Forgotten Fairy Tales By Radical French Women
Brothers Grimm are permanently associated and attributed with fairy tales but have you ever heard of the 17th century conteuses? French women fed up with the repression of the times wrote and published “fairytale”–the term being coined by Baroness Marie Catherine d’Aulnoy who published her first in 1690. “It was in the repressive milieu of the troubled last decade of 17th century France that fairytales crystallised as a genre. Performed and recited in literary salons, from 1697 the fairytales of D’Aulnoy, Comtesse Henriette-Julie de Murat, Mademoiselle L’Héritier and Madame Charlotte-Rose de la Force were gathered into collections and published.”
New Animated Series
Thriller author Brad Meltzer and illustrator Christopher Eliopoulos’ children’s book series Ordinary People Change the World has been adapted into a PBS animated series: Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum. You can start watching today and travel in time with Xavier, his little sister, Yadina, and their friend Brad as they meet inspiring historical figures to help them solve problems.
“Hidden Figures” Receive Congressional Gold Medals
Christine Darden (engineer), Mary Jackson (engineer), Katherine Johnson (mathematician), and Dorothy Vaughan (computer programmer) have been awarded the highest civilian award in the US. The four women finally got recognition thanks to Margot Lee Shetterly’s book Hidden Figures which inspired the film starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe.