The Waves: Gender, Relationships, Feminism · Slate Podcasts

Can Fairy Tales Be Feminist?

·29 min·2 clips

Kelly Link explains why she avoids moral lessons in fairy tales, focusing instead on adventure and character.

This episode of The Waves features host Laura Miller interviewing author Kelly Link about her new fairy tale-inspired short story collection, *White Cat, Black Dog*. Link is known for blending myth, everyday life, and pop culture in her fiction. The conversation explores whether fairy tales can be feminist and why these stories remain culturally resonant. Miller notes that 19th-century collectors like the Brothers Grimm presented fairy tales as stories for children, but folklorists now believe they were originally for mixed adult and child audiences. Link explains that for her new book, she usually began a story with a character or an image, then looked for a fairy tale framework to use. She mentions avoiding duplicating the work of Angela Carter, author of *The Bloody Chamber*. Link describes fairy tales and ghost stories as the two primary wells for her creative inspiration. A significant insight is Link's distinction between "telling" a story and "writing" one; she craves the conversational authority of a storytelling voice, which she connects to a historical tradition of women swapping tales while working. She is drawn to quest motifs, like in "East of the Sun, West of the Moon," specifically citing a fondness for animal helpers and romantic comedies about hard work done for love. Link expresses suspicion about fairy tales being used to deliver morals, though she acknowledges they often advise treating animals well or being polite. She argues that the "happy ending" in fairy tales often merely represents a restoration of balance or a small change within an established, unchanging social framework. Link reveals she writes alongside a community of fellow authors, including Cassandra Clare and Holly Black, discussing projects and exchanging editorial feedback. Holly Black convinced Link to sell a novel by noting her short stories were getting longer, making the form seem a possible, if not congenial, new challenge. The tone is conversational, intellectual, and reflective, focusing on literary craft and cultural analysis. Listeners interested in feminist literary criticism, writing processes, and the evolution of folklore will find this episode engaging. Those seeking a debate about modern fairy tale adaptations or a straightforward narrative retelling might find it less directly applicable.

As heard by us

A thoughtful look at why fairy tales still grip us, and what feminism does with them.

The episode treats fairy tales as stories that still shape ideas about women, romance, duty, and reward. Laura Miller and Kelly Link move from Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast to a larger question: what gets preserved when stories are retold, and what those versions keep…

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want fairy tales treated as a feminist conversation about gender and women.

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