Brittany Warman

PhD

BIO

A faerie folklorist, a writing witch, and a sorceress scholar born under the indecisive skies of a cool November night in northern Virginia, I am the co-founder and co-headmistress of The Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic, an online school where we teach creative souls how to re-enchant their lives through folklore and fairy tales. I received my PhD in English and Folklore at The Ohio State University and have also lived in Florida, just outside of New York City (my favorite place in the world) when I was an undergraduate at Sarah Lawrence College, California, and northern Virginia again to complete my MA degree in Interdisciplinary Studies: Folklore at George Mason University. I was also lucky enough to be able to live and study abroad in Oxford, UK and Galway, Ireland

Folk narrative is my passion and almost always the chief inspiration behind the creative writing and academic work that I do. I research and write about fairy tales, legends, myths, folk tales, and supernatural folklore broadly speaking (especially conceptions of magic and fairylore/witch lore.) I am also fascinated by retellings and reimaginings of these materials, both writing them myself and researching them, speculative literature of all kinds (especially the Gothic and Fantastic), nineteenth-century literature, feminist and queer theory, fashion, experimental literature, and digital media, particularly creative digital composing.

My family and I are very close. I laugh way too hard at bad puns. I have three kitten familiars and a changeling of a boyfriend. I’m a very typical Scorpio, an unapologetic geek, a bit too introverted for my own good, an animal lover, and a huge believer in the magic beneath the mundane. I perpetually have ink on my fingers and a book in my hands.


FIVE FAVORITES:

Books – The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, 
The Orphan’s Tales Duology by Catherynne M. Valente, The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter,
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, The Strange the Dreamer Duology by Laini Taylor

Musicians – Florence and the Machine, Patrick Wolf, Within Temptation, Poe, Loreena McKennitt

Films – Sleeping BeautyOnly Lovers Left AliveWhisper of the Heart, Romeo + JulietSome Like It Hot

Fairy Tales – “Sleeping Beauty,” “Jorinde and Joringel,” “Kisa the Cat,” “The Witch in the Woods,”
“The White Cat”

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THE CARTERHAUGH SCHOOL

Sara Cleto and I co-own and operate The Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic, a (mostly) online school. We give lectures and teach courses on fairy tales, folklore, witches, writing, and more. Basically, your ultimate fantasy college courses, for a fraction of the price. We’re serious academics, but we also think learning should be joyful, fun, and relevant. We’ll help you see classic tales with fresh eyes, introduce you to stories you’ve never heard before, and welcome you into a community of magic-makers who love this stuff as much as you do. Instead of tests, we’ll give you quests that bring fairy tales and folklore into your own life. Give us an hour, and we’ll show you how an old tale can shine light into your home, your relationships, and your own sense of self.

So that’s what Carterhaugh is, but it doesn’t quite capture what it feels like. You know those magic schools you’ve always read about? Carterhaugh is the online version. One of our recent students told us that “finding Carterhaugh School is like stumbling into Rivendell.” We think she’s right.

Carterhaugh is for voracious learners and dreamers with big hearts and creative souls. It’s for people who always have their noses stuck in books or are always half-way through knitting another fantasy shawl. Did you day-dream about elven battles when you were supposed to be studying economics? Do you love a good ghost story…or maybe you’ve even seen a few yourself? Do you still feel a little betrayed that your acceptance letter to magic school never arrived? Then Carterhaugh is for you.

Please click here to visit!

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