Summary
Fellowship & Fairydust (F&F) is a literary magazine inspiring faith and creativity and exploring the arts through a spiritual lens. We follow in the footsteps of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, George MacDonald and others who combined their Christian sacramental imagination with a love of storytelling. We also branch out into other storytelling traditions from around the world to cultivate intercultural and interreligious understanding. We accept submissions of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and prose, as well as artwork and photography.
Our History
In 2012, a team of aspiring young Catholic writers collaborated to create a literary association they dubbed Expressions to showcase their writing endeavors. In 2014, they christened their enterprise The Fellowship of The King, in honor of the fantasy works and Catholic spirituality of J.R.R. Tolkien. Ink & Fairydust had already begun their literary journey in 2008 as a newsletter for young fans of Regina Doman’s Fairy Tale Novels. Soon the group realized that they had developed something that seemed to fill a gap in the publishing world – a Christian-based magazine focused on the arts for young people. Fellowship & Fairydust came into being when The Fellowship of the King Magazine merged with Ink & Fairydust Magazine in January of 2017 to not only satisfy the demand but also to break new ground in expanding the boundaries of the religious publishing industry.
Our Purpose
Literature worthy of the name is ultimately an appeal to the transcendent. Stories can be a glimpse of the eternal, and here at Fellowship & Fairydust, we believe stories are worth being told. As Madeleine L’Engle said: “Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.”
We invite our readers to immerse themselves in tales that traverse darkness into light and kindle sparks of hope even when all other lights have gone out. As JRR Tolkien wrote: “The world is indeed full of peril and in it there are many dark places. But still there is much that is fair. And though in all lands, love is now mingled with grief, it still grows, perhaps, the greater.”
We strive to exercise the precious gift of sub-creation, bringing ideas into reality and revealing the artistic nature of every soul. Pope St. John Paul II summed this up: “None can sense more deeply than you artists, ingenious creators of beauty that you are, something of the pathos with which God at the dawn of creation looked upon the work of His hands.”
Our purpose is to combine the vital elements of faith and spirituality with art and creativity. We believe that our literary endeavors in their purest forms are an expression of the divine imagination working in us, through us. George MacDonald concurred: “In very truth, a wise imagination, which is the presence of the spirit of God, is the best guide that man or woman can have.”
Our medium is a space for authors to flourish in their chosen craft, becoming more authentically present to themselves and others through their works. As Thomas Merton remarked: “Many poets are not poets for the same reason that many religious men are not saints: they never succeed in being themselves.”
Whereas modern media and entertainment often pedal in little more than nihilism, we attempt to create works which reveal more clearly the image of God in all things. Invoking the spirit of St. Catherine of Sienna, “Be who God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire.”
Our culture implicitly educates us that “growing up” means leaving our sense of meaning behind. And yet it has also been said that what eludes the most educated minds can only be seen through the eyes of a child, or those with childlike hearts. G.K. Chesterton exulted: “Happy is he who still loves something he loved in the nursery: He has not been broken in two by time; he is not two men, but one, and he has saved not only his soul but his life.”
We each have a calling to take part in redeeming these artistic modes that have all too often fallen into decay and illuminate the three transcendentals of Goodness, Truth and Beauty. As all things are made new in Christ, St. Hildegard of Bingen reflected, “The Word is living, being, spirit, all verdant greening, all creativity. This Word manifests itself in every creature.”
In this way, the artistic experience can be a sacramental experience that enables us to surrender our preconceptions and gain a fresh perspective of life. C.S. Lewis commented: “The first demand any work of art makes upon us is surrender. Look. Listen. Receive. Get yourself out of the way.”
To align oneself with the spirit of truth in our creative efforts is to enter into the flow of abundant life, making even our most mundane works bear fruit. As Imam Ali ibn abi Talib described it, “Truth means conformity of speech with the Divine mode of working.“
It is this connective inspiration that often unites varied disciplines through the intrinsic desire to reach beyond ourselves and delve deeper into the mysteries of the interior life. As St. Thomas Aquinas noted, “Because philosophy arises from awe, a philosopher is bound in his way to be a lover of mythology and poetic fables. Poets and philosophers are alike in being great with wonder.”
Fellowship & Fairydust is a convergence of combined talent and inspiration, drawn from diverse traditions and walks of life, seeking to best submit our talents to the service the divine will. As St. Theresa of Avila stated, “God gave us faculties for our use…permit them to do their work until divinely called to something higher.”
Through our shared writings and artistry, we embark on a journey of discovery, revealing the hidden unity within diversity through sacramental imagination. To quote the Sufi poet Mawlana Jalal-ad-Din Rumi: “In Your light I learn how to love. In Your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest where no-one sees You, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.”