TAFFY THOMAS With over 300 traditional stories many of them woven into his magnificent story coat. Taffy’s head is bursting with stories, riddles and folklore. The first Storyteller Laureate, the artistic director of Tales in Trust, doyen of the Storyteller’s Garden in Grasmere and teller of tales on four continents, Taffy Thomas MBE is also, we’re proud to say, the Patron of the East Anglian Storytelling Festival. He will invite us into different worlds with stories of Fairy Gold, featuring fairy magic and mischief, and tunes from Liz and Richard York to match. Saturday Morning - in conversation Saturday Afternoon - Fairy Gold! Sunday - Storyround More about Taffy!
Kestrel Morton - New Voices - is a queer, non-binary storyteller currently living in the Vale of Glamorgan. Telling as often in forests, caves, abandoned buildings and quarries, as in traditional venues, Kestrel’s voice carries with it the echoes of the wild edges where the lines between the real and the mythic are blurred and the otherworld overlaps with this one. Muddyfeet - "Blood and bone - Ash, water, smoke and stone - Let love be more powerful than greed." In a city built on the ruins of past mistakes - in a land locked in a pattern of creation and destruction - is there a way to cheat the fates and break the cycle? Is a better world possible? Kestrel Morton spins a visionary spiderweb of dark nightmares - glittering with the diamond-dewdrops of hope. A mythic recreation of a tale as old as time - Cinderella as you've never heard it before - Muddyfeet is a poetic epic, pitting dystopian future prophecies against the green shoots of change that seek to uplift and rewrite them. A story from yesterday - told for tomorrow. Kestrel is a dynamic and passionate performer with a unique vision. A must-see! -Daniel Morden. https://isthatmysoul.wixsite.com/kestrel-morton
XANTHE GRESHAM Xanthe Gresham Knight is a writer and international performance storyteller with a wide repertoire. Author of ‘Goddesses and Heroines’ with Thames and Hudson, she has created a variety of shows celebrating the feminine divine including ‘Cassandra for Radio 4 (listen to the BBC podcast here) and The Online Goddess Lounge, funded by The Arts Council of England.
Xanthe has been Storyteller in Residence for Harvard University, The Blanton Museum Texas, Psychologies Magazine, The Chelsea Physic Garden, Stoke and Staffordshire Libraries and 18 Hours Hastings. She worked as a Senior Lecturer in Drama and Storytelling for the University of East London for 17 years. As well as touring and working locally in Seaford, Sussex, Xanthe curates the Online Goddess Lounge and co-hosts LunarSea Storytelling Brighton.
Xanthe’s work with the Iranian epic ‘ Shahnameh’ with Arash Moradi has toured internationally and nationally with Adverse Camber Productions thanks to numerous commissions and honorariums from the British Museum and the Smithsonian Institute.
Speaks like a woman spitting jewels - Arts Council of England We were enraptured - The Telegraph Exquisite timing - The Times Gresham is a truly great storyteller who unwraps each story like the petals of a lotus flower - British Theatre Review
EDWARD WILCOX A warm, witty and elegant spoken word and drag performer. Write short poems, observational pieces. He performs at open mic nights, drag shows and competitions and volunteers at various Prides/festivals. He is a drag performer, but wishes to make a connection with everyone in the audience. He likes to write observational pieces from the street. Ed was a meeter and greeter last year at our festival, and we just knew we had to see more of what he does - so pleased to have him back! Look out for Ed at our Friday night Ceilidh where he'll be performing and expect to see him strutting his stuff over the whole weekend.! https://www.instagram.com/an_nemia/
MAI BLACK I'm a former primary teacher and currently run creative writing classes and Zoom poetry workshops for adults. I've just published a book of dramatic, poetic, historical monologues called 'Thirty Angry Ghosts' and together with a group of volunteers, visit libraries, pubs, community groups etc. to share the voices of Boudicca, Shakespeare, Cleopatra and other famous historical figures. In each case, I introduce a historical figure with real biographical facts. I also say what inspired me to write their story and why I think they are so angry. Then, the 'ghost' comes on in full costume to tell their story. These take the form of rhythmical, accessible poems. I've performed it in The King's Arms in Woodbridge, Gainsborough Library in Ipswich, Felixstowe Library and Capel St Mary WI group. There is quite a bit of humour but some of the themes are quite adult so I'd suggest an audience of 11+. Featured ghosts include Henry VIII, Shakespeare, Margaret Catchpole, Boudicca, Anne Boleyn, Helen of Troy and The Unknown Soldier. I can have 2-5 volunteers with me to act out the ghosts.
VICKIE HOLDEN Storyteller Vickie has worked as a writer, performer and storyteller for twenty-something years, and can regularly be found working hard at the Discover Children’s Story Centre as well as on Zoom, YouTube, at festival, events, in schools, and at other performing gigs both for adult audiences and families. A born daydreamer(!), Vickie loves funny, characterful, interactive storytelling and more info about Vickie and her work can be found at www.thelisteninn.co.uk
Vickie will be MC for some of our sessions, and we are sure to have a story or two as well!
The band's name comes from a local delicacy - a cockle from Stiffkey, a village on the North Norfolk coast whose name is often pronounced 'Stookey' or 'Stewkey'. The cockle can have a blue tint to its colouring due to the mud in which it lives. There's more about it on this Information Britain page.
Also, please note, we are Stookey Blue and not Blues - we play folk music and ceilidh dance music, not the blues! :)
MARIA GILLEN - New Voices Maria is a vibrant storyteller who will tell a story at the drop of a hat and loves co-creating stories with anyone from the cradle to the grave. She is well known in her native Cork as a Bean An Tí (session host) and a storyteller with a repertoire rooted in the folklore, myths and legends of Ireland. A past winner of the Sean Cup, she is storyteller in Residence for Kerry Writers Museum and artistic director for Listowel Storytelling Festival. Saturday! storyfromseeds.com/story-circle-workshop/# More About Mariahttps://worldstorytellingcafe.com/performers/maria-gillen/
DAVE TONGE is a jobbing teller of tales who performs at museums, heritage sites, festivals and schools. From Lindisfarne Holy Island in the north to Arundel Castle in the south, he works regularly for English Heritage and national museums like the Ashmolean in Oxford. He has also told at many a storytelling festival, from Settle in the North, to FATE in the Midlands and Tales in Trust and Romsey in the South He has written three books: Tudor Tales, Norfolk Folk Tales for Children, and Medieval Tales for Children and is also working on a 4th, Trickster Tales From Many Lands. He specialises in period rich and often irreverent tales shared by the poorer folk long ago.
Dave brings us Trickster Tales from Many Lands: There was once a trickster, a beguiler of the foolish, a cony catching cunning man, who journeyed from town to town, village to village and house to house wearing many different disguises. But now he was growing old, cold and desired to deceive in distant lands, to test his wit against tricksters from exotic climbs. And so it was with many a disguise in the pack upon his back and many a cunning con in his head, he took ship to far, far away, vowing not to return to England until he found a beguiler as artful as him. The trickster does just that, trading stories with other swindlers whose tales it turns out, are not that very different to his own. The set is an exploration and celebration of our shared culture through the theme of tricksters, with the rest of the world. Saturday https://www.facebook.com/dave.tonge.3
SARAH LLOYD- WINDER I am a professional storyteller who performs at many different venues from bars and small fringe venues to arts centres, festivals, and schools, as well as online. I tell stories from Folklore, Myth and Legend mixed with real people. During Covid I brought together a group of storytellers who tell stories live on zoom every month. The storytellers have come from different parts of the UK and the world. I have recently completed a project supported by the Arts Council and South Somerset District Council. This used stories embedded in QR codes to create a story trail. Sarah will be bringing us story walking in the fabulous grounds! https://sarahlloydwinderstoryteller.com/
GERRY DONLON aka Bards Aloud, is a Suffolk based Irish storyteller and poet. He is founder and co-host of Storytelling with Bards Aloud, a monthly gathering in Ipswich, co-founder of The East Anglian Storytelling Festival and also founder of Poetree Walks with Bards in the Woods. He has performed at many major festivals, including: The East Anglian Storytelling Festival, Cambridge Folk Festival, Folk East, Jimmy's Festival, the Glens storytelling Festival, Scalta Beo and the Spirit of Beowulf Festival. He has an array of original and hybrid tales, described as stories comic and stories quirky suitable for both children and adults. https://www.facebook.com/bards.aloud
SIMON HOOTON After a career in countryside management, and decades of interpreting the countryside through guided walks, talks and courses, I have taken the chance in retirement to try and use drama and stories to inspire people to care about their environment and tackle climate change: the science is working well enough. Essentially, I am trying to build a suite of stories to help people love their environment and become passionate about nature. I have been a performer, director and writer for amateur dramatics especially pantomime and see story-telling as a natural addition. Workshop - Environmental stories for folk over 10 years old. Looking at the way people have interacted with their locality to draw out the distinctive characteristics of East Anglia's special landscapes like The Broads, The Brecks, the coast and its estuaries, and the woods, heaths, rivers and meadows of the countryside around us. In doing so, seeking to show how special it is, how it can be threatened by people's actions and ways to enjoy and appreciate it even more. As such this is work in development and builds on short stories I have written and included in talks, evenings of extracts from nature writing created for the Suffolk Wildlife Trust and The Bank Arts Centre, Eye, and short 'radio plays' that I write and perform with a groups called 4x4 based out from Wymondham. I have taken part in two Suffolk Skalds in the past.
Simon will be bringing his passion for our world to our Ceilidh on Friday and will be running a workshop on Saturday.
Jan Williams was born in West Wales in the village of Borth but most of her storytelling life has been centred in East Anglia. She has written Essex Folk tales and founded Essex storytellers with Carl Merry and Andy Jennings Together they have told the story of the Battle of Maldon, Mersea mound and the Manningtree witches. This year her life has been bound up more with spooky Suffolk as Sibton Abbey has inspired her exciting book The Ghost of Pendlesham Priory.
Carl Merry "...an inspiring storyteller who is able to enthral and excite junior and adult audiences alike....” (Essex Headteacher) Born in South Wales Carl spent most of his formative years either playing cricket or reading. Early encounters with the Greek myths sparked a lifelong love of these tales. As a teacher, Carl spent twenty six years attempting to instil a love of literature into teenagers. Since 2000 Carl has worked as a storyteller, telling in theatres, country parks, schools, Medieval re-enactment events, festivals, The Royal Academy, Hull Freedom Festival, storytelling clubs and community groups. As well as giving workshops on storytelling he has told stories at such varied events as: The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, The Essex Book Festival, the Rochester Dickens Festival, Pensthorpe Medieval Spectacular, the Colchester Festival, the Mersea Island Seafood Festival and the English Wine Weekend. In 2014 he was commissioned by Bishops Stortford Museum to prepare a series of stories about policing in the town during WW1. He has been a mentor on Walking the Wild Woods, a which attracts an international set of students, for the past seven years.
CLARE MUIREANN MURPHY Dublin born storyteller Clare Murphy has told stories worldwide since 2006. She tells for all ages on all kinds of stages. She has performed in more than 20 countries to audiences of 5 to 5000 people. Her work ranges from science-stories like UniVerse to socio-political pieces like The King of Lies to her beloved Irish mythology. She has had the honour of performing for President Mary Robinson as well as at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“masterly storytelling – all delivered at a pace which meant there was never a dull moment”. Culture Whisper “Clare Muireann Murphy’s beautiful lilting Irish voice was in stark contrast to the darkly humorous stories she told us, and she her first-rate comic physicality only served to enhance her storytelling.” Everything Theatre Saturday 27th - Daytime family stories & Evening More about Clare!
SIMON HEYWOOD A gifted wordsmith who beautifully transposes story to song, combining a healthy sense of humour with a respect for mythology.’ (Ben Haggarty, Storyteller). Alongside solo storytelling performances at clubs and festivals across the UK, Simon Heywood lectures in storytelling and creative writing and is currently researching a world history of storytelling. SAT/SUN TBA Strange Majesty. So you think you know about Merlin the magician? Let Simon Heywood show you the Merlin most people don't know about: engimatic, dark, and powerful. The author of The Legend of Vortigern brings the world of Arthur and the ancient kings of Britain alive as only he can.
ALIM KAMARA- New Voices - is a British-Sierra Leonean rapper and storyteller. As a child living in Sierra Leone, Alim would listen to Djelis (storytellers), admiring the way they wove lessons through their tales. He set up Storie Storie to inspire others through engaging storytelling workshops and performances based on these traditional Sierra-Leonean folk tales. Alim has a wealth of experience of sharing cultural and life stories that demonstrate success, disappointments, persistence and hard work to pupils across the UK. In addition to Alim’s storytelling work, he has achieved number one singles in both Sierra Leone and Nigeria; Let’s Get Lost Remix ft Sharlene Hector, and No To PlayPlay, a track that mixes English and Krio (a version of broken English found in Sierra Leone). Alim always enjoys exploring the interaction between music and storytelling and exciting audiences with the possibilities presented by the interplay between the two. Friday, Saturday, Sunday. https://www.storiestorie.com/
RICHARD YORK- Founder of the Feast of Fools Storytelling Club, traditional storyteller, multi-instrumental musician and composer, Richard York brings stories and music to events, schools, museums, heritage sites, and communities. He has presented music and stories in many prestigious sites - the V&A, castles from Warkworth in NE England to Guernsey, to community and family groups in halls and round fires, and much more.
Richard will be working alongside Jonathan Lambert bringing medieval stories to us!
What could possibly go wrong when these two tell stories together?
HANNAH BRAILSFORD Hannah is a professional storyteller and actor based in Southend on Sea, who tells both traditional and modern tales to young and old alike. Driven by a passion to engage and inspire communities with storytelling, she draws on her acting background to take her audiences on playful and poignant journeys into folk, fairy, wonder tales and myths and legends from around the world. She has performed at numerous festivals including Cambridge Folk Festival, Leigh Folk Festival, Into The Wild Festival, Strawbear Festival and The East Anglian Storytelling Festival. She is currently working on a collaborative storytelling commission with Settle Stories. Hannah will joining in the Saturday late night EdgeWalkers ceilidh, and with her other hat she’ll also be running a Saturday afternoon puppet making workshop for children. Contact https://www.hannahbrailsfordstoryteller.com https://www.spinningyarnstheatre.com/
CHRIS RICHARDSON Chris began telling stories to audiences some 5 years ago, but considers that he's been storytelling in his personal and professional life since his teens. He likes to tell tales he feels he can bring his love of language to but also feel rooted in. However, this can take many forms - from local legends set in the geography of his own East Anglia, to the cultural familiarity of Anglo Saxon sagas and on to the enduring bond of father and son just as important in Daedalus and Icarus as it is in Chris's own family life. He has told the saga of Wayland at the EASF festival of 2018 as well as other Suffolk and Essex events, schools and story circles. Chris will be telling the story of the Green Children!
BADEN PRINCE (Junior) is a London-based writer, poet, performer and storyteller. Over the past ten years, he has established a solid reputation with performances at major venues all over the UK and abroad, the USA and the Netherlands in particular. From 2003 - 2010 he was the curator and host of "Speakeasy," one of London's most popular poetry and spoken word events, enjoyed and respected by audiences and performers alike. As a performer, Baden entrances audiences with his warm, engaging manner, his mellifluous voice and his irreverent, humorous style.
Baden will be MC for some of our sessions, and we are sure to have a story or two as well!
Roisin Murray has listened to and told stories ever since she was small, which is a long time ago now. A professional life working in many countries meant she collected traditional stories with people from a range of cultures who heard them from their parents and grandparents.
She has been professionally telling stories for over 25 years now, in diverse places – from the East Midlands to the Middle East to a wide range of ages from babies to 90 year olds.
Having spent many years living and working all around the UK she has now based in Mid-Norfolk.
She tells , both traditional and self-authored tales in community, heritage and environmental settings.
