The ogres and witches and giants of fairytales stand in as metaphors for those obstacles that we all face in our own lives.

Sanitising stories, leaching out all of the sense of danger and the darkness out of the stories, actually reduces them and stops them from doing what they're supposed to do, which is teach us how to manage our lives.

As I grew up, I read and loved many fairy-tale retellings and began to think about writing my own reimagining of 'Rapunzel.'

When our ancestors crouched about the camp fire at night, they told each other tales of gods and heroes, monsters and marvels, to hold back the terrors of the night. Such tales comforted and entertained, diverted and educated those who listened, and helped shape their sense of the world and their place in it.

We all want to win against all odds. We all want to be loved. We all wish it was possible to change our world and to make our world a better place.

Stories are the common ground that allow people to connect, despite all our defences and all our differences.