Margaret Bennett (Professor, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) received the 2022 Iona and Peter Opie Prize.
This prize, awarded by the Children’s Folklore section, is awarded approximately every two years to the author of the best recently published scholarly book on children’s folklore.
Margaret Bennett is author of Dundee Street Songs, Rhymes and Games: The William Montgomerie Collection, 1952 (Grace Note Publications, 2021). William Montgomerie’s significant collection, edited and annotated by Bennett and illustrated by Les McConnell, includes games, rhymes, and songs from the early 1950s. Bennett’s detailed description of William and Norah Montgomerie’s pioneering fieldwork, including their audio recordings, highlights important insight about children at play and folklorists at work. Since a CD of the recordings comes with over-the-counter book sales and the book includes links to recordings online, readers can listen to children excitedly sharing their favorite playground lore. This valuable addition to children’s folklore scholarship is certainly something to celebrate.
Read about Margaret Bennett.