Marina Warner

Marina Warner is a writer of fiction, criticism and history; her works include novels and short stories as well as studies of art, myths, symbols and fairytales.
“My critical and historical books and essays explore different figures in myth and fairy tale, such as the Virgin Mary and Joan of Arc; more recently I have concentrated on fairy tales, including the Arabian Nights. I also write novels and short stories, often drawing on mythic or other imaginary predecessors to translate them into contemporary significance – to re-vision them.

Stories come from the past but speak to the present, and I have found that I need to write stories as well as deconstruct them and place them in historical contexts, because I myself love reading works of imagination, and I would like to join the conversation with admired predecessors, who range from Apuleius to Virginia Woolf, Italo Calvino, and Angela Carter.”

Recent Diary Entries

Marina’s EXPs!

05/01/26

There are three videos up on the EXPeditions website where Marina talks about ways of looking, making and understanding art. EXPeditions is: the open-access digital platform created to bridge the gap between scholars and members of the public. Our edit …

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ICYMI: Marina’s books of the year for the TLS!

24/12/25

Marina selected the following books of note for the TLS: Ariella Aïsha Azoulay’s The Jewelers of the Ummah: A potential history of the Jewish Muslim world (Verso) makes an inspired, urgent and poetic plea to remember that Arabs and Jews once coexisted …

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27 January 2026, Chatter #1: Richard Wentworth with Roger Malbert, Rowan Moore and Marina Warner

22/12/25

Drawing Matter’s 2026 Public Programme begins with the launch of Chatter, a new series of evening events in the archive. Chatter evenings are opportunities to gather and talk around drawings and objects from the collection chosen by an invited guest (o …

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Latest Publications