This morning I had 3 pages of the required 6 pages of next week's #FolkloreSociety #folklore paper.

Now I have 8, plus a folder of slides.

I am ahead.

DISCLAIMER: I decided today to put in some Noam Chomsky memes, thereby all but guaranteeing his demise the morning of my presentation. That won't be on me.

Well, this now exists in hard copy and I'm very excited. The rest of the issue looks good, too.

My article is Open Access, but even so you should consider joining @folkloresociety to support its publication.

#Folklore #folkloristics #FolkloreSociety
@folklore

Looking forward to next week's #FolkloreSociety online talk on 'Reinventing National History through Conspiracy Theories' by Dr Afrodite-Lidia Nounanaki of the University of the Aegean.

https://folklore-society.com/event/re-inventing-national-history-through-conspiracy-theories/ #folklore @folklore

Delighted that this is now published (open access) in TFH: The Journal of Folklore and History. It started life as a 90th birthday present for the great Jacqueline Simpson, and hopefully hasn't lost too much of the spirit that motivated it in the first place.

https://journals.psu.edu/folklorehistorian/article/view/17/17

#folklore #folklorists #folkloristics #FolkloreSociety @folklore

This is a great loss to the #folklore world. #GillianBennett was one of the towering figures of the discipline, and her work remains essential and accessible.

During my PhD, one of my informants told me he'd read a brilliant book on belief but couldn't remember the title offhand. I got home to his email asking 'Gillian Bennett's Traditions of Belief - do you know it?' Yes, I did (I've all but worn my copy smooth), and I admired his taste.

I was struck at the recent AFS conference just how many eminent US scholars wanted to talk about British #folkloristics and specifically asked after Gillian.

I never met her in person, but we worked closely together on a #FolkloreSociety award judging panel. She was typically brilliant and insightful, but wholly supportive and welcoming. I treasure a copy of 100 Best British Ghost Stories that she randomly and kindly sent me on publication.

My thoughts are with her family.

https://folklore-society.com/blog-post/dr-gillian-bennett-1939-2023/
@folklore

Blimey, look at that for a #folklore shortlist! This is the intense and intensely brilliant shortlist for this year's Katharine Briggs Award from the #FolkloreSociety. Winner to be announced 7 November...

https://folklore-society.com/blog-post/the-katharine-briggs-award-2023/
@folklore

Hey #queer #folklore! Have you booked for next week's #FolkloreSociety talk on St Sebastian, Queer Icon, yet? Tickets available at the link below.

I'm excited to be chairing this one, but this probably means I'll get to exercise chair's prerogative and mention (again) my delirious formative moment when the infant Channel 4 screened Derek Jarman's Sebastiane way back when.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-legend-of-saint-sebastian-the-queer-icon-tickets-536044402237

A picture I never tire of, and regularly post on #InternationalWomensDay. Here are three of the towering figures in recent British #folklore #folkloristics, all of them former Presidents of the #FolkloreSociety.

Venetia Newall (RIP), on the left, was instrumental in reorienting the FLS after a period of intellectual and scholarly torpor, mainly by turning outwards to the best international scholarship, where her contribution was enthusiastically welcomed and recognised.

She was ably supported by brilliant younger FLS members like Jacqueline Simpson (right), happily still with us.

Their work restored the FLS's intellectual status and provided a platform for excellent scholars like Marion Bowman (centre) to build on.

My discipline would not be what it is without them and their work.

@folklore