The Folklore Podcast

A Folklore Podcast Bonus Feature.

Recorded live at the UK Ghost Story Festival 2023 at the Museum of Making in Derby, host Mark Norman chats with screenwriter and novelist Stephen Volk.

To support the work of the Folklore Podcast and the Folklore Library and Archive is preserving folklore for the future, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

The idea of the trickster is a strong archetype in mythology and folklore in different cultures around the world. Whether a deity, a human or something more anthropomorphic, the trickster uses their intellect to create confusion, subvert rules or simply, to play tricks.

Of course, the trickster is not just confined to mythology. Where folklore crosses into popular culture, we can still find the trickster looming large from older texts such as Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream with Puck at the centre, to Looney Tunes’s Bugs Bunny.

On this episode of the podcast, special guest Dr. Shepherd Siegel, author of two books on the theme of the trickster, discusses the subject with literary correspondent Hilary Wilson.

To support the work of the Folklore Podcast and the Folklore Library and Archive, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

We shine a spotlight on an often overlooked and misunderstood part of the English folk dance tradition as we welcome special guest Lucy Wright to discuss Girls' Carnival Morris tradition. One of the most spectacular forms of English folk dance, Carnival Morris emerged and remains primarily in the North West of England and is one of the few competitive folk dance forms.

In what is a truly important episode covering history, tradition, inclusion, gendering and diversity, Lucy provides an in-depth look into an area in which she is one of the world's very few researchers.

To support the work of the Folklore Podcast and the Folklore Library and Archive is preserving material such as this for the future, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast or go to our website at www.thefolklorepodcast.com and make a small one-off donation.

Guest interviewer, writer Beth O'Brien (the founder of Disabled Tales) meets with author Catherine Bloor to discuss her novel 'Soul of a Raven', a genre-defying mix of magic, folklore and mystery set across generations and steeped in real-world history and lore.

This is a Folklore Podcast Book Club episode.

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We meet writer/director Peter Dunne and actress Margaret McAuliffe from the celebrated Irish horror podcast 'Petrified' to discuss dark folklore from Ireland, how the horror genre and folklore utilise in-built human fear reactions and how folklore and belief can be used to write in the horror format.

Support the work of The Folklore Podcast and The Folklore Library and Archive in collecting and preserving folklore for everyone on our Patreon page where you can also find more exclusive folklore content.

In the first of a short series of episodes profiling American storytellers, we meet Cooper Braun who reminds us that folk and fairy tales are not just for children. An accomplished and prize-winning slam teller, Cooper's first love is traditional tales and he discusses this in great detail.

The episode ends with his telling of "The True Confessions of Prince Charming".

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Visit Cooper's website at https://www.cooperbraun.com/

Season 8 of The Folklore Podcast kicks off with an exploration of the subject of the English folk tale, with guest Neil Philip. Neil, who originally published the Penguin Book of English Folktales years ago now has a new revised edition out with Watkins publishers, full of analysis and insight into some famous and lesser known folk tales. Neil's work has been highly praised by the likes of Neil Gaiman (who supplied the foreword for this book), Alan Garner (who is discussed in this episode too) and Philip Pullman.

Neil is in conversation with Dr Jenny Barrett, film lecturer from Edge Hill University, and the episode is presented by creator of the Folklore Podcast, Mark Norman.

To support the work of the Folklore Podcast and the Folklore Library and Archive in collecting and preserving folklore for the future, access extra material and join our Discord server, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

In the final show of Season 7, we welcome back film director George Popov to discuss the second in his 'Sideworld' series of documentaries. This time, George explores folklore and legend connected with stories of the sea, in conversation with theatre and film correspondent Tracy Nicholas.

You can visit the website for Rubicon Films on this link.

To support the work of the Folklore Podcast and the Folklore Library and Archive in collecting and preserving folklore materials for the future, please visit our Patreon page.

The stories in our culture are vital to our identity. But, what happens when our history and the stories associated with it are rewritten? How has folklore been used in the past to convey hidden meaning, or weaponised in a power struggle?

Discussing these important cultural points in this episode of the Folklore Podcast is journalist and broadcaster Jane Thynne, author (under the pen-name C.J. Carey) of the novels Widowland and Queen High.

You can visit Jane's website at https://janethynne.com/

To support the work of The Folklore Podcast and the Folklore Library and Archive in preserving folklore and making it freely available for the future, please visit our Patreon page or learn more about our fundraising.

In 1943, a group of boys wandering the woodlands near Hagley Hall, in Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England, discovered the remains of an unknown woman stuffed inside a hollowed Wych Elm tree. To this day her identity remains unknown.

In 1944, however, mysterious graffiti began to adorn the walls of the West Midlands reading WHO PUT BELLA IN THE WYCH ELM? This graffiti reignited interest and the theories about her were plentiful.

In 2017, filmmaker Tom Lee Rutter released the award-winning docu-drama 'Bella in the Wych Elm' and explored many of these theories.

In this episode of The Folklore Podcast, our film and theatre correspondent Tracy Nicholas chats with Tom about the case, his film and other work. You can visit the Carnie Films website to learn more here.

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