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<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nDina Schiff Massachi\u2019s New Book about the Characters of Oz<\/strong>\u2013 A few years ago I wrote a Storied Charlotte blog post about Dina Schiff Massachi\u2019s participation in the PBS\u2019s documentary titled American Oz: The True Wizard Behind the <\/em>Curtain, which first aired in April 2021 as part of PBS\u2019s American Experience <\/em>series. To see this earlier blog post, please click on this link: Dina Massachi, L. Frank Baum, and The American Experience<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n Since then, Dina has continued to teach courses on Oz at UNC Charlotte and work as an Oz scholar. Her most recent accomplishment in this field of Oz scholarship is the publication of her edited collection titled The Characters of Oz: Essays on Their Adaptation and Transformation<\/em>, which was just published by McFarland & Company. Here is the link to the publisher\u2019s listing of the book: https:\/\/mcfarlandbooks.com\/product\/the-characters-of-oz\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n I recently contacted Dina and asked her for more information about how she came to edit The Characters of Oz<\/em>. Here is what she sent to me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n For a number of years now, I\u2019ve given talks at the International Wizard of Oz Club\u2019s conventions, theming each talk around a different Oz character, how they\u2019ve adapted, and what their changes say about our American culture. My initial vision for <\/em>The Characters of Oz was to expand on these talks by inviting members of the Oz Club and other Oz scholars to write essays about Baum\u2019s memorable characters. I wrote up a book proposal and had a contract much faster than I expected\u2014it seemed the powers that be wanted this just as much as I did.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The funny thing about children\u2019s fairylands is everyone thinks the magic is in the fantasy world. While Oz may be spectacular, the real magic in Oz is how the characters all work together to help one another. To quote Jack Zipes, \u201cAs an icon of utopian home, Oz reveals how differences might shine and be truly appreciated and how a communal spirit might flourish.\u201d One of the magical things about working with Oz is that same communal spirit prevails\u2014 my colleague Mark West contributed an essay, fellow Oz scholars came aboard and referred me to their friends, a former student of the English Department\u2019s M.A program jumped in, Baum descendants contributed, and by the end I had a collection that allowed different voices to shine while collectively telling the tale of how America\u2019s fairy tale has adapted and changed to reflect the changes within America.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m a project junkie. The hardest part of completing a project is I need to figure out what comes next. Right around the time Characters was a completed manuscript, I had an idea for my next project\u2014I would continue the collaboration between the Oz Club, the Oz academics, and my other friends in the Oz world and host an Oz festival to make this world come alive for my students and the broader Charlotte community. With thanks to the North Carolina Humanities, and the endless support of my colleagues at UNC Charlotte, that dream is coming true. CharlOz, as we are calling this festival, will take place from September 27-29, 2024, and we are just starting to announce some of our stellar lineup (including Gregory Maguire, the author of Wicked). The Charlotte Teacher\u2019s Institute is involved, and we hope to create something magical for everyone\u2014from small children to the young at heart. For more details, please check out: <\/em>https:\/\/charloz.charlotte.edu\/<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n As one of the contributors to Dina\u2019s The Characters of Oz, <\/em>I am pleased to be included in Dina\u2019s circle of Oz scholars and aficionados. I am also pleased to be one of her helpers as she plans for the upcoming CharlOz festival. Through her research and publications and her tireless work in organizing CharlOz, Dina is making a real difference not just in the world of Oz scholarship but also in the land of Storied Charlotte. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Storied Charlotte Dina Schiff Massachi\u2019s New Book about the Characters of Oz\u2013 A few years ago I wrote a Storied Charlotte blog post about Dina Schiff Massachi\u2019s participation in the PBS\u2019s documentary titled American Oz: The True Wizard Behind the Curtain, which first aired in April 2021 as part of PBS\u2019s American Experience series. To […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[182],"class_list":["post-3818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-storied-charlotte","tag-oz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3818"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3828,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3818\/revisions\/3828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n