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Lesley
Pratt Bannatyne
9 Oliver St.
Somerville Massachusetts 02145
bannatyn@fas.harvard.edu
Lesley Bannatyne is an author
who writes on Halloween. She is also a freelance journalist, covering stories ranging
from local druids to
relief aid in Bolivia. She
co-founded the Studebaker Theater (1978) and is
co-director of Invisible Cities Group (1990).
Bannatyne has shared her
knowledge of Halloween on television specials for
Nickelodeon and the History Channel ("The Haunted
History of Halloween"), with Time Magazine, and has
given talks at venues as diverse as the 2000
Halloween Convergence in New Orleans and the St.
Louis Art Museum. She contributed the Halloween
article to World Book Encyclopedia. Most recently, she set the Guinness World Record for "Largest Halloween Gathering," in October 2007 in Davis Square, Somerville. Lesley is currently works as an editor and communications writer at
Harvard University.
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Portrait by Mark Ostow
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Halloween
Books
(available on amazon.com, direct from the publisher, or ask for them at your local bookstore
A
Halloween How-To: Costumes, Parties, Decorations & Destinations (Pelican Publishing Co.,
2001)
Halloween:
American Holiday, An American
History
(Facts on File, 1990; Pelican Publishing Co.,
1999)
A
Halloween Reader: Poems, Stories and Plays
from Halloweens Past
(Pelican
Publishing Co., September 2004)
Witches' Night Before Halloween
Written by Lesley Bannatyne, illustrated by Adrian Tans. For little witchlings (and their parents)
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Witches Night Before Halloween is a fun, poetic look at the night when witches haunt the skies and zombies roam the Earth. The author has done a fabulous job of taking a well-known poem and turning it into a Halloween romp...the author created the perect verses throughout so that her poem flows well and keeps the fun moving along.
Dark, furry, four-footed hard-to-see things
That take to the sky amidst flutter of wings;
Red-headed banshees with ear-splitting wails;
And a rheumy-eyed ghost dressed in neatly pressed tails.
The illustrator has doen a nice job of keeping the mood light iht smiles on almost all the creatures in this tale. Granted, the frog, who appears in several scenes, looks a bit concerned as he clings to a flying broom, but I suspect kids will enjoy his repeated appearances and giggle at his escapades. Witches' Night Before Halloween will likely be read over and over as that special night in October approaches.
-Feathered Quill Book Review
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Selected
Articles:
Halloween
Halloween: A History
CSM:
Halloween, Lit With 5000
Candlepower
Victorian
Halloween
Extreme
Halloween
Halloween
Myths and Monsters
What's
Next: Trends in
Halloween
More stories (all subjects)
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Activities
CLICK for photos of the Witches' Night book launch and Guinness Record Attempt at the Largest Gathering of Halloween Witches (Reciting Poetry)
Lectures,
Events and Appearances
Selected Interviews
History Channel: Haunted History of Halloween:
(check local listings; preview on youtube)
Blast Magazine (2009)
podcast of the Dean Blundell Show, Toronto 10/26/09
Paranormal Podcast (2009)
Boston Globe: Homeowners take haunting to new heights (2009)
AP/Salon: Iowa's early Halloween goers need jokes for treats (2009)
Denver Post: David Harsaani (2007)
Washington Post (2007)
Profile in Get Creative Magazine (2006)
Harvard
Gazette,
2002
Boston
Phoenix,
2002
Links
(a few...)
The Iron Kingdom
Halloween
Alliance
Haunted
Attraction Magazine
American
Ghost Society
Old Fashioned Halloween
City
of the Silent
Urban
Legends
Pelican Publishing Company
Tinsell and Whimsy Halloween Folk Art
Castle Blood
Gothic gothic clothing gothic corset gothic makeup
my scary Halloween
Pyrettas Lair
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Theater
Studebaker
Theater
Invisible Cities Group
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