April Events For Myth Lovers
Titian’s Madonna and the Rabbit is in the public domain.
Virtual Events
On April 1, watch a performance of story excerpts from 2022 anthology 'Of Myths and Mothers', released March 25th.
On April 5, attend a talk about whether the Green Children of Woolpit were fairy-folk – or just green children. Inquiring minds need to know.
On April 6, learn about humanity’s technological origins, and the discovery of stone tools in a 3.3-million-year-old archaeological site in Kenya.
On April 12, write myth-inspired short fiction and essays with other people online.
On April 12, learn about Scandinavian folklore such as Trolls, the sly and cheeky Nisse, the seductive, fairy-like Huldra and the Nøkken, the water spirit whose violin lures women and children to drown in hidden ponds.
On April 13, learn about the ties that bind the living to the dead and how those ties are embodied in poetic performances: everything from why burial within a medieval church was a status symbol to why a concert/memorial service with fireworks and explosions was an appropriate sendoff for a man like Hunter S. Thompson
On April 17, learn about the universal significance of Yggdrasil (the world tree), Odin, Thor, Loki, the quest for the runes and the drinking of mead, and other Norse mythology.
Starting April 20, take an online course in mythology every Wednesday that will go on for weeks.
On April 21, take a virtual walking tour of through the mystic streets of the Croatian town Korcula and learn about their customs of christianity, slavic mythology and pagan festivals . The guide will walk through her hometown under the light of a lantern, entering courtyards of palaces.
On April 26, learn about the origins of Merlin’s legends.
On April 27, learn about a large, irregular boulder at a crossroads on the north side of the public square of ancient Athens, and the rituals and activities that took place there to make it sacred.
On April 27, learn about Chinese mythical creatures.
Gustav Klimt’s painting The Kiss is in the public domain.
New York City Events
On April 2, there will be a fairy tale themed soiree in Brooklyn, where you can come dressed as your favorite character, get a massage, relax in a salt cave, watch a light show, get a body painting, and dance to DJ music.
On April 7, Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven, will speak with Esquire’s Adrienne Westenfeld about her new book Sea of Tranquility, which moves from Vancouver Island in the early 20th century to a dark colony on the moon five hundred years later.
On April 9, learn about the LGBTQ secrets at the Metropolitan Museum during a private tour that will include, among many other things, the story of a Roman Emperor’s lover who went on to become a god.
From April 9 and 16, you can see the Easter bunny, do a scavenger hunt, and visit with animals at the Queens County Farm museum.
On April 12, you can participate in an online talk about Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s story One of These Days.
On April 12, 13, and 27 you can participate in a workshop in which multi-hyphenate performance artists, Vickie Tanner and Veracity Butcher will guide participants to craft and create their own story, essay, monologue, play, song, poem, speech, and/or theatrical performance pertaining to BIPOC identity: past, present, and future.
On April 29, you can play Dungeons and Dragons at Riverside Library.
Any day you want you can go to Beetle House, a restaurant that takes inspiration from Tim Burton, Alfred Hitchcock, Bram Stoker, Washington Irving, Edgar Allen Poe and many more. The menu includes, Blood Bags, Hautned Lemonade, Bio-Exorcism’s, among other things. Dining in only, which adds a new COVID element to the scare show.
Check out the dragons, kings, pirate ships, Merlin’s flying machines and other spectacles at the new Legoland in Goshen, New York.
Get Butter Beer at the new Harry Potter-themed store and bar at 935 Broadway near the Flatiron Building.
Miss going to the movies? Watch a socially distanced one outside with your friends at Sidewalk Cinema on Thames Street in Brooklyn.
Check out the images of buddhas, bodhisattvas, tantric deities, protectors and more at the Rubin Museum’s Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room.
U.S. Events
"Myth.Slide1.16" by c.a.francese is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
From April 14-17, you can attend Norwescon in Seatac Washington, one of the largest literary science fiction and fantasy convention in the U.S., either in person or virtually.
World Events
On July 1, 2, and 3 the mythic fiction author Natalie Haynes, the indie duo Smoke Fairies, circus people, and many others will perform at Timber, an artist’s festival that takes place somewhere in the woods in the U.K.
Recurring Virtual Events
Every year in the secret realm of Bunnyville, magical creatures from around the world gather for their annual summit. This is supposed to be a time to reconnect with old and new friends, but this year someone (or some creature!) has stolen the Easter Bunny’s magical golden egg! Kids and adults can both enjoy this enchanted game featuring creatures like fairies, dragons, mermaids, and of course the Easter Bunny!
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.
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.
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.
Marcantonio Raimondi’s “A Bacchanal”. CC01.0 Public domain.
