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Lying in Legend and Tradition: Call for Papers

  • 06-07/09/2025
  • Tullie House, Carlisle CA3 8TP, UK
Line drawing of Pinocchio with a very long nose and weeping

Illus. by Charles Copeland, in 'The Adventures of Pinocchio' by Carlo Collodi, 1904; via Wikimedia Commons

Lying in Legend and Tradition: The Nineteenth Legendary Weekend of The Folklore Society

Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 September, Tullie House, Carlisle, CA3 8TP

I saw a peacock with a fiery tail, and may this bread choke me if the moon landings were not filmed on Mars. When the crows flew off, they lifted the tree over nine red-hot ploughshares. Helen was never at Troy at all, she was hidden in an old manuscript drawer disguised as Duke Gorlois. Do you doubt me? No, said the king. I am the owl-catcher and I tell you there will be a great flood. Perkin Warbeck ate my homework but a clever doctor made the snake come out, so I left my heart in a bag at home. I was the Grand Duchess Anastasia and I have a million (1M) dollars for your bank account. Do you doubt me? No, said the king. I am a hereditary and traditional moonraker, the hands are Esau’s but the voice is Mak the sheepstealer. You shall not die until you come to Jerusalem where the best is at the bottom. I was in the Terrestrial Paradise when the bishop was awarded the whetstone. Do you doubt me? No, said the king. Mr. Fox has spun five skeins today and hidden the brandy under the cradle. My master the Marquis of Carabas will climb this unsupported rope until Pinocchio’s eyes drop out. You think I’m the Archbishop of Canterbury but your paper has been rejected for plagiarism. You’re a liar! said the king, it’s accepted at the Legendary Weekend.

Join Jeremy Harte and Sophia Kingshill for our two-day conference on Lying in Legend and Tradition, to be held on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th September as the nineteenth Legendary Weekend of the Folklore Society, at Tullie House in Castle Street, Carlisle, CA3 8TP. Whether you’re into forgers or fantasists, deception or disguise, we’d like to hear from you.

Contributions are welcome on conspiracy theories, confidence tricks, false prophets, fake mediums, tall tales, tricksters, and topsy-turvy land: the imposter and the conjuror, the pseudonymous and the shapeshifter, Iolo Morganwg and Idries Shah.

Anyone can join us–folklorists, professors of legerdemain, psychologists, fact-checkers and storytellers. Presentations, which should be 20 minutes long, can take the form of talks, performances, or film. No, really.

The conference fee is £35 for speakers, £70 for others attending, and no nine-pound notes please.

If you would like to attend or to present a paper or performance, please contact the organisers, Jeremy Harte and Sophia Kingshill by 1 July: [email protected] and [email protected], or write to The Folklore Society, 50 Fitzroy Street, London W1T 5BT.