Amy Jeffs on ancient stories and new understandings

How can we return to a richer, more complex understanding of national identity and personal ethics - one that can only come from folklore?

Amy Jeffs is the perfect person to ask. An art historian and printmaker, she creates immersive retellings of ancient stories, beautifully illustrated with her own woodcuts and etchings. In this week’s episode of How We Live Now, we discuss the function and appeal of folklore, and roam around the wind-blasted landscapes of Medieval Britain. We get a glimpse of the British Isles through ancient eyes - a haunted place stranded on the far edge of Europe, isolated and vulnerable, but full of courageous, hardy folk. What can these tales tell us about who we are now? And how can we restore this agile way of understanding the world?

Katherine's new book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UK

Links from the episode:

• Amy’s Instagram
• Amy’s Twitter
• Amy's book, Wild: Tales from Early Medieval Britain
• Amy’s book, Storyland: A New Mythology of Britain

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