The Sleeping Beauty

The tale of Sleeping Beauty goes back a thousand years. Probe the deeper implications of our current national obsession with fairy tales as you journey back in time to Sleeping Beauty's earliest appearance in the marketplaces of Baghdad. Trace the fascinating evolution of the tale over hundreds of years as it travels through Europe, to land here in the 21st century.

The tale of Sleeping Beauty goes back a thousand years. Probe the deeper implications of our current national obsession with fairy tales as you journey back in time to Sleeping Beauty's earliest appearance in the marketplaces of Baghdad. Trace the fascinating evolution of the tale over hundreds of years as it travels through Europe, to land here in the 21st century. Culture, history and literary theory collide in this fresh take on one of the classic stories of all time. Delving into the reasons the tale has continued to enchant and capture our collective imagination, the nature of storytelling reveals itself to be one of our most cherished human endeavors.

Nancy Partridge is a free-lance writer and reviewer. She is currently pursuing postgraduate studies in children's literature at Roehampton University, London. She is Creative Director of the consulting agency Uma Literary International, and a member of the US Board of Books for Young People, and the International Research Society for Children's Literature.