Fairy tales are typically divided into two main categories, the so-called folk tales based on oral traditions, and the so-called literary fairy tales that may or may not be based on folk tales and their traditions but where there is an author at play.

Examples of folk fairy tales would be stories such as Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, but we need to bear in mind the versions we know through for instance the work of the Brothers Grimm have been edited and to some extent censored. These versions would be more directly described as based on oral traditions.

Among the writers of fairy tales perhaps Danish Hans Christian Andersen is the most famous of them all. More recent names would include J. M. Barrie (Peter Pan), J. R. R. Tolkien (The Hobbit, Lord Of The Rings), C. S. Lewis (The Chronicles Of Narnia), Astrid Lindgren (Brothers Lionheart), Michael Ende (Neverending Story) and J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter).

Keynote speakers on fairy tales take a closer look at the genre, the folk tales and the literary tales, the different types of fairy tales, specific writers and traditions, etc.