Leaf by Lantern

Apr 26 2024 21 ep. 35 mins 3
Leaf by Lantern Podcast artwork

Fellow Christian artists: join Alicia Pollard in discussing how the eternal Word of God clarifies and beautifies the craft of retelling fairy tales. Whether you are retelling a fairy tale in the form of a novel, play, poem, short story, painting, or opera, the Bible provides the perfect illumination for ethics and aesthetics, morality and mystery. Artists who follow Christ have no better lantern than Scripture for studying and adding leaves to what J.R.R. Tolkien called the "Tree of Tales": the canon of folklore.

  Religion & Spirituality  Arts
RSS feed Share
Copy RSS


Subscribe on Podcast Addict


Cupid and Psyche with C.S. Lewis

Apr 26 2024 50 mins  
Alicia interviews C.S. Lewis (metaphorically) on how to retell a fairy tale in the light of Scripture. Lewis’s masterful novel Till We Have Faces (1956), a retelling of the fairy tale “Cupid and Psyche,” expresses the beauty of the gospel in the language of Greek/pagan mythology. Topics discussed include a little of Lewis’s journey in writing this story and his artistic pro

The Snow Queen (revisited) with K.B. Hoyle

Mar 08 2024 50 mins  
Alicia returns to Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen” with a second guest, K.B. (Karin) Hoyle, to talk about Karin’s recently released retelling of the tale, Son of Bitter Glass. They discuss Karin’s interpretation/adaptation of flower symbolism; ravens; eternity and snow; romance and friendship; the fae; the rich imagery of fairy tales and folklore in general; and

Aspittle and the Stoorworm

Feb 23 2024 31 mins  
Alicia explores the Scottish folktale, “Aspittle and the Stoorworm,” and how an artist might interpret the title character, the sea dragon, and the battle in the beast in a retelling. Topics discussed include ashes, fire, and dreams; etiological tales; the Leviathan passage in Job; and the paradox of the weak overcoming the strong.ResourcesSee “Aspittle and the Stoorworm” i

The Snow Queen with K.C. Ireton

Feb 12 2024 57 mins  
Alicia Pollard and a returning guest, K.C. (Kimberlee) Ireton, discuss Kimberlee’s theological reading of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen.” They discuss the images of the mirror and the nature of evil; perfection in roses vs. snowflakes; isolation; resurrection; summer; and much more. ResourcesK. C. Ireton’s website: kcireton.com (Enter your email and get t

The Selkie Wife

Dec 18 2023 30 mins  
Alicia explores the beautiful sadness of the Celtic folktale “The Selkie Wife”. Topics discussed include a Christian perspective on literary tragedy; the themes of exile, the stranger, and a dual nature; and ocean imagery in Scripture. ResourcesDaniel Sarlo, entry for “Sea” in the Lexham Bible Dictionary, 2016More resources on the Biblical image of the sea: John H. Walton�

The Golden Bird

Dec 04 2023 35 mins  
Alicia examines how a Christian artist could approach retelling “The Golden Bird” in the light of Scripture. Topics discussed include good Edens vs. false Edens, a Scriptural view of gold, and Biblical approaches to betrayal. ResourcesWilkie Collins’s A Woman in White (both the book and the 2018 miniseries)Mary Shelley’s FrankensteinSusan Gaskell’s North and SouthFrances

The Little Mermaid with K.C. Ireton

Oct 20 2023 59 mins  
Alicia and K.C. (Kimberlee) Ireton talk, or rather, gush about the Christological imagery in Hans Christian Andersen’s literary fairy tale, “The Little Mermaid,” and how an artist might retell the story. Topics discussed include the world above, the sun, the prince, the knife imagery, self-sacrifice, theological vs. literal readings, and resurrection.Note: If you are not fami

East of the Sun, West of the Moon

Oct 06 2023 31 mins  
Alicia explores the radiant “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” and how a Christian artist could approach retelling it. Topics discussed include compass directions, handling awkward or strange episodes in fairy tales, wind imagery in Scripture, natural theology, and the imaginative atmosphere created by trolls.ResourcesLucius Apuleius’s The Golden Ass, which contains the tale

The Frog Prince

Jan 01 2024 52 mins  
Alicia and a guest, her dad, discuss “The Frog Prince” and work together to envision what a science fiction retelling of this fairy tale might look like. Topics discussed include favorite themes of science fiction, transcendence and human warmth in a vast universe, the absence of the famous kiss, worldbuilding, the sun, and the linden/lime tree.ResourcesProject Gutenberg versio

Learning from the Imagery of Proverbs 8:22-36

Nov 14 2023 20 mins  
Alicia concludes the Fairy Tales and Poetry mini-series with a meditation on the personification of Wisdom in Proverbs 8:22-36. She discusses what we can learn from the age of Wisdom, the craftsmanship of God in creation, the calling to sons, and the techniques of personification and anthropomorphism in general in the art of retelling fairy tales.ResourcesP.P. Jenson, “Poetry in