May Events For Myth Lovers
Lorenzo Lotto’s Venus and Cupid is in the public domain.
Virtual Events
From Saturday, May 1 to Sunday May 23, the Brighton Festival in the U.K. will hold numerous in person and online arts events, including some that are mythology themed. For example, Monique Roffey, author of Costa Book of the Year-winning The Mermaid of Black Conch and C Pam Zhang, author of the Booker-longlisted How Much of These Hills is Gold, will discuss “myth and discovery” on May 3.
From May 1- May 16, the Toronto Storytelling Festival will hold nature-themed online events, including many inspired by mythology. For example, on May 3 you can attend a workshop on how ancient Druidic ceremony continues to be relevant today and on May 7 you can remix myths with other storytellers.
François Guizot’s illustration is in the public domain.
On May 2, you can zoom with Marmar Mermaidpants while she sits in her bathtub, drinks bubbly, reads aloud from the work of fantasy writers Carlos Hernandez and C. S. E. Cooney, interviews the editor of Mermaids Monthly, and sings “Scylla and the Rocks.” You will need to come prepared with wet things… such as a drink.
On Sunday May 2 at 7 pm EDT, learn about “Greek mythology, Joseph Campbell and the hero’s journey, literary archetypes as they relate to problem solving, and how it all connects back to Tarot.” $20.
On May 3, 11, 19, and 26th, you can take a course in Yogic Mythology, the Hindu Gods & Goddesses and yogic practices aligned to them. The reading list includes Moonology, Vedic Astrology, and Women Who Run With Wolves.
Feeling starved for travel? On May 4 at 5 pm EDT, take a virtual tour of Egypt and the Nile River, exploring the country’s history and mythology.
On May 5, comic book-style illustrator and historian Arlen Schumer will do a webinar and Q&A on Batman: deconstructing the meaning of his iterations, comic book origins, and more. $10.
On May 5, Victoria Aveyard will talk with Sabaa Tahir. about her new fantasy novel Realm Breaker.
On May 7, Christ Bohjalian will do a talk with Amor Towles at the Washington DC bookstore Politics Prose as part of his book tour for his new novel Hour of the Witch.
On May 7, learn about how “Greek mythology, Joseph Campbell and the hero’s journey, literary archetypes as they relate to problem solving, and how it all connects back to Tarot.” $20
On May 11, Neil Gaiman will give an evening talk in Connecticut.
On Wednesday May 12, the witches are doing their monthly yoga class. Join them at Catland Books for $15.
Luis Ricardo Falero’s painting Witches on the Sabbath is in the public domain.
On May 12, take a virtual tour of Jerusalem’s Old City, including the Jewish quarter, the Armenian quarter, and the Temple Mount. $5.99
On May 15, take a psychologist led workshop on Oedipus in which you will first learn about the history, interpretations and archetypal meanings of the myth, and then discuss your thoughts and associations with it.
From May 14 through June 25, the Washington DC-based art collective Pomegranate Room will present a Persephone inspired series of audio plays focused on the mythology and folklore: particularly of women, trans, and non-binary mythological figures, BIPOC cultures, and inversions of accepted race and gender norms within classic mythology stories.
On May 18, Natalie Haynes will discuss Pandora’s Jar: Women in the Greek Myths. £5
On May 19, learn about the six major Greek goddesses, including Hecate and Hestia, and how their archetypes illuminate the feminine psyche. £4
On May 20, the Chinese language school MP Chinese is offering a free culture seminar about the history of the dragon.
On May 20 and May 27, take two courses on The Æsir-Vanir War and Ragnarǫk, respectively, the two wars in Norse mythology. $30.
On May 22 at 12 pm, Krostoffer Hughes, the Chief of the Anglesey Druid Order and designer of The Celtic Tarot, will discuss the muse, witch and goddess Cerridwen and her role in the Welsh Bardic Tradition. $25
On May 26 at 7 pm EDT, the Ukrainian diaspora witch, Madame Pamita, will teach a course about Slavic gods, spirits, guardians, fairies, mermaids and more.
On May 27 at 11 pm EDT, Dr. James Rietveld will give a virtual lecture on Cleopatra.
On Saturday May 29, Academus Mythology, a free education service for students who have previously not had access to a Classical Education, will do a 5 hour crash course for teens on mythology.
Recurring Virtual Events
Starting May 1 until November 22 at 7 pm U.K. time, twice a month you can attend Fairy Tales and Therapy: “group discussion spaces exploring fairytales and mythology stories to expand our understanding of individual and collective psychology.” £17.50
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.
U.S. Events
Readercon, a conference in Boston for readers and writers of science fiction, takes place virtually July 9-11, 2021.
DisCon III, the 79th World Science Fiction Convention, no longer takes place August 25-29, 2021. Instead, it will be held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington DC on December 15-19, 2021, with both virtual and in person components.
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
On May 10 and thereafter, you can check out, “The GREEN,” a new lawn (but synthetic and made of recyclable materials!) at Lincoln Center. The area will have books, a snack bar, and pop-up performances all summer; presumably some will have to be myth-based.
Miss going to the movies? Watch a socially distanced one outside with your friends at Sidewalk Cinema on Thames Street in Brooklyn. May films include Xanadu, Labyrinth, The Muppet Movie, and Bladerunner.
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.
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