April Events For Myth Lovers
Marten Eskil Winge’s Thor’s Fight With the Giants is in the public domain. "Arthur Conan Doyle room, Toronto Reference Library (Special Collections)" by Toronto Public Library Special Collections is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Virtual Events
On Thursdays at 7 pm starting April 1, take a course on Norse runes: how to read them, what they were, and more.
On April 1 at 6 pm EDT, Christel N. Temple will discuss the “expansive yet broadly overlooked intellectual tradition of Black cultural mythology.”
From April 1-4, Norwescon, the Pacific Northwest’s science fiction and fantasy convention, will be online. $35. Presentations on “Mermaid Tails,” “21st Century Season of the Witch,” “Creation Mythologies,” the Philip K. Dick awards, virtual movie watch parties, writing workshops, and more.
On April 5, watch “Journeys”, the virtual solo exhibition of Mumbai-based multimedia artist Akshita Gandhi, in which she ”combines the concepts of reality, myth, and emotion” in reworking photographs of transport hubs.
On Monday April 5, the Filipina fantasy and science fiction writer, editor, and artist Vida Cruz will teach a course on “how to write successful retellings and adaptations from once upon a time to happily ever after (or not, and then some) by simply shifting the point of view, tone, theme, genre, and even the form the story takes.” $55.
On Saturday April 10 from 1-4 pm EDT, William Evans will lead a free online workshop, “To the Mountain Tops: Finding the Mythology in our Poetry,” which will guide writers on bringing the myth and the illusion to the surface for poems and storytelling.
On Sunday April 11 at 4 pm ET, take part in an online painting workshop that will prompt you to explore “What mythology story am I telling myself?” $35-44
On Sunday April 11 at 2 pm EDT, learn about how Egyptians glorified plants and flowers in their art, mythology, belief systems and architecture.
On April 13 at 2 pm EDT, learn about the ancient Hawthorn, one of the sacred trees of Ireland, which is associated with healing and fairies, among other things.
"Hawthorn tree at Sliabh na Caillí" by Rob Hurson is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
On April 15 at 7 pm ET, Genevieve Gornichec will discuss her new novel The Witch’s Heart, in which a banished witch falls in love with the Norse god Loki.
On Saturday April 17 at 1 pm EDT, explore the inclusion of mythic indigenous beings in urban fantasy with MFA candidate and enrolled Delaware Tribal member Darla Hitchcock. She will discuss excerpts from Charles de Lint, Neil Gaiman, Holly Black and N.K. Jemison, as well as native mythologies and folkore. $10-$30.
On April 17 at 2 pm EDT, join an online talk about the intersection between yoga and Hindu mythology.
On April 18 at 2 pm ET, author and literary agent Rena Rossner will discuss the places where fairy tales, legends, folk tales and local history can often converge, citing examples from her fantasy novel, The Light of the Midnight Stars, and others in the genre. $25
On April 22 at 2 pm EDT, take a workshop that explores the links between fairytales/mythology and individual and collective psychology, using the story of Cinderella. £25
John William Waterhouse’s Circe Offering the Cup to Odysseus is in the public domain.
On April 22, the scholar Dr. James Reitveld will give a lecture on Poseidon.
On April 24 at 10 a.m. EDT, you can play online mythology trivia.
On Tuesday, April 27, Andrew Bahlmann, Associate Professor of English, will talk at 9 pm EDT about how superheroes have a mythology that builds upon those from times past.
On April 28 at 7 pm ET, learn about how the discovery of King Tut’s tomb changed the world.
On April 30 at 5 pm ET, join the students and friends of the poet and teacher Lewis Warsh to celebrate his life and legacy.
This photo from the 1966 press release for the television program Tarzan is in the public domain.
Recurring Virtual Events
If you would rather be in France right now, view a selection of thematically-themed works from the Louvre online, including the ones in the Sully Wing, which includes major works of Greek and Egyptian art such as the Venus de Milo.
Moulage d'Aphrodite, dite Vénus de Milo is in the public domain.
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.
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.
World Events
"Myth.Slide1.16" by c.a.francese is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
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 buy your ticket for their convention here.
U.S. Events
Readercon, a conference in Boston for readers and writers of science fiction, takes place July 9-11, 2021.
DisCon III, the 79th World Science Fiction Convention, takes place August 25-29, 2021 in Washington D.C.
The conference Anime Los Angeles 17 has been postponed for a year. Instead of this month, it will take place from January 6-9, 2022, in Long Beach California.
New York City Events
New York’s effort to revive its arts sector, Restart Stages—an outdoor performing arts center — launches on April 7 with a socially distanced performances and events for health care workers (e.g. outdoor reading rooms, a cabaret series, film, dance workshops, and more).
Miss going to the movies? Watch a socially distanced one outside with your friends at Sidewalk Cinema on Thames Street in Brooklyn.
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.
Marcantonio Raimondi’s “A Bacchanal”. CC01.0 Public domain.
