Rebel Folklore: Empowering Tales of Spirits, Witches, and Other Misfits from Anansi to Baba Yaga - Hardcover

by Icy Sedgwick (Author), Melissa Jarram (Illustrator)

Rebel Folklore gathers 50 of the darkest and most complicated folktale characters from around the world, showing readers why we should care about the rebels and misfits of ancient stories.

Folktales were humble stories, passed down generations by those on the fringes of society: women, peasants, outcast groups. Across the world, these ancient stories are filled with strange characters, complicated figures who hold up a mirror to the world that dreamt them up. From outspoken women cast as witches to anti-authority figures denounced as criminals, flawed heroes to relatable villains, Rebel Folklore celebrates 50 of these misfits and what they mean for us today.

Whether it's Muma Padurii, the Romanian forest witch who terrorizes trespassers to protect the environment, the Churel, who stalks unfaithful men on her backwards feet, or Robin Hood, everyone's favorite lawless activist, we can learn a lot from the rebels of days gone by: how to speak out, embrace our flaws, and be unashamedly ourselves - even if that means being a cannibalistic swamp witch.

Author Biography

Icy Sedgwick is the host of the Fabulous Folklore podcast, investigating the strange and often bizarre world of European folklore (with a focus on the British Isles). She's particularly fascinated by the appearance of folklore in popular culture, but also the ways in which folklore preserves information in an easily transmissible format. In case she tires of all that folklore research, former ghost hunter Icy also writes Gothic horror fiction while studying for a PhD, looking at the representation of haunted houses in contemporary Hollywood cinema. Like any good folklorist, she has a horseshoe over her door, and she doesn't stray too close to bodies of water...

Melissa Kitty Jarram is a southeast-London-based artist working across digital and traditional mediums for clients such as Bethany Williams London, WePresent, Adidas and Nike. She embraces not only the beauty, but the hardships of the female experience and the violence inherent in life through her illustrations, paintings and moving image pieces. Her work is suffused with mythology - an extensive source of inspiration that, to this day, still unearths the depths of human nature and lends an invaluable insight into human psychology. Breaking 'the male gaze' is important to Jarram as she continues to explore and interpret the female form.

Melissa Kitty Jarram is a southeast-London-based artist working across digital and traditional mediums for clients such as Bethany Williams London, WePresent, Adidas and Nike. She embraces not only the beauty, but the hardships of the female experience and the violence inherent in life through her illustrations, paintings and moving image pieces. Her work is suffused with mythology - an extensive source of inspiration that, to this day, still unearths the depths of human nature and lends an invaluable insight into human psychology. Breaking 'the male gaze' is important to Jarram as she continues to explore and interpret the female form.