Our Fantasy and Puppetry event celebrated the art of puppets and puppeteers in bringing fantasy and the fantastic to life, on stage, on screen and on the page. If you missed it, you can watch all sessions below. You will also find here a reading list of texts mentioned during these sessions!
Fantasy and Puppetry (Film): Brian and Wendy Froud, interviewed by Terri Windling:
Bringing Fantasy Creatures to Life : William Todd-Jones, interviewed by Terri Windling:
Bringing Fantasy Creatures to Life (Theatre): Howard Gayton:
Panel on Puppets and Puppetry in Fantasy Narratives:
Reading/Viewing Recommendations
Puppet-related fiction recommended by the panelists
- The Cuckoo Tree by Joan Aiken
- The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt
- Summer and Bird by Katherine Catmull
- Pinocchio by Carlos Collodi
- The Motion of Puppets by Keith Donohue
- The Magician’s Boy by Susan Cooper
- The Comical Tragedy & Tragical Comedy of Mr. Punch by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean
- Under the Poppy by Kathe Koja
- Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
- Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal
- The “Glamourist Histories” series by Mary Robinette Kowal
- Word Puppets by Mary Robinette Kowal
- The Box of Delights by John Masefield
- Puppet Master by Joanne Owen
- Titus Alone by Mervyn Peake
- Splendour of Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz
- The Shadow Glass by Josh Winning
- The Magicians of Caprona by Diana Wynne Jones
- What is Yours is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi
The two lists below were collated from the Zoom comments during all of the Fantasy and Puppetry sessions. Recommendations are listed in alphabetical order and are copied directly from the comments of attendees.
Puppeteers, Practitioners, and Theatre Companies
- Commedia dell’arte
- The Curious School of Puppetry
- Diana Wynne Jones
- Green Ginger
- Henk Schut
- Jimmy Grimes
- Karagiozis shadow puppets
- Laura Amy Schlitz
- The Little Angel puppet theatre in London
- Marjorie Batchelder
- Mummenschanz
- Neil Gaiman
- Neville Tranter
- Philip Pullman
- Puppet Animation Scotland
- Ursula Le Guin
More Text and Media Recommendations
- Bartholomew Fair by Ben Jonson
- The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
- The Complete Book of Puppetry by George Latshaw
- The Dark Crystal dir. by Jim Henson and Frank Oz
- The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (Netflix)
- His Dark Materials (TV series)
- Ice Age on Ice
- Labyrinth dir. Jim Henson
- LazyTown (TV show)
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe stage adaptation
- The Love of Seven Dolls by Paul Gallico
- The Muppet Show
- Princess Tutu (anime series)
- Puppets and Puppet Theatre by David Currell
- Puppets in Yorkshire by Walter Wilkinson
- Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
- The Runaway Pancake/Gingerbread Man stories
- Sesame Street (TV series)
- Sleep No More by Punchdrunk
- The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers
- Stage Beauty dir. by Richard Eyre
- Tales of the Gold Monkey (TV series)
- Toward an Aesthetic of the Puppet by Steve Tillis
- The Troubles of an Automaton by Clementina Black
- Queen of Clouds by Neil Williamson
- Unseen (puppet short film)
- The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
- The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner
- White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi
- The Wild Robot by Peter Brown