Beastly Beasts: Hybrids in Folklore and Fantasy

A Folklore Society Online Talk,

by Dr Juliette Wood (Cardiff University)

Tuesday 23 April 2024, 18:00 BST

If you are familiar with modern fantasy writing, you will undoubtedly have encountered dragons and hippogriffs, but have you ever read about the Bonnacon from the medieval bestiary or seen a narluga skull?

Such hybrid beasts that mix qualities of known animals appear to challenge an ordered reality, nevertheless they appeal to the imagination and are a source of fascination. This talk highlights examples that can be found in literature, old and new fantasy, and even the natural world.

Dr Juliette Wood is a professional folklorist who teaches at Cardiff University. She specializes in Celtic and Medieval folklore. She has been a consultant on folklore matters to TV and media. She is the author of Fantastic Creatures in Mythology and Folklore (Bloomsbury, 2018), and she is currently writing about unicorns.

Tickets £6.00 (£4.00 for Folklore Society members with the Promo Code)

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Image: Catoblepas, from Jan Jonston, Historia naturalis de quadrupedibus (Amsterdam, 1657), via Wikimedia Commons