Katherine Langrish
@kathlangrish.bsky.social
I write children's & YA fantasy novels, and moonlight as a folklorist. I blog at https://steelthistles.blogspot.com/
Lovely on a very wet morning to receive copies of the paperback of my book about the Narnia stories - 'From Spare Oom to War Drobe' published by Herne Books and available from UK bookstores and Amazon. As you can see, I'm very happy.
November 14, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Lovely on a very wet morning to receive copies of the paperback of my book about the Narnia stories - 'From Spare Oom to War Drobe' published by Herne Books and available from UK bookstores and Amazon. As you can see, I'm very happy.
I love this wonderful, teasing and spooky summer tale! It's the work of the Norwegian writer Jonas Lie, who was a contemporary of Henrik Ibsen, and it tells the tale of a drummer boy who climbs up into the Blue Mountains and meets some troll girls... steelthistles.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-...
'The Homestead Westward in the Blue Mountains' by Jonas Lie
Jonas Lie was a contemporary of Ibsen, born 1833 at Hvokksund, not far from Oslo, but spent much of his childhood at Tromsø, inside the ...
steelthistles.blogspot.com
November 12, 2025 at 6:07 PM
I love this wonderful, teasing and spooky summer tale! It's the work of the Norwegian writer Jonas Lie, who was a contemporary of Henrik Ibsen, and it tells the tale of a drummer boy who climbs up into the Blue Mountains and meets some troll girls... steelthistles.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-...
From the archives, a post about the Wild Hunt and the Fairy Rade. And when did ordinary people stop being afraid of the fairies? steelthistles.blogspot.com/2021/03/from...
From the Wild Hunt to the Fairy Rade
Sir Joseph Noel Paton: 'The Fairy Rade: Carrying Off A Changeling - Midsummer's Eve' This account from an unnamed 'old woman’ of Nithsda...
steelthistles.blogspot.com
September 28, 2025 at 10:59 AM
From the archives, a post about the Wild Hunt and the Fairy Rade. And when did ordinary people stop being afraid of the fairies? steelthistles.blogspot.com/2021/03/from...
We want the media and politicians to recognise that there is a large number of women who are supportive of the trans+ community. We call on them to report truthfully about the sources of violence against women and to address the systems that perpetuate harm. notinourname.org.uk/petition/not...
Not In Our Name: Women in support of the trans+ community - Not in our name
notinourname.org.uk
September 20, 2025 at 2:55 PM
We want the media and politicians to recognise that there is a large number of women who are supportive of the trans+ community. We call on them to report truthfully about the sources of violence against women and to address the systems that perpetuate harm. notinourname.org.uk/petition/not...
A post for lovers of C.S. Lewis's adult novels as well as of the Narnia series - an investigation of how his characterisation of women evolved over the years. steelthistles.blogspot.com/2022/06/the-...
The Green Lady, Jane, Orual and other adult women in the novels of C S Lewis
I will begin with the Green Lady, Perelandra’s unfallen Eve, although the novel has very much the quality, simplicity and large theme ...
steelthistles.blogspot.com
September 18, 2025 at 5:14 PM
A post for lovers of C.S. Lewis's adult novels as well as of the Narnia series - an investigation of how his characterisation of women evolved over the years. steelthistles.blogspot.com/2022/06/the-...
I have some good news; there's an essay of mine (called 'The Door in the Mound' in this book: 'Writing the Magic: Essays on Crafting Fantasy Fiction' published 18th of this month by Dead Ink. Contributors include Juliet E McKenna, Francesco Dimitri, Hannah Kaner & many others. I love the cover!
September 10, 2025 at 1:58 PM
I have some good news; there's an essay of mine (called 'The Door in the Mound' in this book: 'Writing the Magic: Essays on Crafting Fantasy Fiction' published 18th of this month by Dead Ink. Contributors include Juliet E McKenna, Francesco Dimitri, Hannah Kaner & many others. I love the cover!
The Silver Apples of the Moon, The Golden Apples of the Sun
Why are apples so evocative? Why was the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil assumed to be an apple? Why did golden apples of immortality grow in the Garden of the Hesperides...?
steelthistles.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-...
Why are apples so evocative? Why was the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil assumed to be an apple? Why did golden apples of immortality grow in the Garden of the Hesperides...?
steelthistles.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-...
September 8, 2025 at 4:59 PM
The Silver Apples of the Moon, The Golden Apples of the Sun
Why are apples so evocative? Why was the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil assumed to be an apple? Why did golden apples of immortality grow in the Garden of the Hesperides...?
steelthistles.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-...
Why are apples so evocative? Why was the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil assumed to be an apple? Why did golden apples of immortality grow in the Garden of the Hesperides...?
steelthistles.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-...
Is a young girl still sleeping in a sunken ship under the sea? steelthistles.blogspot.com/2021/11/folk...
Folklore Snippets: The Ship Beneath the Waves
From Le Folk-Lore de France , Paul Sebillot (1904), this tale is an odd twist on 'The Sleeping Beauty'. "Sailors seldom talk about...
steelthistles.blogspot.com
August 29, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Is a young girl still sleeping in a sunken ship under the sea? steelthistles.blogspot.com/2021/11/folk...
An old post about some very much older stone heads. steelthistles.blogspot.com/2019/03/haun...
Heads in walls and wells
On a brief trip to visit friends and relations in Yorkshire and Manchester last October, I began encountering an unsettling numb...
steelthistles.blogspot.com
August 24, 2025 at 12:03 PM
An old post about some very much older stone heads. steelthistles.blogspot.com/2019/03/haun...
A rather lovely elfin poem by Lord Dunsany. steelthistles.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-...
"The Enchanted People": a poem by Lord Dunsany
It came, it came again to the scented garden, The call that they would not heed, A clear wild note far up on the hills above t...
steelthistles.blogspot.com
August 10, 2025 at 8:27 AM
A rather lovely elfin poem by Lord Dunsany. steelthistles.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-...
A guest post by Garth Nix who very kindly wrote me this piece for my blog quite a few years ago - entitled 'Where The Monsters Lurk' and exploring his remarkable world - the Old Kingdom! steelthistles.blogspot.com/2018/10/wher...
"Where the Monsters Lurk"- a guest post by Garth Nix
While on tour a couple of years ago to promote his Old Kingdom novel "Goldenhand", Garth Nix generously took time out to write Ste...
steelthistles.blogspot.com
July 31, 2025 at 4:00 PM
A guest post by Garth Nix who very kindly wrote me this piece for my blog quite a few years ago - entitled 'Where The Monsters Lurk' and exploring his remarkable world - the Old Kingdom! steelthistles.blogspot.com/2018/10/wher...
A lovely guest post by science-fiction writer Gwyneth Jones, who also writes for children as Ann Halam, on 'The Princess as Role Model'. Her book for children, 'Snakehead', is a wonderful reimagining of the Perseus and Andromeda legend!
steelthistles.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-...
steelthistles.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-...
The Princess as Role Model
A guest post by Gwyneth Jones I’ve always been attracted to fairytales. I knew I was a storyteller long before I knew I’d be a writer: I too...
steelthistles.blogspot.com
July 18, 2025 at 11:17 AM
A lovely guest post by science-fiction writer Gwyneth Jones, who also writes for children as Ann Halam, on 'The Princess as Role Model'. Her book for children, 'Snakehead', is a wonderful reimagining of the Perseus and Andromeda legend!
steelthistles.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-...
steelthistles.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-...
Friend and fellow-blogger Cathrin Hagey posts an interview we did together a few years back - all about fairy tales, magic and enchantment. www.cathrinhagey.com/an-interview...
An Interview with Katherine Langrish: Author and Folklorist - Cathrin Hagey
Katherine Langrish is the creator of the award-winning blog Seven Miles of Steel Thistles and gave the 2022 Katharine Briggs Memorial Lecture.
www.cathrinhagey.com
July 10, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Friend and fellow-blogger Cathrin Hagey posts an interview we did together a few years back - all about fairy tales, magic and enchantment. www.cathrinhagey.com/an-interview...
On clocks and clockmakers. steelthistles.blogspot.com/2019/01/time...
Time and the Hour
My husband's Uncle Bill Dilger was a watch and clockmaker-cum-repairer, and his workshop, a small back room in his Victorian Manchester hom...
steelthistles.blogspot.com
June 28, 2025 at 1:32 PM
On clocks and clockmakers. steelthistles.blogspot.com/2019/01/time...
Is Lewis Carroll's Alice really 'an ordinary' little girl?
steelthistles.blogspot.com/2025/06/alic...
steelthistles.blogspot.com/2025/06/alic...
Alice, Creator and Destroyer
I once read, I think in an essay by C.S. Lewis – that to have weird or unusual protagonists in a fantasy world was gilding the lily. Simply ...
steelthistles.blogspot.com
June 17, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Is Lewis Carroll's Alice really 'an ordinary' little girl?
steelthistles.blogspot.com/2025/06/alic...
steelthistles.blogspot.com/2025/06/alic...
Early Eowyns? An old ballad tells how the daughters of a wronged knight become shieldmaidens and take revenge on his murderer. steelthistles.blogspot.com/2019/05/sist...
Sisters with Swords
I have a very old book of Scandinavian ballads, ‘Ballad Stories of the Affections’, edited and translated by Robert Buchanan. ...
steelthistles.blogspot.com
June 5, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Early Eowyns? An old ballad tells how the daughters of a wronged knight become shieldmaidens and take revenge on his murderer. steelthistles.blogspot.com/2019/05/sist...
So this isn't topical; it isn't Hallowe'en, but good ghost stories are always welcome... aren't they? steelthistles.blogspot.com/2021/10/true...
True Ghost Stories
'The Ghosts' by Lord Dunsany, illustrated by Sidney Sime There is a great difference between a supposedly true ghost story and a fiction...
steelthistles.blogspot.com
May 27, 2025 at 5:17 PM
So this isn't topical; it isn't Hallowe'en, but good ghost stories are always welcome... aren't they? steelthistles.blogspot.com/2021/10/true...
On springtime, The WInter's Tale, and Shakespeare's flowers steelthistles.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-...
May 20, 2025 at 8:11 AM
On springtime, The WInter's Tale, and Shakespeare's flowers steelthistles.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-...
A post about the May morning celebrations in Oxford, ten years ago now!
steelthistles.blogspot.com/2021/05/may-...
steelthistles.blogspot.com/2021/05/may-...
May 10, 2025 at 10:30 AM
A post about the May morning celebrations in Oxford, ten years ago now!
steelthistles.blogspot.com/2021/05/may-...
steelthistles.blogspot.com/2021/05/may-...
Good news - may there be much more!
May 10, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Good news - may there be much more!
Reposted by Katherine Langrish
‘Trans women have never felt like a threat’: women’s refuges grapple with supreme court ruling
‘Trans women have never felt like a threat’: women’s refuges grapple with supreme court ruling
UK gender decision ignites debate among professionals working in the domestic abuse and rape crisis spheres
www.theguardian.com
May 3, 2025 at 2:20 PM
‘Trans women have never felt like a threat’: women’s refuges grapple with supreme court ruling
In which I channel Dylan Thomas and consider the art of writing. steelthistles.blogspot.com/2020/02/our-...
Our Craft or Sullen Art
IN MY CRAFT OR SULLEN ART In my craft or sullen art Exercised in the still night When only the moon rages And the lovers lie...
steelthistles.blogspot.com
April 30, 2025 at 2:33 PM
In which I channel Dylan Thomas and consider the art of writing. steelthistles.blogspot.com/2020/02/our-...
"There is a line of Homer, which I forget, which tells of mules going up a mountain pass: and you can hear the clatter of their hooves..." Lord Dunsany on poetry - part 2: steelthistles.blogspot.com/2022/08/lord...
April 18, 2025 at 12:16 PM
"There is a line of Homer, which I forget, which tells of mules going up a mountain pass: and you can hear the clatter of their hooves..." Lord Dunsany on poetry - part 2: steelthistles.blogspot.com/2022/08/lord...
Reposted by Katherine Langrish
That feeling when you are ready to swap your first-born for a really crisp lettuce
(Rapunzel, 1968)
Artist: Eric Winter
(Rapunzel, 1968)
Artist: Eric Winter
April 14, 2025 at 6:44 PM
That feeling when you are ready to swap your first-born for a really crisp lettuce
(Rapunzel, 1968)
Artist: Eric Winter
(Rapunzel, 1968)
Artist: Eric Winter