Flemish authors and illustrators have a mind of their own even when it comes to the retelling of an existing fairy tale. Flanders Literature has selected five outstanding examples for you.
Gerda Dendooven sees no problem in a feminist adaptation of ‘The Worn-Out Dancing Shoes’ by the Brothers Grimm, Sebastiaan Van Doninck depicts a Puss in Boots with a hidden agenda, and Isabelle Vandenabeele’s Red Riding Hood is not at all innocent. Carll Cneut and Peter Verhelst in turn give Andersen’s ‘The Secret of the Nightingale’s Throat’ a boost in intensity at all levels, while Anne Provoost sets her quirky take on ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in Antwerp.
This adaptation of the ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ classic is one to remember. Little Red Riding Hood remains the familiar protagonist, but this time is a self-aware and determined girl who knows what she wants. And what she wants is red.
In this adaptation of ‘Puss in Boots’, illustrator Sebastiaan Van Doninck brings tension and life to the story with his powerful compositions, beautiful watercolour tints and bright colours as needed. This classic tale-with-a-twist is a veritable feast for the eye.
A masterful symbiosis of colour, form and composition
Boekenpauw jury
Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairy tale, ‘The Secret of the Nightingale’s Throat’ is a literary retelling that will appeal to readers of all ages. In the long line of illustrators who have made pictures to accompany Andersen’s tale, few have managed to catch the emperor’s despair as vividly as Carll Cneut.
‘The Rose and the Swine’ was inspired by ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and is a tribute to the primal force of the fairy tale. Provoost, a celebrated author for all ages, offers her readers works of the highest literary quality.
The king has twelve daughters, whom he keeps close to him. The girls feel trapped in a golden cage. Until one day they discover a secret staircase that takes them to a magic garden. In ‘The Magic Garden’ Dendooven blows a breath of fresh air through ‘The Worn-Out Dancing Shoes’ by the Brothers Grimm, and adds a feminist-tinted ending.