I have signed a contract with Polity Books for a new book entitled Fairies: A History, which will be a complete history of godlings of nature and home in Europe and beyond, from prehistory to the present day.
When fairies are mentioned, many people think of a cultural stereotype of a tiny, winged (usually female) being, a byword for childish credulity. But ‘fairies’ (perhaps better called ‘godlings’) are in reality the traditional supernatural beings of European folk belief: situated somewhere between human beings and gods, forming an alternative community of almost-human beings imbued with powers of magic and enchantment, intimately connected with nature and with the earth. From the elves of Scandinavia and the aos sí of Ireland to the vilas of the Balkans, the rusalki of Ukraine and Russia and the fadas of Iberia, communities of living supernatural beings can be found in folklore from all over Europe, and indeed across the world in other nations that came under the influence of European culture and colonisation. Building on the success of my earlier book Twilight of the Godlings (which dealt with the origins of fairy belief in Britain), Fairies: A History will adopt a global approach to the origins of fairy belief, arguing that fairies are best understood as complex cultural constructions that are created and re-created across time, but are ultimately rooted in popular Christianity.
Francis Young 