by Michelle Tocher | Feb 5, 2020
You dreamt of failing in a finishing school. You were never going to succeed at becoming a Lady. You submitted yourself to endless lessons in etiquette. You allowed every natural instinct to be critiqued, and eventually all the humiliations and tiny tortures silenced...
by Michelle Tocher | Dec 9, 2019
I had a dream the other night that I had written something important using a fountain pen. I was staying in a hotel and I came out of the room carrying my writings in a sheaf of loose papers. I got on the elevator with a couple who were wearing white robes. Each of...
by Michelle Tocher | Aug 7, 2018
Lately I’ve been using WonderLit to explore the Anderson story, The Emperor and the Nightingale. You might remember that the story is about a nightingale who is captured and taken to the palace of the Emperor of China. She has a voice of unparalleled beauty and when...
by Michelle Tocher | Jul 21, 2018
At the Storytellers of Canada conference in Peterborough this month, Mark Jenkins and I had the privilege of spending the day with a fabulous group of storytellers and exploring the ‘thresholds’ in our fairy tales and lives. As we led the group through the universal...
by Michelle Tocher | May 5, 2018
In the past few weeks I’ve been very much engaged with the French legend of Melusine, which we’re exploring in the Threads workshop series this year. The story has haunted me for over a decade. Back in 2002, after writing How to Ride a Dragon, I became fascinated by...
