December Events For Myth Lovers
Edward Burne-Jones’ painting Love and the Pilgrim is in the public domain.
Virtual Events
On December 1, listen to a live comic book podcast with Rick Remender, author of the Seven to Eternity series, in which a villain spreads paranoia through a fantasy world, and T.E. Marshall, who wrote In Teddy We Trust, a comic that follows Theodore Roosevelt Bear and his human friends in their fight against an ancient evil.
On December 2, participate in a Tarot card-driven writing workshop at the New York Society Library.
On December 2, you can listen to an art lecture about Edward Burne-Jones, who turned away from Victorian industrial progress and instead painted works inspired by Arthurian legend, mythology, and dream-worlds. Tickets £8.68
After watching the lecture “Wild (Wo)men, Commodified Forests: Matter and Myth in German Sculpture', attend a live discussion on December 2 about how “the forests of southern Germany provided sculptors with more than just matter. They were the stuff of myth: in their shadows lurked hairy wild men.”
Also on December 2, watch the one-hour program Female Mystics, Mythology & Protofeminism: three artists’ talks and Q&As that draw upon mythology for inspiration.
On December 4, tour the New York Society Library and learn about its 250 year history, famous members (including Herman Meliville!), and archives. Their special collection includes everything from ancient tomes on alchemy to signed first editions of Harry Potter, and they always have great events and exhibitions for book nerds.
On December 5, authors Kalynn Bayron (Cinderella is Dead) and Lilliam Rivera (Never Look Back) will discuss how they're finding inspiration in fairy tales and mythology. Tickets $10-$42.
On December 5, NYU Leadership Academy will hold an online discussion in which the leadership coach and astrologer Mimi Truong will help you create your own leadership style or persona, inspired by the archetypes in Greek and Roman mythology.
The Wicked Witch of The West, melting after being doused by Dorothy. From the first edition of The Wizard of Oz. Public Domain.
On December 5, authors Kalynn Bayron (Cinderella is Dead) and Lilliam Rivera (Never Look Back) will discuss how they're finding inspiration in fairy tales and mythology. Tickets $10-$42.
On December 5, NYU Leadership Academy will hold an online discussion in which the leadership coach and astrologer Mimi Truong will help you create your own leadership style or persona, inspired by the archetypes in Greek and Roman mythology.
On December 7, Black Women's Forum UK will discuss 'Love in Colour: Mythical Tales from Around the World, Retold', in which Bolu Babalola retells homoromantic Greek myths, magical Nigerian folktales, the ancient stories of South Asia, and more.
On December 8, watch Jonathan Lethem, Karen Green, and Aimee Bender read from their living rooms onto your computer monitor at the “Literary Legends Virtual Homecoming Festival Fundraiser for KGB Bar.” Tickets $12-18.
On December 9, comedian and screenwriter David Misch will give a multimedia online presentation for the 92Y looking “at comedy from Ancient Greece to Modern Family, from court jesters to Groucho Marx, from Plato & Aristotle to Abbott & Costello. With stops along the way for commedia dell’arte, a French fartist, and how comedy killed Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Misch uses clips and commentary to look at what comedy is, where it comes from and where it’s going (oddly enough, Philadelphia).” Tickets $15.
On December 9, take a virtual tour of Vienna, which began as a Roman settlement in 15 BC and became an important cultural centre during the Hapsburg dynasty. You will see the Opera House, the Imperial Palace, which holds artistic masterpieces such as a Titian of Danae and a tankard engraved with an image of Bacchus pursuing a nymph, and the St. Stephen’s Cathedral (including its gargoyles, which are my personal favorite!)
December 10th , 12th, 14th, 19th and 24th at 7pm EST and December 20th at 4pm EST, listen to ghost story readings and discussion hosted by Daniel Braum. Featuring authors of the uncanny, strange and fantastic from New York and around the globe.
Melissa Madara, a co-owner at Catland Books as well as a witch, storyteller, and herbalist, will give an online lecture on December 11 about Hekate's “pre-historical origins, her rituals, her demonization in the Roman empire, and her evolution into the decaying goddess of witches that we know today.” Tickets are $15.
On December 11, listen to a live lecture about terrifying holiday folklore from the Carterhaugh School. Get that Christmas horror feeling!
Mohamed Mahmoud Hassan released this “Christmas Cat” image under Public Domain license.
On December 12, take a virtual walking tour of downtown Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. Discover the 13 Santas of Iceland, their mother the Troll Grýla and her pet the child-gobbling Christmas Cat (you’ve always known that Fluffy has a dark side, haven’t you?) Attendance is free although tips are suggested.
On December 18, listen to winter fairy tales in a live lecture from the Carterhaugh School.
On December 22, the New York Public Library will hold a virtual discussion of The Greeks and the Irrational, in which E. R. Dodds “examines the changing relationship ancient Greek society had towards the irrational from the Homeric world to that of the Platonic. Dodds uses Greek culture to anchor a much broader discussion about human guilt feelings, religious fears, mystic strivings, and cultural decline.”
Recurring Virtual Events
On the first Thursday of every month, you can meet science fiction and fantasy nerds based in London online at 6 pm European time.
If you would rather be in France right now, view a selection of thematically-themed works from the Louvre online, including (in my opinion) the best ones in the Sully Wing, which includes major works of Greek and Egyptian art.
Take an online course with Stanford research scholar Adrienne Mayor in which you will “uncover the natural origins of stories about dragons. . .; ponder whether the Amazon horsewomen-archers of myth existed; consider the dilemmas of using poison weapons in myth and ancient historical times; and marvel at robots and other science fiction tales from the time of Homer.” $120.
Take an online mini-course about Rome, seeing how it exists not only in brick and mortar, but also in the realm of ideas, and through the eyes of locals and visitors. Topics will include Rome’s urban and architectural development, as well as its representation in maps and artworks from across the city’s exceptionally long lifetime. $99.
On Sunday mornings, Krista Lea will present an online meditation class that uses sound, aroma, poetry, and goddess mythology to focus on the archetype of the Divine Feminine. Tickets $11
The NY Mythology Group, which is associated with the Joseph Campbell Foundation, holds presentations and discussions about mythology related topics ranging from the Greek goddess Hecate to Carl Jung. Their events usually take place on Tuesday evenings at 8 pm EDT, and have been online since the pandemic started.
The Center for Fiction will hold a discussion group on Wednesday nights from September 16-January 6 about “ways in which pervasive themes drawn from oral tradition find their way into our collective consciousness, either perpetuated or subverted by current fiction.” Readings from authors including Octavia Butler, Catherynne Valente, Ursula LeGuin, Kelly Link, and Aimee Bender.
BSFW, or Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers, meetings take place mostly online currently, but pre-pandemic were in the homes of writers mostly in Brooklyn but also on occasion Manhattan or Queens. Check out their calendar on meetup to attend their numerous writing workshops, social gatherings, meetings with editors/agents/authors, book clubs, and more. The group includes many published writers and has its own audio fiction magazine, Kaleidocast. If you post about your fetish for Olympian gods on their Facebook group feed, they (probably) won’t judge.
EREWHON BOOKS, a publisher focusing on novel-length works of speculative fiction: science fiction, fantasy, and related genres, holds readings usually on the second Thursday each month virtually for now and in a pre-apocalypse world at its high ceilinged office of many windows in Manhattan.
Fantastic Fiction at KGB is a monthly speculative-fiction reading series held on the third Wednesday of every month virtually for now, and in a pre-apocalypse world at KGB Bar in Manhattan. Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel host the event. As one might expect from a communism-themed bar, admission is free.
The NYC Greek Myth & Classical Lit Meetup meets every third Thursday of the month at the Cloister Cafe in the East Village to discuss the work of mostly long dead authors (e.g. Aristophanes, Dante.) The group has existed for more than a decade, so the long-term participants have already earned their unofficial classics PhD’s, and we already know that anybody who would do this for fun is as hip as a person can get.
The virtual exhibit Guiding Spirits: The Radical Witches and Women of OPUS presents materials highlighting explorations of mythological witches and the occult and supernatural underpinnings of depth psychology.
World Events
"Myth.Slide1.16" by c.a.francese is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
For the Love of Fantasy has a conference scheduled for December 5 to 6.
Finncon Postponed until 2021
The International Association for Comparative Mythology’s 14th conference, “Death and Migration in World Mythology” takes place in Mexico City and has been postponed until June 7-11, 2021.
Worldcon is scheduled to take place in Washington D.C. on August 25-29, 2021. You can already buy your ticket for their convention here.
U.S. Events
Readercon, a conference in Boston for readers and writers of science fiction, postponed until 2021.
New York City Events
From November 5 to December 31, get drunk at the Sippin Santa pop-up bar at the boilermaker, where you will find holiday decorations of goody goody two-shoes magical creatures who probably disapprove of your behavior.
If you’re in New York City, this month you can order drinks on Grubhub and Seamless for home delivery from Steamy Hallows, the Harry Potter-themed hot potion bar that closed last year.
From November 27 until January 10, the LuminoCity festival will take place on Randall’s Island. The light sculpture exhibits feature Lumi, who is from the Unicorn Kingdom. $38 per person. Reserve in advance.
Look at the Christmas lights in Brooklyn, Dyker Heights, either on your own or in a guided tour of the displays of reindeer, Santa Claus and more.
In a series of richly-imagined portraits, the artistic duo Sarah Cooper and Nina Gorfer explore the idea of Utopia in the age of the new diaspora. Young women who have been forced to uproot their lives are photographed like goddesses inside lustrous and surrealist-inspired sets. On exhibition in the Church Mission Building near 23rd street at Fotografiska New York until February 7.
On various Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays starting February 2021, you can enjoy a 90-minute psychedelic cocktail menu with the Mad Hatter in an immersive Alice in Wonderland experience. $65. Reserve in advance.
A seven-foot statue of Medusa holding the head of a Greek hero now stands across from the Manhattan courthouse that convicted Harvey Weinstein, the New York Post reported recently. The statue will be on view there until March. (It’s not an event, but you know, COVID. . . if you go to see this one, at least you’ll be outdoors!)
On numerous days throughout November and December, you can go on a tour of the pubs in New York. For example, one of these tours will show you where Edgar Allen Poe lived, worked, and (most importantly) drank. Tickets are $74 and include a cocktail. (Yes, just one! But you might find half off tickets for a tour here.)
Look at paintings in a Met Museum exhibition that capture the Ramayana, an epic narrative composed by the Sanskrit poet Valmiki around the fifth century B.C. Or check out Arte del mar ("art of/from the sea"), which explores the artistic exchange around the rim of the Caribbean Sea before the sixteenth century, including objects rooted in mythological narratives.
Check out the images of buddhas, bodhisattvas, tantric deities, protectors and more at the Rubin Museum’s Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room, which is open again with timed entry tickets for social distancing.
The New York Review of Science Fiction Readings usually holds events on the first Tuesday of the month at The Brooklyn Commons Cafe at 388 Atlantic Avenue. Check their website for up to date information.
Marcantonio Raimondi’s “A Bacchanal”. CC01.0 Public domain.
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