Rumpled Book Talk

A few weeks ago, I traveled back to my hometown to give a talk about my Rumpelstiltskin retelling, Rumpled, as part of the Marshall Area Fine Arts Council (MAFAC’s) read local series, which hosts book discussions with local authors. A recording of the talk is below.

In the talk, I discuss the origins of the story in an ongoing “firstborn child” joke I had with my friends in college, as well as my interest in the idea that we assign morality and other character traits based on someone’s physical appearance alone.

Some of the images I used in the talk can be found here, courtesy of the SurLaLune Fairy Tales repository (an awesome resource for anyone who loves fairy tales.)

• Creepy ‘Pilgrim-looking’ Rumpelstiltskin
• Lizard-like Rumpelstiltskin
• ‘Dopey’ Rumpelstiltskin
• Balding Rumpelstiltskin
• Pot-bellied Rumpelstiltskin

I also referenced the Shrek franchise’s depiction of Rumpelstiltskin, as well as the books Rumpelstiltskin by Paul O. Zelinsky, Rumpelstiltskin Returns, Fairy Tale Comics: Classic Tales Told by Extraordinary Cartoonists, and Rumpelstiltskin by Paul Galdone.