This page is a celebratory follow up to our hugely successful ‘Ill met by moonlight’ conference. We’d like to thank everyone who took part–plenaries, speakers, and attendees–for making it such a wonderful affair, so there are some fairy rewards below.
Gothic Fairies – Your Responses 2021 Twitter Moment
We had some very enthusiastic responses and commentary on Twitter throughout the conference, so they have been collected into a Twitter moment here–thanks!
Flash fiction competition
The flash fiction competition was on the theme ‘Ill Met by Moonlight: Dark Encounters with the Fey’, inspired by the range of papers presented at the conference. All the entries were truly inspired and hit the right note of dark, fae enchantment that we were looking for. It was very difficult to narrow it down to pick a winner and in the end we chose two joint winners: Michaela Hausmann and Sarah McPherson–congratulations! These are the winning entries:
At night she sometimes calls to me
and beckons me to have a taste
Of her intoxicating majesty
I answer her with breathless haste
Once my lips feel her first kiss
I’m lost in her sweet crimson deep
My dreams – a bow’r of bliss
In her red-robed arms of sleep.
(Michaela Hausmann)
We are not little men, impish revellers, dwarven hunters. We are the knot in the tree trunk, the crooked root bursting from the earthen bank. We are the rocky walls of a mountain path. In the air. In the glen. Up and down, up and down, we see you.
(Sarah McPherson)
We’ve compiled the rest of the entries into a PDF file; please do download and read–there are some enchanting epiphanies of terror here!
Gothic fairy makeover
We had some brilliant responses to the fairy makeover competition too, including an animated version by Madeline Potter! (Results will be announced soon). Here’s a slide show of Gothic fairies:
And here is Madeline’s brilliant animation:
Conference photos
Many of you really got caught up in the Gothic fairy spirit and metamorphosed into glamorous Gothic fae creatures, featured in this slide show:
