“All storytelling is retelling. Returning to old books is not a failure of invention, but a way of keeping the canon alive.” The Guardian

Contemporary takes on the classics have surged in popularity. Three creators discuss the inspiration to be found in the canon, and how modern retellings can transform our understanding of a novel.

Retelling classics for present-day audiences can see overlooked voices stepping into the spotlight and important themes reassessed in the context of a contemporary society. Aimée de Jongh’s Lord of the Flies reimagines William Golding’s masterpiece as a vibrant graphic novel. (Golding in turn found inspiration in RM Ballantyne’s 1857 adventure story The Coral Island, in which three boys survive a shipwreck.) Xialuo Guo describes Call Me Ishmaelle, in which she transforms Herman Melville’s 1851 epic Moby-Dick into a lively feminist adventure starring a cross-dressing female sailor, as “a homage to an American master, but with transgressive twists”. Carnegie-nominated Clara Kumagai’s second novel Songs for Ghosts, a glorious, heartbreaking tale full of longing and love, is inspired by Puccini’s Madame Butterfly.

In conversation with novelist and journalist Martina Devlin.

Part of New Dutch Writing, supported by the Dutch Foundation for Literature.