There are so many reasons people want to learn how to tell their personal life stories well: to pass on some of their family history, to entertain people, to give utterance to some of the most profound moments of their lives. But there are times when we want to tell somone else’s life story too. […]
When people arrive at storytelling workshops, they often worry about having the “right” story to work on, whether it’s a personal story or a traditional one. Let’s face it, there are so many stories both out there and inside us, the choice can be a bit daunting. If it’s a personal storytelling course, I will […]
I was born and brought up in the house where my mother still lives in the city of Bristol in the UK. Bristol used to be a great port and until the mid 19th century the quays were right in the centre of the city. Then a bigger port was built downstream and the old […]
Storytellers the world over have been telling stories all through the Covid 19 pandemic. The challenge of course, is always the same: which story is the right medicine at any given moment? At this time, as lockdown is being eased in many countries, here’s a short story from Taiwan: There was once a village nestled […]
It started with an email. Former student, colleague and fellow storyteller Abbie Simmonds wrote to me after a long gap, saying she was using the lockdown as an opportunity to express her gratitude to key people in her life. There followed some heart warming sentiments and memories, guarenteed to make the life of any teacher […]
I have just returned from teaching a five week community storytelling course in Cape Town. During that time I was sharing a house with two friends, working closely with my colleague, storyteller Gilly Southwood, spending five days a week in the company of 12 storytellers from all over South Africa, Thailand, the States, Canada and […]
Students from the 3 week Personal Storytelling Course in Amari last October gazing into the flames. When I was at school, I learnt that the discovery of fire was an importance step for human beings because it enabled us to keep warm, scare wild animals away at night and if we caught any, cook and […]
Every year in The Netherlands, people celebrate the Festival of St Nicholas on December 6th. St Nicholas was originally a Bishop from Myra in Turkey, famous for his secret gift giving. It’s easy to see how he became so widely loved as Santa Claus which actually means Saint Nick. In the Netherlands from mid November right […]
One afternoon last year I was sitting in a friend’s kitchen having a cup of tea. She has two children and a business that she runs from home. We had been catching up on our lives after not seeing each other for about a year and I was listening to her stories of the school […]
I recently heard an illuminating reflection on the core work of telling a story from your own life. One of the biggest differences between telling a traditional story and telling a true one from your own life is that when you tell a traditional story, a lot of time is spent imagining the landscape, the characters, […]
