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Welcome to the Folklore & Fiction podcast, where folklore scholarship meets the storytelling craft.
Episodes
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
This episode of the Folklore & Fiction podcast was first published as a newsletter in May 2020. I'm recording it as a supplemental podcast now so that new listeners and subscribers have an opportunity to engage with the material. In it, I'm writing about folk customs with help from scholars Richard Sweterlitsch and Wayland Hand, author Naomi Novik, and friends Vigdís Andersen and Sveinn Svavarsson, among others. (Companion Dispatch: https://csmaccath.com/blog/what-folk-custom)
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
This episode of the Folklore & Fiction podcast was first published as a newsletter in April 2020. I'm recording it as a supplemental podcast now so that new listeners and subscribers have an opportunity to engage with the material. In it, I'm discussing curses with help from scholars Natalie Underberg, Evangelos Gr. Avdikos, and others, outlining the use of curses in storytelling, and providing you with an example and a reflective writing exercise. If you're new to the podcast or missed March 2020's "What is a charm?" edition, do go back and check it out before engaging with this one. Many folklore scholars agree that curses may be viewed as negative charms, and with that in mind, this discussion is an extension of the last one. (Companion Dispatch: https://csmaccath.com/blog/what-curse)
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
This episode of the Folklore & Fiction podcast was first published as a supplementary newsletter in March 2020, shortly after the pandemic was declared. I'm recording it as a supplemental podcast now so that new listeners and subscribers have an opportunity to engage with the material. In it, I'm discussing the value of keeping a journal you can pass on to others. (Companion Dispatch: https://csmaccath.com/blog/folklore-fiction-supplement-keeping-journal-uncertain-times)
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
This episode of the Folklore & Fiction podcast was first published as a newsletter in March 2020. I'm recording it as a supplemental podcast now so that new listeners and subscribers have an opportunity to engage with the material. In it, I'm discussing charms with help from scholars J. Stanley Hopkins, Jonathan Roper, and others, discussing the use of charms in storycraft, and providing you with an example and an exercise on the topic. (Companion Dispatch: https://csmaccath.com/blog/what-charm)
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
This episode of the Folklore & Fiction podcast was first published as a newsletter in February 2020. I'm recording it as a supplemental podcast now so that new listeners and subscribers have an opportunity to engage with the material. In it, I'm discussing superstitions with help from scholars Ülo Valk, Torunn Selberg, Alan Dundes, and others, discussing superstition in the context of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series of books, and providing you with an exercise on the topic. (Companion Dispatch: https://csmaccath.com/blog/what-superstition)
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
This episode of the Folklore & Fiction podcast was first published as a newsletter in January 2020. I'm recording it as a supplemental podcast now so that new listeners and subscribers have an opportunity to engage with the material. In it, I'm discussing rites of passage with help from scholars Arnold van Gennep, Alan Dundes, and others, discussing rites of passage in fiction, and providing you with storytelling insights related to the topic. (Companion Dispatch: https://csmaccath.com/blog/what-rite-passage)
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
Guest author Rebecca Buchanan continues the Summer Solstice 2022 discussion of Pagan futurism via her Pagan science fiction short story, "Hysthaany." Join us for this very special edition of the winter solstice dispatch and podcast. (Companion Dispatch: https://csmaccath.com/blog/winter-solstice-dispatch-2022)
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
Join me for a discussion of legendary sea monsters in my poem entitled "Leviathans," which was published in Strange Horizons. (Companion Dispatch: https://csmaccath.com/blog/winter-solstice-newsletter-2019)
You're a storyteller who loves folklore and wants to use it more effectively in the writing craft. I can help!
Who I Am
Greetings! I'm Dr. Ceallaigh S. MacCath-Moran. I hold B.A. in Celtic Studies from the University of Toronto, an M.A. in English and Creative Writing from the University of Maine, and a PhD in Folklore from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. I'm also an author, poet, and musician under the pen name C.S. MacCath, and I bring over twenty years of publishing and teaching experience to the Folklore & Fiction project.
What the Folklore & Fiction Project Is
The Folklore & Fiction dispatches and podcasts synthesize these passions with a focus on folklore scholarship aimed at storytellers. Here you can learn what folklore is and learn to use it in the writing craft from the first project ever developed by a professional folklorist for storytellers like you. The podcast is presently on hiatus, but all five seasons are still available free of charge when you sign up for an account here on the Folklore & Fiction website. They've been recommended by the American Folklore Society as a trusted source of folkloristic scholarship, they've been the topic of peer-reviewed ethnographic research, and they've been adopted as an aid to creative writing in several college and university classrooms.