wrote historical fiction." 2. The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen So, this author vanishes in a flurry of snow, and... 3. Brave Story by Miyuki ...

     Some time last year, I was in a second hand bookshop, when a title leapt out at me: The Fool Beloved  by Jeffery Farnol.  Regular readers will know how much Robin Hobb's Fool, Beloved, means to me.  So, I simply had to buy the book, just because of its title. I asked Robin Hobb on Twitter if there was any connection between this book and her work, and she said she knew nothing of it.  But she would like to know what it was about.  Now, there is a challenge!  I set about reading the book and finding out what I could about its author. According to Wikipedia: "Jeffery Farnol  (10 February 1878 – 9 August 1952) was a British writer since (sic) 1907 until his death, known for writing more than 40  romance novels , some formulaic and set in the  Georgian Era  or  English Regency  period, and  swashbucklers . He, with  Georgette Heyer , founded the Regency romantic genre." The Fool Beloved was published i...

I have always loved "Women in Towers" stories.   Rapunzel , Marie de France's Yonec , and especially Tennyson's Lady of Shallo t.  Even Disney's Tangled .  (What's not to like about Flynn Rider?) The woman in the tower has always been a figure I can relate to.  Sometimes for negative reasons - being too shy and anxious to communicate with the world, or knowing the "invisible bubble" that separates you from the world during periods of intense depression.  Sometimes for positive reasons - I associate the tower with the Inviolate Female, and the symbolism of virginity, chastity and asexuality.  I have always wanted to live in a tower and, even now, can't imagine not choosing to have my bedroom in the attic. This week, my very own "Women in Towers" fairy tale, The Ice Queen and the Mer-King , was re-released in Venn , an anthology from Unstapled Press devoted to different ideas of gender and sexuality.   The Ice Queen  is very...

Today is St Valentine's Day, the day when, by tradition, the birds choose their mates, and people in many countries celebrate love. In recent years, people have started to comment on the fact that Valentine's Day has become insular.  More often nowadays, the focus is on relationships we are already in, with spouses, partners etc.  Single people can feel left out and lonely. I think it's time to reinstate the kind of Valentine's Day Samuel Pepys knew and wrote about in his diary.  In his day, Valentine's Day was more like Secret Santa.  You chose someone from among your friends and acquaintances (someone of the opposite sex) to be your Valentine for the day.  You then gave them a little present. Here's an entry from Pepys's diary, 13th February 1662/63.  (Two different years are given because of the Calendar Shift of the late 18th century, changing the beginning of the year from springtime to January):- This evening my wife had a great mind to choose  V...

Back in October, I launched Margaret's Voyage .  Four copies of Silver Hands were sent out into the world, with instructions for those who received it to read, sign and pass it on.  But not before sharing a photo on Twitter, telling us where in the world they were.  At the same time, I encouraged readers around the world to share their pictures too. And the pictures have been coming in!  Here are some of the places Margaret has visited so far...     A very short voyage, within my home village of Clayton. Canton Berne, Switzerland. A voyage along England's south coast from Tavistock to Wallingford... ...and onwards to Ferndown. Sparkling in the German capital, Berlin. The university town of Cambridge, UK. And Kalasin, Thailand, from whence to New Zealand. I can't wait to see where Margaret will end up next.  So, readers all, post up your photos, and don't forget to use the hashtag, #MargaretsVoyage.