After holding his audience spellbound with a reading of his version of The Robber Bridegroom, Philip Pullman explains how he made the Grimm brothers' classic fairytales his own in his new collection. He muses on what makes the fairytale so different from the novel, extols the pleasures of characters devoid of psychology, and wonders whether these oral tales - passed down through generations - should really be called fairytales at all.

Reading list:

Grimm Tales: For Young and Old, by Philip Pullman (Penguin Classics)