About

Grendel’s Mere is a collection of Kari Maaren’s musical takes on literary works. Because it is probably a little, well, not legal to do this to works under copyright, all the works chosen will be out of copyright in Canada.

The collection is named after the monster-infested body of water Grendel and his mother live under in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf. The first work in the collection, “Moor and Mead Hall,” adapts part of Beowulf, so that seems appropriate. The mere is an otherworldly space, which means it’s emblematic of the unknown and holds the potential for both danger and power.

Kari Maaren

Kari Maaren is a wandering English professor who has turned grumpiness into an art form. She writes and performs geeky ukulele music about Batman, genre literature, and various types of monsters, and she has produced two CDs, Beowulf Pulled My Arm Off and Everybody Hates Elves. She has posted more music on her YouTube channel. Her second YouTube channel, The Improvyssey, collects her daily improvs on various instruments. Her first novel, the Nebula- and Sunburst-nominated and Copper Cylinder-winning YA fantasy adventure Weave a Circle Round, was published by Tor in 2017. She has a completed webcomic, West of Bathurst, and an active one, It Never Rains. She has won Aurora Awards for her music (2013 and 2015) and comics (2015, 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023).

A photograph of a middle-aged white woman with long brown hair and grey eyes. She is wearing glasss and a blue hat.

Detail from a page from Boccoccio's Decameron: a woodcut showing ten young people sitting together in a courtyard, telling stories and playing music.

The Decameron Collective

The Decameron Collective is a group of nine scholars and artists who have met on a weekly basis since the spring of 2020 to discuss and synthesise their reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic. They have produced art, music, writing, and scholarship, both collectively and individually. Grendel’s Mere is not an official Decameron Collective work, but it has emerged from the work of the collective, and the first piece, “Moor and Mead Hall,” is part of a Decameron Collective exhibition, Deformance as un/linking.

Exhibitions Featuring Grendel’s Mere

Transforming Literary Places: Tartu Ülikooli kunstimuuseum, March – May 2024 (“Moor and Mead Hall”)
Deformance as un/linking: July 2024, Electronic Literature Organisation Conference and Media Festival (“Moor and Mead Hall”)

Create anything

Welcome to a world of limitless possibilities, where the journey is as exhilarating as the destination, and where every moment is an opportunity to make your mark on the canvas of existence.

Create anything

Welcome to a world of limitless possibilities, where the journey is as exhilarating as the destination, and where every moment is an opportunity to make your mark on the canvas of existence.

Create anything

Welcome to a world of limitless possibilities, where the journey is as exhilarating as the destination, and where every moment is an opportunity to make your mark on the canvas of existence.

Discover a world of possibilities

Welcome to a world of limitless possibilities, where the journey is as exhilarating as the destination, and where every moment is an opportunity to make your mark on the canvas of existence. The only limit is the extent of your imagination.

Get Started