Cool Class: Mona Awad’s Art of the Fairy Tale
From an early age, fairy tales enter our lives and shape our view of the world. The classics like “Cinderella,” “Rapunzel” and “Beauty and the Beast” help to build literacy and expand our imagination. But young children aren’t the only ones who can benefit from fairy tales. They can be useful for college students too.
Since coming to the University in 2020, Mona Awad, bestselling author and professor of English, has taught a course titled Art of the Fairy Tale. During the semester, students take part in writing exercises, read such classic fairy tales as “Snow White” and “Beauty and the Beast,” and discuss what makes these stories compelling. The class culminates with them writing their own fairy tale.
Awad, whose acclaimed novel “Bunny” was named a top book of 2019 by TIME, Vogue and others, is no stranger to the fairy tale genre. As a graduate student at the University of Edinburgh, fairy tales served as the subject of her dissertation.
“I spent a lot of time in the National Library of Scotland just reading fairy tales and criticism and theory, and I was just completely mesmerized,” says Awad. Her forthcoming book, “Rouge: A Novel” (Simon & Schuster, 2023) is a gothic fairy tale about a lonely dress shop clerk whose mother’s unexpected death sends her down a treacherous path in pursuit of youth and beauty. “Rouge” is slated to hit bookshelves in September.
In the latest installment of the College of Arts and Sciences’ (A&S) Cool Class feature, we spoke with Awad about what makes the class so popular and what fairy tales can teach students about creative writing.
