Ripening: Why Women Need Fairytales Now

Biographical Note:

Dr Sharon Blackie is an award-winning author and a psychologist with a background in mythology and folklore. Her highly acclaimed books, lectures and teaching programmes are focused on reimagining women's stories, and on the relevance of myth and fairy tales to the personal, cultural and environmental issues we face today. She has written six books, which have been translated into several languages: The Long Delirious Burning Blue, If Women Rose Rooted, The Enchanted Life, Foxfire, Wolfskin and Other Stories of Shapeshifting Women, Hagitude and Wise Women. Sharon's awards include the Society of Authors' Roger Deakin Award and a Creative Scotland Writer's Award. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an Honorary Member of the UK Association of Jungian Analysts.

PRAISE FORHAGITUDE: 'A fascinating book... well researched, packed with stories and bursting with lovely descriptions of the natural world. There's plenty in it to inspire women of every age' Christina Patterson, Sunday Times

'Already becoming a beloved cult classic, as a myth-infused manifesto for the possibilities for life from middle age onwards' Katherine May, author of Wintering

Author's note
• The stories we live by

1. What's in a fairy tale?

2. How we decide who we are

3. The Fairy-Tale Heroine's Journey

• Finding ourselves in fairy tales

  1. Budding: girl, forming

  2. Flowering: girl, unfurling

  3. Fruiting: woman, creating

  4. Ripening: coming home to the Self

  5. Seeding: The neverending story

• Shaping the story

  1. Reimagining our stories

  2. Cultivating you inner imaginarium

• Afterword: Why women need fairy tales now

• Acknowledgements

• Fairy-tale collections referenced in this book