Settle Stories

Interviews with Storytellers - Kirill P Gopius

2012-02-22T05:11:00.002Z

Kirill started the first Russian Storytelling Festival. This interview comes with thanks to Katherine Vorotkova who helped with the English translation.

Kirill begins by telling us something about his background.
I was born in Moscow in the old house, with the family of the deputy director Tarkovsky and our family all lived together. To tell the truth, I didn’t live in this period. A small yard, which was fenced about with brick wall, belonged to my home. It had been MY own territory until we moved into a new flat.

When I was ten years old, my mother and I were going past our new house by bus. And she said to me: “In time there will be a plaque on this house… Kirill Pavlovich Gopius lived and worked here!” Of course Mom said it just for fun. It is where I am from, the place, where I was born to my mother.

Now I am the founder of the Centre of Applied Knowledge for Prime Life Education and I am the organiser of the First Russian Storytelling Festival. I am a storyteller, blogger, explorer, author of books including Blueberry Pie and An Introduction to Power

Where in the world are you? How long have you been telling stories and where do you perform?

Russia is my native land, but I have traveled all over the world to Cuba, Kuwait, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, and China. I have seen a lot of different thing and I know that no matter my geographical position, I we are all the same the world over.

From the age when we are all playing with toy soldiers or dolls, we create stories. Later we begin to write them down on the paper (or in the computer - more often now). That’s how I started to create stories and I am still doing so now.

When I became an adult, I noticed that I was told stories wherever I was - at home, at work, with friends. It was then that I realized, I am Storyteller, and started telling stories in special places, on a stage or in a lecture-hall.

What is special about storytelling? Why did you become a storyteller?

Whatever the activity of an individual or group you can't avoid two processes: the promotion of self or a projecct and the need for resources (financial, material etc.) Both these processes require self-confidence and are based on gaining confidence. Storytelling shows us where we can find our confidence, how to trust people, how to communicate and stories provide us with an understanding of ourselves.

What do you think makes a good storyteller? And why do you think that?

First of all a storyteller should answer the question: Who am I? He should connect with his roots and connect with the heavens, because then his stories will be right and beautiful. And of course he should investigate Storytelling and Story as a science.

What do you do to develop your storytelling skills?

Firstly, my “Storyteller`s code” is - Be able to listen! Be able to listen when everybody is silent. Then God is speaking. Be able to listen when only you are silent. Then Stories come to life. Be able to listen even when you are telling something. Then the wedding of Heaven and Earth takes place – you and the listener become one.

Secondly, tell stories! The more you tell the better you get. Each new telling polishes the Story, creates new contexts and makes atmosphere more appropriate, develops the characters. After that a meaning and sense appears. When the Storytelling becomes as usual as breathing, the Stories will come. That which is hidden from the external world, will appear and become a remedy for Storyteller and his audience. Tell stories!
But the main Storyteller`s commandment is – respect a Story!

Show your respect to the story, it is like an accomplished divine act. It is a child of the cooperative moment. It can seem to us that story is boring, that it`s style is not perfect, that it is full of grammatical and factual mistakes, but it exists, so it is allowed to be - Respect the Story! The STORY is God`s word.

I am sure that our first international festival of Storytelling in Russia will be also be a concentration of Storytelling here.

Where do you get your stories from? What kind of stories do you like to tell?

I get my stories from my life, my environment, my meetings, books and films. All Stories in essence come from God.

What makes a good story and why?

The same as what makes a good storyteller. Story is connected to the Storyteller. For me, a good story explores Myth, Ritual and Sacrifice. A myth (a plot of a Hero and his overcoming) reaches the audience mind through the ritual of its presentation. And mainly thing in this ritual is that the Sacrifice place for listener is included. The listener should leave something very important from himself in this Story. So he has overcome himself in such way with a Hero of Myth. The union of a Storyteller and an audience through sharing overcomes with each other – is the BEAUTIFUL AND RIGHT STORY!

What is your favourite story? And why do you like it?

I like real life stories. Nowadays, my favourite Story is about black blues-man Robert Johnson, who recorded only 29 songs in white America of 30s. After forty years his songs were rehashed by all rock-stars of America and England. The blues opened an industry.

Who is your favourite storyteller?

The number one Russian Storyteller is Evgeny Grishkovetz (but he doesn`t want to be called so). His solo show is one of the best example of storytelling.

Interviews with storytellers - Sophie Snell

2012-01-14T11:51:00.001Z

Sophie Snell is a member of the Flying Donkeys Storytelling Club. Growing up surrounded by books and stories, Sophie has always known the power of story. She starts by telling us about her early influences

I grew up surrounded by books, stories and poetry – Dad was an academic and mum a teacher and words were the means to improve your lot in life. I graduated with an MA in mediaeval history and a smattering of Anglo Saxon, but what had fascinated me were the personal stories, the chronicles, letters, church records and early “books” like Beowulf and Chaucer. In early history, where the sources are less statistical, the people really come alive – strong individuals who shape the politics and the struggle of ordinary people to survive and find pleasure where they can.

I had read and wrote a lot from very young, but it is a struggle to make a living from writing on your own, so I turned to a corporate career, qualifying as a chartered accountant and working in finance / consultancy. For several years I worked internationally – Europe, Korea, Taiwan and the US – it was absolutely fascinating, but very hectic. When I met and married Rob, it wasn’t long before we started a family. There was another life changing moment, I gave up work to become a full-time mum, had 3 boys and was very busy as a mum and doing some voluntary arts work.

Then Cat Weatheril came to our village for an event I organized as part of the Derbyshire Literature Festival 2005, and I “discovered” storytelling. Wow! I then sought out the local storytelling clubs, saw so many wonderful tellers and as the boys in turn grew from babies to toddlers and started school, I began to attend workshops to learn to tell myself - and loved every moment of it. It was a challenge, and definitely out of my comfort zone, but full of wonder, rediscovering old stories, and the lyricism of words.

Where in the world are you? How long have you been telling stories? Where do you perform?

I live in a village just outside Derby. I started telling as a keen amateur in 2006 / 7 and by late 2008 my youngest had started school, and I had more time to develop, attending courses, practising, building repertoire and performance pieces. I started to get offered little bits of paid work which just about paid for the courses, and as my confidence grew took the decision to turn “professional”, register as self employed and see where all this might lead.

I am still based in Derby, but travel all over the place – in the last year Oxford, Cambridge, Devon, all over the Midlands, Yorkshire, Cheshire – last year I even ended up in Ireland touring County Wexford for 2 weeks for the library service. I tell for all ages and in all places – I have become a regular teller for the National Trust locally, do other “big” houses, tourist attractions, arts centres, small theatres, arts and outdoor festivals, clubs, village halls, and of course schools and libraries. I have even been invited to perform in a mental health hospital and last week found myself telling to prisoners on day release from an open prison.

Besides performing, I lead workshops for both children and adults, give talks and speeches – not just about storytelling but communication and performance skills generally. I do conferences and a bit of university work, research and writing commissions and corporate consultancy, blending some of my old experience with all that I have learnt from storytelling. It has surprised me just how varied and interesting the work enquiries have been. Half the pleasure of telling stories is meeting people and finding that common ground of a story shared, and it has lead myself - and my family - to places and people we would never have seen otherwise.

Why did you become a storyteller?

Just enjoyment of the stories – like many I think I was seduced by the stories I heard as well as the manner in which they were told. There are tellers who can make any story sound great, infusing their passion, style and humour into the most simple of tales. Every teller has their own personality which is integral to the telling. But the same goes for a good story – they have a way of floating off into the air – with a life of their own, and there is a real buzz from discovering a story that you know you can make really work. Watching people’s faces as they listen is a delight. A teller flies or falls by their last story, so it is high adrenalin stuff – scary, but so sweet when you know people are there right with you in the heart of the story.

Where do you get your stories from? What kind of stories do you like to tell?

I spend a lot of time hunting out stories, in all places – books, the internet, snippets of half remembered tales from when I was a child come back to me as I read, and of course listening to other tellers wherever I get the chance. Though I do like to find a story other people are not telling, partly so as to bring people something new and partly because otherwise it is hard to separate the telling from the tale itself!

Not all stories jump out at you at first, some need a bit of figuring out. Initially I told mainly folk tales, especially from the British Isles, where I felt more familiar with the setting and culture. But now I am exploring epics and wonder tales from much further afield. I love finding tales that have traveled, a Scottish tale echoed in an older Indian or Chinese tale, giving clues as to what people remembered, what caught and held their imaginations.

What kind of stories do you tell? What’s a good story?

All my stories are traditional - it is very hard to tell stories you have written yourself – though I do tell a couple - every word and line matters and it would end up a script - you have to let go of the words to find the story, the images beneath.

So I look for a traditional tale that leaps from the page – a story with a good heart to it. I don’t mean a moral or a message, but an emotional core that lends itself to twists and turns you can carry people along with. I scan the page or a book or the screen, looking for the bigger picture, the sense of the thing – stripping out any colouring from the writer or teller as much as I can. What is left – how does it turn, what did I enjoy about the story and why? How would it translate into spoken word? Once a story catches my ear, I research it, find the original, any variations, relevant background material. That might sound a lot of effort, but it always yields results, and hopefully a version of my own that has integrity, and a fresh take.

I look for a good story line, an interesting setting or character, or something quirky or intriguing – that you can get your teeth into and play with. But also something I can tell with commitment, because I know it works for me, and gets a good response from the audience.

Then I look for a hook in the tale and things can build up from there. You might play with the structure, perspective and setting; reinvent the story by turning it on its head – what if, why, how would the audience react if… trying out different ideas until that one works. Speaking out loud the story is the acid test – what seems good in theory in your head can be naff or painful when spoken! So the process of developing a story has to start with the telling, retelling and repeated telling – preferably in front of an audience – their response is so informative – it is not about indulging myself! I start with the cats, move onto the kids, friends, husband, then maybe a story circle or club, and retell in different settings as often as I can and watch the listeners very carefully. If I have it right, it will grow into something to fall in love with – and that generally shows, for every teller.

Do you have a favourite story? And why do you like it?

OOhh – that is very hard to choose – I tell a version of Hairy Toe (aka The Teeny Weeny Old Lady) that always goes down a storm whatever the audience – it was one of the first stories I really learnt to play with, adding a new (and what was for me) stronger ending and some little mischievous twists, so has a special place in my repertoire. But every new story is a new love affair – so whatever I am currently working on could be described as my favourite!

I am currently working with Blodeuwedd (The Lady of the Flowers – from the Welsh mediaeval epic, The Mabinogion) – it is a cracking tale of betrayal and confused, even distorted love – a sort of Lady Macbeth meets Desperate Housewives meets Camelot… And so much to go at in terms of imagery – the whole idea of a woman conjured out of flowers for a specific purpose yields all sorts of possibilities – throw in a bit of courtly love underpinned by simmering passions, incest, denial, neglect, a father’s love for his child born out of shame, strange riddles, a wild Welsh setting and hugely graceful birds – definitely one to play with.

Who is your favourite storyteller?

Now that is really hard to answer! I admire so many different tellers for different things: Cat Weatheril (for her vivacity and vivid, unusual imagery); Mats Rehman (hugely visual and really in tune with his audience); Xanthe Gresham (such a wonderful voice “like lemon drops”); Michael Harvey (a warm wit and gentle deft touch); Ben Haggarty (stage presence and intellectual honesty); Daniel Morden (dramatic, statuesque and precise, beautiful language); Jan Blake (charismatic, and commitment to the story); and … But some of the best stories I have heard have been one off gems told in a club open night, tucked away in some village hall, where the moment just blossoms and the teller inhabits the story in a very personal, intimate and engaging way – no artiface, no staging, no obvious technique, just pure story and the audience leaning in…

What are your three tips for aspiring storytellers?

1.    Listen and watch lots and lots of tellers. Travel all over and watch and learn.
2.    Tell only those stories you fall in love with – it’s a nightmare trying to tell a story you don’t really like just because you are asked to! It shows when you tell something you love!
3.    Tell, tell, tell – wherever and whenever you can. It is like exercising a mental muscle – the more you use it, the stronger it gets. Seek out new venues to experience the response of different audiences and learn what works and why. You learn the painful way, but it works! Every audience is different and working the audience is as important as knowing and loving the story you tell. Having said that - don’t plan which story too much – go with alternatives and judge which one to tell when you get there. Work to the audience, not yourself!

What are you reading at the moment?

I have a stack of books I dip into – I picked up a second-hand copy of The Pentamerone by Basile recently so that is top of the pile, along with Alan Garner’s latest collection of folk tales. Beyond “work” (though it never feels like work) I am reading Roald Dahl’s “BFG” with my youngest, “Assassin’s Creed” (based on the computer game) with my eldest, and the last novel I read was Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” – a grim read but gripping and so beautifully written – elegaic – couldn’t put it down. I have a copy of “Eldest” by Christopher Paolini which I am hoping to read over Christmas.

What's your favourite piece of music?

“Silver Waters” by Howdenjones – they are a Lancashire acoustic music duo – they have been to our village three times now for concerts and I never tire of listening to them. This particular song they very kindly let me put on an audio book of my own stories I recorded in 2006 – it was a perfect follow-on from the first story on the CD and I love it still – it makes me think of growing up by the sea, my children and the landscapes of Britain that I love.

Music attaches to memory and mood – I listen to a lot of folk / acoustic music these days – Bellowhead, Show of Hands, Horse’s Brawl, but still love most types of music, rock, pop, 80’s stuff! I was brought up on a diet of Mozart piano concertos, Beethoven, Schubert and opera, so my other favourite is Verdi’s Rigoletto – my Dad used to play it when I was young – along with arias from La Traviatta, the choruses from Aida, the Marriage of Figaro, Canteloube’s Songs of the Auvergne… They take me back.

How do you relax?

Well apart from listening to stories, and music… at home I love a good TV series, the odd documentary, the cinema is wonderful escapism with the boys and my husband or a friend (and it is great to see the parallels with traditional storytelling). The boys are great company going out or staying in and with a park out the back of the house we often go for walks down to the lake or through the woods. There’s little to beat an evening with a good friend or two, eating and chatting, mulling over the wider world. And talking to our cats - we have three adorable, intelligent, gentle cats, with another kitten arriving later this week as I write…

But when I have free time on my own, which seems rare these days, I love to paint – usually something impressionistic with acrylics layered one colour over another or with pastels you can shade and smudge – it is very satisfying when something half decent emerges and the colours on soft pastel sticks are brilliant – vibrant and beautiful.

To find out more about sophie please go to www.sophiesnell.co.uk

Interviews with Storytellers - Shonaleigh Cumbers

2012-01-05T10:32:00.000Z

Shonaleigh’s grandmother was a Yiddish oral storyteller, a drut'syla, and Shonaleigh is probably one of the last drut'sylas to have been trained in the traditional family style. She begins by telling us about her traditional storytelling background.

My grandmother was a drut'syla, that is, a Yiddish oral storyteller in a tradition passed down through the female line. She spent the war telling stories in the camps and believed that this was one of the things that saved her life. From the age of four I was trained in creative thinking and storytelling in the Jewish traditional style, which is to literally walk though a story. By the age of 14 I had to know the Rabbinical cycles, the Babylonian cycles, early Israeli and Palestinian oral tradition. I thought this was quite normal and that all storytellers had this background ... It was quite normal for me to fall asleep at night listening to songs and stories in English, Yiddish, Hebrew, Dutch and Turkish - a wonderful colourful mix. I didn't think anything of it. I thought everyone had this background. I told stories within Jewish circles, and it was only in my early twenties that I realised - via Simon Heywood and another storyteller called Alison Ross - that people actually told stories in the non-Jewish world. I was introduced to it via a storytelling club in Sheffield. I genuinely thought that people would already know my stories, and would have no interest in hearing them, but I quickly realised that these stories were just not told in the non-Jewish world - and on the few occasions they were told, it was with little understanding of the reasons, the occasions, and the backgrounds.

Where in the world are you and where do you perform?

I'm now based in a market town called Dronfield on the edge of the Peak District in Derbyshire. I've been telling stories since I was ten, but as a storyteller that the non-Jewish world would be aware of, I've been telling since 1998, when I first formed the band Tashbain. I perform globally - America, Europe, Scandinavia. I perform in venues as diverse as the National Theatre, schools, community projects, festivals, and tonight, as I'm filling this in, it's the first night of Chanukah I have just told the Chanukah night story to my family - which is equally as important to me as any large venue.

Why did you become a storyteller?

With the background I have had, the bubba (grandmother) that I had ... how could I not have? It was infectious - magical and wonderful. It never occurred to me to become a storyteller - I just told stories. It's still strange to get paid - although I'm not complaining! Bubba would have been paid with food, an interesting stone, a piece of cloth. It was a place I held within my community. I suppose if I was going to be very analytical about it, being dyslexic has probably played its part, as I have a memory my son would die for - and is very irritating to my partner! Maybe I would have been a writer but walking through a story is the most wonderful thing in the world. I recently discovered that I am probably one of the last drut'sylas to have been trained in the traditional family style, and so I feel I'm holding a tradition. And that is something that I don't take lightly. Anymore.

Where do you get your stories from?

I suppose, to begin with, the bulk of my stories were from the traditional Rabbinical cycles. There was a time when these were only available through Talmudic and Midrashic texts, oral Hebrew narratives, Rabbinical study, and word of mouth, but with the help of a wonderful man called Dov Noy who founded the Israel Folktale Archives, many of these are available in English. I talk a lot with rebbis (rebbis being historians and teachers rather than rabbis), but, also, as I have lived in England since I was seven, and English is my primary language these days, I have become interested in European and English folktales. I suppose the stories that I like to tell are the ones that tell themselves - that don't need to be performed with bells and whistles, swirling silks and dancing light shows, but simply are what they are, with a purity, simplicity and honesty that cuts to the heart, that will have you laughing one minute and crying the next, that are full of humour, and the warmth of the human spirit - the sort of stories that, when you have heard them, live on like old friends.

How do collect stories?

If I was going to define it any further than I have already, I have talked to a lot of the generation for whom Yiddish was a first language. Sadly those opportunities are becoming fewer, so I grasp every one. I recently missed out on funding to study with Dov Noy and a whole generation of storytellers that sadly won't be with us forever. It's a shame.

What makes a good story and why?

It's not about the length but the depth. A good joke can be a good story. It's about whether the audience can relate to it, and whether you, the storyteller, can be a good bridge for it. But I think a good story for me doesn't moralise, doesn't thump its point home; it's a subtle thing that entertains on one level, but if people have the ears to hear it, goes so much deeper - but even if they can't see it at that deeper level, still the story loses none of its entertainment value. There are stories that I have learnt as a drut'syla that I needed to learn to hone my craft, that I would never tell in public, because they're teaching stories. They're stories for workshops, for classrooms, for pupils. But I value them nonetheless.

What is your favourite story?

My favourite story is Solomon and Ashmedai, for two reasons. Firstly, it poses the question What is the difference between truth and illusion? and answers it quite beautifully. Secondly, it's timeless. While sitting with my son one day watching an epsiode of (I'm ashamed to admit) Star Trek, he turned to me and said, "Isn't that that Solomon and Ashmedai story?" And, do you know, it was.

Who is your favourite storyteller?

I would have to say my grandmother. These days the storytellers I would dig through snow to hear are Sef Townsend, Pete Chand, and (although I'm biased!) Simon Heywood.

What are your three tips for aspiring storytellers?

First, want to tell the story. Performance should be the last thing on your mind. It's the thing we often end up doing, but it should be a by-product of loving the stories. Secondly, learn your craft. The day you think you know everything is the day you should be worried. Thirdly: often, less is more. See, and tell what you see.

What are you reading at the moment?

I've started a book that really scared me called Dark Matter. It's a ghost story set in the Arctic and it scared me so much last night I had to sleep with the light on. It's a very good piece of storytelling. But also I am being read to of an evening round the fire! We've just finished Nicholas Nickleby and I had forgotten how amazing a storyteller Dickens is.

What's your favourite piece of music?

Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber. And anything by Linkin Park! Also the theme for Assassin's Creed that my son is continually playing. I really love the chord changes on it.

How do you relax?

As I spend so much time on the road I love spending an evening at home with my family. We have a lovely large garden full of twinkly lights and it's lovely to sit there with a glass of wine, several good storytellers, and some music. The other ways I relax are not really printable!

You can find out more about Shonaleigh at www.shonaleigh.com

Interviews with Storytellers - Priscilla Howe

2011-12-19T06:56:00.000Z

Priscilla Howe is from Kansas City, Kansas, near the geographic center of the continental US. She has been calling herself a storyteller since 1988, when she was a librarian in Connecticut. In 1993 she moved to Kansas to be a full-time storyteller. She tells stories in schools, libraries, festivals, house concerts, juvenile detention centers and at special events. She has worked all over the US, as well as in Belgium, Germany, Bulgaria, Mexico, Brazil and Peru.

How did you start storytelling?

When I was 13, I didn’t know I was a storyteller. I just thought I was a babysitter. I liked hanging around with kids, making stuff up. Many years later, first as a children’s librarian and then as a full-time storyteller, I realized I was still doing what I liked: hanging around with kids, making stuff up.

Why did you become a storyteller?
I couldn’t help it. I got a job at a library where all the children’s librarians told stories. They invited me to join them at a school and asked if I would tell a story. I told two, one by Philippa Pearce and one I made up when I was thirteen. I was hooked from that very first session.

Where do you get your stories from? What kind of stories do you like to tell? I get stories from books, from my own life and from other tellers. With younger kids I use puppets in between the stories. I tell folktales, literary tales and my own stories. I like to say that all my stories start with the seed of truth. Where they go from there is anybody’s guess!

How do you find the stories you tell?

I’m always looking for new stories to tell. I haunt the public library and websites with full texts of traditional tales. I read French, Bulgarian and Russian (and can bluff some related languages), so often I search in books in those languages. I’m looking for that ineffable spark, that feeling of “Oooh, this is the story for me!” When I find it, I look for other versions of the same story. Often, I do a bit of research on the culture of the story. I try to look at the story from as many angles as possible so I can understand both the story and the backstory. What does the main character dream of? What does the kitchen in the castle look like? Who else is in the garden? If I know all of this, the story will have depth. I tell the story to myself as I pace around my house or as I walk down the street. I’m a kinesthetic learner, so I do this to get the story into my body, into my bones, into my breath.

What makes a good story ?

That’s a hard question. The story must in some way leave the both teller and listener satisfied. The listener must not walk away saying, “So what?”

What is your favourite story? And why do you like it?

My favourite story is the one I’m telling at the moment. I believe there’s only one big rule in storytelling (along with lots of suggestions): only tell stories you love. I love every story I tell. If I don’t, the listeners won’t like it either.

Who is your favourite storyteller?

Another tough question. Here are my current top five (subject to change, of course): Willy Claflin, Claire Murphy, Dolores Hydock, Joel Smets and Bill Harley.

1. My friend Papa Joe says, “If you want to be a storyteller, tell stories. If you want to be a better storyteller, tell more stories.” He’s right.

2. Listen. The best storytellers are deep listeners.

3. Find your own style. In the beginning, many of us imitate storytellers we like. Then we move through that stage to our own way of telling.

What are you reading at the moment?

I just picked up Our Secret Territory: The Essence of Storytelling by Laura Simms.

What's your favourite piece of music?

Just one? Depends on my mood. I’ve always loved Schubert’s Trout Quintet, but you might as easily find me listening to Bonnie Raitt or Tom Petty or Zydeco music or bluegrass or swing or crooners from the 40s and 50s.

How do you relax?

Daydreaming, reading novels, swimming, hanging out with friends, playing games (not all of these at once).

To find out more about Priscilla Howe, go to http://priscillahowe.com/

Interviews with Storyteller - Karen Gummo

2011-12-10T05:23:00.000Z

Karen Gummo spent a childhood listening to my Dad regale us with stories. Her love of literature came from both her parents. Her Danish and Icelandic heritage connects her to Northern myths and folklore.

Where in the world are you?
In Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

How long have you been telling stories and where do you perform?
I have been telling stories professionally for 25 years. I perform at cafes, museums, restaurants, schools, libraries, churches, for hospice, family reunions, on radio at festivals and conferences.

Why did you become a storyteller?
I love people, I love to connect with them and I find that storytelling creates a natural yet strong bridge between us. I love to listen as much as to tell.

Where do you get your stories from?
My stories come from my imagination, from listening to family and peers, from myth and folklore collections and at the moment from Old Icelandic Saga.

What advice do you have for aspiring storytellers?
Join a community of storytellers. They be your mentors and supporters.

Who is your favourite storyteller?
Difficult to name just one. Perhaps Marie Anne McLean of Edmonton.

What is your favourite story?
Grettir’s Saga because that is the one I am working on right now.

Who is your favourite folklore/ mythological character and why?
Loki of Norse mythology because he and I share a Nordic heritage and he reminds us that we are made of both light and darkness.

What are you reading at the moment?
Just beginning Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

What's your favourite piece of music?
I love “In the Hall of the Mountain King” by Edvard Grieg.

How do you relax?
I dance or draw/ paint or lie on my back on the surface of any water.
Canada.

You can find out more about Karen here

Interviews with Storytellers - Hugh Lupton

2011-09-30T07:17:00.000+01:00

Tell us something about your background.

Street theatre, folk music, writing, teaching, all came together to make me a storyteller in the late seventies.

Where in the world are you?
Norfolk, England

How long have you been telling stories?
I started some 30 something years ago and work in arts centres, theatres, festivals, schools etc

Why did you become a storyteller?
Because I love traditional material, because I’m interested in the power of the spoken word… its invocatory qualities.

Where do you get your stories from?
Other tellers, books, biographies, and imagination

What advice do you have for aspiring storytellers?
Two things: see what you’re telling in your mind’s eye and only tell what you like.

Who is your favourite storyteller?
The Williamsons – Duncan & Robin.

Do you have a favourite story?
The Mabinogion

Who is your favourite folklore/ mythological character and why?
Odysseus because he is a trickster/wanderer/father/husband

What are you reading at the moment?
‘Becoming Animal’ by David Abram

Win tickets for Settle Story Fest

2011-09-22T15:49:00.000+01:00

Interviwes with Storytellers - Fergus McNicol

2011-09-21T06:41:00.000+01:00

Fergus McNicol is performing at the Settle Storytelling Festival 2011. He joins Mio Shapley for Kamishibai Capers and also performs at the Ghost Stories evening.

Fergus comes from Cumbernauld near Glasgow and spent a few years growing up in Jedburgh too. He is married to Claire and they have a four year old daughter called Freyja. They now live in Edinburgh overlooking Edinburgh Castle, a great inspiration for this stories!

How long have you been telling stories and where do you perform?

I started telling stories in the States when teaching at an environmental centre in 1992... my 20th year is coming up! I tell stories in all kinds of places... schools, theatres, libraries... but my favourite place is in a fog horn on the Isle of May, an island full of puffins off the coast of Fife. I've been lucky to get the chance to tell stories there a few times now.

Why did you become a storyteller?

A lot of encouragement from my wife Claire who is a very fine storyteller... I didn't have much choice!

Where do you get your stories from?

I listen to a lot of other storytellers, from books and some I create myself. I've learned a lot from the books of Rosemary Sutcliff.

What advice do you have for aspiring storytellers?

Learn and tell stories that interest you, rather than choosing ones that you think are the right kind of story to learn... If you like the story it'll come easy.

Who is your favourite storyteller?

My wife Claire McNicol who tells beautiful seal stories, Mio Shapley... she's unique, and Ron Fairweather, one of the funniest storytellers I've ever seen! I'm lucky to live and work with fabulous storytellers!

What is your favourite story?

The Japanese tale Momotaro... it's simple but just fantastic.

Who is your favourite folklore/ mythological character and why?

Cu Chulainn...At 14 I got hooked on Irish mythology, Finn McCool and Cu Chulainn. That's when I really got interested in stories. I liked superheroes at this point but Cu Chulainn blew them all away!

How do you relax?
Watching football, particularly watching Partick Thistle play (this is not relaxing!) and getting out on my bike.

You can find out more information about Fergus at www.macastory.co.uk

Interviews with Storytellers - Grant Gordon

2011-09-13T18:30:00.000+01:00

Grant Gordon brings Century to the
Settle Storytelling Festival 2011

Using archive footage, vintage photographs, music and spoken word this tells the story of the 20th Century through the eyes of one family. Starting with the death of Queen Victoria the audience are taken on a moving journey through the Blitz and the Cold War to the 1968 uprisings, Thatcherism and the emergence of a new world order. Grant tells us how the piece came about.

How did you get into music and storytelling?

I was born in Surrey and grew up in Kingston, South West London. My mum was a choral singer in the 1960s and grew up in house surrounded by music. I was fascinated by the drums and used to make drum kits by using saucepan lids. I'd find myself singing at the top of my voice to Cliff Richard and Barry Manilow and was obsessed by the Beatles. played in bands and was best known for being in The Divine Comedy. Concurrently, I made a career as a writer and actor.

How did Century come about?

I grew up on Rogers and Hammerstein and discovered The Who as a teenager and loved the visuals of Pink Floyd and was fascinated by multi-media spectaculars. I wanted to use music to tell a story. One day I had the idea of telling the story of the 20th Century through music and song intermingled with family stories.

What kind of family stories?

I love family history and I’m fascinated by the way families tell stories.

Where did this interest in family history come from?

It started with my grandfather, he was an engineer and was convinced that we were related to General Gordon of Khartoum.

Is it true?

Sadly not. My grandfather was convinced that we would inherit the gold that General Gordon had hidden in the 1880s. He spent a lot of time and money researching this. It got him nowhere. He wanted to find the gold to give to my dad. He was desperate to make the story true, but from my own research I know that it isn’t.

How did you find out about the story?

When my grandfather died he left me his research. I then looked into it and discovered it was just not true. Then a few years later, I discovered that my father worked with Lord Mountbatten and was part of the crew that flew him to India to negotiate freedom for India in 1947. He had no idea of the significance of the occasion.

How are these stories woven into “Century”?

These stories are woven into Century with the help of photographs and archive footage. My dad was a keen photographer and film maker. Dad worked with Michael Powell on the film, “A Matter of Life and Death”. He also made a film about VE day. “Century” uses some of this film and some of the many photographs of that period that my father took. This is combined with music and song to create a moving experience which tells the story of the 20^th Century.

Interviews with Storytellers - Dave Tong

2011-09-08T06:11:00.000+01:00

Dave will be at the Settle Storytelling Festival 2011 performing round a fire in a 17th century manor house.

Tell us something about your background.

I had been for most of my working life a ‘Jack of all trades’. Having not done very well at school (I did not like school and school did not like me!) I went from job to job, many of them manual work, although I did end up as a welder. Not a promising start perhaps for a storyteller except that it gave me many varied experiences that have shaped my tales and the way I tell them. Like many though I regretted not trying at school and went back into education. Before I knew what was what I had a BA, MA and was part way through a History PhD, when I ran away to become a storyteller.

Where in the world are you?

Although I tell all over England and many times in Yorkshire I am in all respects a Southerner! My family all hail from Norfolk and before that Kent. I do have a fascination with genealogy and have found out that all my Kentish ancestors were shovel makers and agricultural laborers -All sons and daughters of toil. Although perhaps the most interesting thing I’ve come across is that one of my great grandfathers is said to haunt the pub where he was landlord and I’m distantly related to Mick Jagger! That said, before there were Tongs in Kent who knows from where in the world we came. I like that, for are all a great mix below the surface.

How long have you been telling stories and where do you perform?

I have been telling since 1999 and perform mainly at heritage sites and fairs and also museums. I do a lot of work in historical costume, but in the last 3 years or so I’ve also been telling at folk festivals, theatres and storytelling clubs.

Why did you become a storyteller?

That’s a difficult one as it just seemed to happen. My first experience of storytelling was whilst working for the Norfolk Museum Service where I met Stewart Alexander, a storyteller of many years standing. I was already running alternative history tours of Norwich using all the great court material I was finding as part of my studies and already had a conviction from looking at the records that people long ago were not that different to us. Stories also show us that we are not that different to people long ago and so it was a natural progression to fuse the history and story. To that end Stewart and I formed the costumed storytelling troupe, Past–Imagined. We still perform together at heritage events in the summer

Where do you get your stories from?

When I started telling many of my stories came from very early collections of tales, either in original form from ‘chap books’ which are small cheaply printed books of the 1500- 1700 hundreds. I also delved into modern collections of medieval and Tudor tales from across Europe. There are a surprising amount of these out there, although the best known is probably Derek Brewer’s Medieval Comic Tales (1973) For original versions you can do a lot worse than checking out the various editions of A Hundred Merry Gests, first printed in 1525. I like taking my stories from these original sources, because often they are little more than a few paragraphs - anecdotes only, so as a storyteller you can be creative with them adapting them to suit different audiences and situations. I also like to think that I am liberating them from the page, allowing them to live again long after they became fixed and trapped in print some 500 years ago!

What advice do you have for aspiring storytellers?

The most important advice I would give for someone starting out in storytelling would be to be yourself and look for tales that YOU enjoy. I made the mistake when I first began telling to look for the sort of tales I thought I SHOULD be telling. Very earnest tales that had some wise message. The trouble is if you are not enjoying the story no one else will either, and it’s my experience that most stories do have a moral anyway – you just don’t have to force it down your audience’s throats!

Who is your favourite storyteller?

I like storytellers who connect with the individual, that make you think they are telling to just you. That’s why my favorite teller is Jan Blake. She has a warmth that shines through in her telling and that allows her to tell some dark tales, but in a way that does not shock.

What's your favourite story?

That’s a difficult one! There are so many stories I tell that I enjoy, but I suppose because of my love of silliness it would have to be the Cuckoo Penners, otherwise known as the Wise Men of Gotham. . For those who don’t know it, in the version I tell the villagers of Gotham behave in some very strange and silly ways to dissuade King John from hunting near their village. I like the historical references that can be played around with, but also the many different versions that can be found. It’s a story that all age groups can and do enjoy. It also still has relevance today, but to find out how it has guided me you must ask if and when we meet!

Who is your favourite folklore/ mythological character and why?

I suppose my favorite character from folklore has to be Robin Hood, but only because of his role as a trickster. I like the character of the trickster, someone who disguises himself and uses the pretentions and greed of others to bring them low. And so Robin has stiff competition for my affections, from the likes of the German trickster, Til Eulenspiegel to the lesser known French outlaw, Eustache the Monk and his British counterparts, Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough and William of Cloudesley.

How do you relax?

I like to be out in the countryside walking my dogs, especially in the wood. It always makes me wonder why different landscapes attract different people? Is it an ancestral thing? I don’t know, but when I’m walking along a leafy track, all is well with the world. And when I’m not doing that I do enjoying making and carving things – from a medieval style chest to a storytelling staff. My father and grandfather were carpenters so I suppose that’s ancestral too!

You can find out more information about Dave at

www.theyarnsmithofnorwich.com

Interviews with storytellers - Mio Shapley

2011-09-02T07:49:00.001+01:00

Mio Shapley comes to the Settle Storytelling Festival 2011 and presents Kamishibai Capers.
Tell us something about your background.

I was born in Japan in the beautiful mountain area where there were lots of dragonflies and butterflies. We lived in a small town and there was always someone to tell me off if I got something wrong! Everyone knew each other.

Where in the world are you?
I am now based now in Edinburgh.

How did you become a storyteller?
My grandfather was a school teacher and he told me stories whenever I went to see him. My grandfather more like home entertainment, he had so many stories. He was the one who inspired me.

Later when I came to live in the UK, I went to Emerson College in England and here I attended a 3 months residential course in storytelling. That was in 2002.

Where do you get your stories from?

Most of the stories I tell are Japanese folktales I learnt from my grandfather. He lived in a beautiful sunny house in the countryside. He loved fishing and he loved children. He was well known in the area because he was a teacher for a long time.

I remember, when I used to visit him, he would put his hand out and take me and my sister aside and say to, "Are you my treasure." And I said, "Yes!" Then when would give my sister and I a little sweet, a piece of chocolate or a rice cracker. Then he'd put us on his lap and tell us a story. When we got older we' d sit at his feet.

What stories did he tell you?

He told us so many stories, one of my favourites was about a local fox that turned into a human. I heard hundreds of these stories. Sometimes he would use a Kamishibai.

What is Kamishibai?

A Kamishibai is like a little theatre on the bicycle. Each scene is drawn on a separate sheet of paper like a storyboard.

In the old days the storyteller would come out and call out the children and he will sell sweets and the children would sit around him in the park. Then he'd get out the Kamishibai and begin to tell the story. Often, he would stop the story and say "come back tomorrow and then I'll continue."

Who is your favourite storyteller?

David Cambell is a favourite storyteller of mine.

What is your favourite story?

I like the story about a boy going underwater and riding on the turtle on his way to the dragon palace. Another favourite is the story of Momotaro - the peach boy who fought the monsters.

What do you do when not telling stories?

I am professional harpist and sometimes I tell stories with the harp.

Interviews with Storytellers - Taffy Thomas

2011-08-28T17:39:00.000+01:00

Taffy is performing at the Settle Storytelling Festival in October 2011

Tell us something about your background.

I grew up in Somerset. Then went to college in Dudley. After a short teaching career and then a long performing career in folk arts, street theatre, fishing and storytelling.

Where in the world are you?

Grasmere, Cumbria

How long have you been telling stories and where do you perform?

In the 1960s as a teenager, I was lucky to be taken to meet Ruth Tongue of Somerset, who inspired me to tell stories ever since. I perform all over the world, from the Albert Hall to the Village Hall!

Why did you become a storyteller?

I always included storytelling in my performances in folk clubs, festivals and street theatre. After a major stroke at age 36, I was able to use my knowledge of stories as speech therapy, and to reinvent myself as a professional storyteller.

Where do you get your stories from?

Mainly from oral sources (tellers from the tradition and people I meet) but occasionally I pick one up from a book, and sometimes there’s a need to make a new story fed by the motifs and style of the traditional folk tale.

What advice do you have for aspiring storytellers?

Practise telling stories whenever you can, to build a varied repertoire for every situation, and the technique to entertain every audience. To be a professional you have to be consistent, because you need to be good enough even on a bad day!

Who is your favourite storyteller?

My two favourites of all time have been Betsy Whyte and John Campbell, both now sadly departed

What is your favourite story?

I have many favourites, depending on the context. With over 300 stories in the repertoire, my favourites change according to my mood and the audience in front of me.

Who is your favourite folklore/ mythological character and why?

Father Christmas. When I left a gig earlier this year, I heard that 2 seven-year-old boys had had the following conversation:

Boy 1: “Was that Taffy Thomas?”

Boy 2: “Well, he said he was, but I think he was father Christmas, and this is what he does for a summer job!”

How do you relax?

Listening to Test Match Special.

For more information about Taffy go to http://www.taffythomas.co.uk/

Interviews with Storytellers - Godfrey Duncan (TUUP)

2011-08-22T10:45:00.002+01:00

TUUP is performing at the Settle Storytelling Festival 2011.

Tell us something about your background.
I am from Guyana in South America but grew up in England. I went to British Guyana on summer holidays with extended family and my parents still live there. Now I live in London.

Where does the name TUUP come from?
TUUP, short for The Unprecedented Unorthodox Preacher came to me in a dream.

Why did you become a storyteller?
I started as a performance poet, doing readings and gravitated from there. Growing up in London, I was lucky. I was always surrounded by the Guyanese community of artists, photographers and thinkers. When there was a community celebration, we all got together. I went to lots of international book fairs and there was always people writing and performing poetry.
One day I saw John Agard perform without a book and it touched something in me. This wasn't acting or reading. It was something different. I was in my 20s and friend of the family asked me to come into a primary school and tell the class a story. At first I didn't think I could do it. The teacher was so sure I could. Around that time I saw Marc Matthews and it just blew my mind. He told Carlton and the Kite. He helped you transcend your environment in an imaginative way. I knew then that this is what I wanted to do.
That was 26 to 27 years ago. Now I'm lucky to perform all over the world.

Where do you get your stories from?
Research and reading mostly. I really want to get back to Guyana, and collect stories and I hope to go next year.
Nowadays I tell stories from around the world. The foundation of my stories tends to be African and Caribbean, but after working with artists like Flora Gatha. I've also been influenced by Indian stories. For me, I like to tell a good story that needs to be told wherever it may be from.
Nowadays I fuse storytelling and music. Working with Sheema from Transglobal Underground

What advice do you have for aspiring storytellers?
Be true to yourself.

Who is your favourite storyteller?
Xanthe based in London, she's wild and crazy and I like Jan Blake, Ben Haggerty and Hugh Lupton.

What is your favourite story?
I like Carlton and the Kite. When I first heard it, I told it the next day.

How do you relax?
Making ear plugs. They are like discs, made of bone and other things. I wear them instead of the ear rings. I make new ones. It's one of my small joys.

Interviews with Storytellers: Nick Hennessey

2011-08-14T22:17:00.001+01:00

Nick Hennessy is an English storyteller and musician. He will be performing in Tea and Tales at the Settle Storytelling Festival 2011.

Nick grew up in north Cheshire, in the small suburban village of Alderley Edge. It’s a place of colliding cultures in many ways, on one side the prosperous thrumming city and on the other a more mysterious elusive landscape, thick with very ancient history and rural culture. And whilst it was the ‘legend of Alderley’ (the story of the Sleeping King) that first caught his attention, he now finds that his passion is for the meeting place between the ‘long ago’ of folk story and the ‘other day’ of our modern lives. Both hold stories, each very different from one another, and yet equal in our imagination. Stories are the true landscapes of our lives.

Where in the world are you?

I live In the lake district, not a far-cry from Kendal. It’s a very gentle but unmistakeably wild place. Cupped by a valley yet open to the weather.

How long have you been telling stories and where do you perform?

I began telling professionally in 1998, and I perform all over the uk and Europe. I’ve performed in Canada, the usa and toured japan twice. I have strong interest in the kalevala, so I visit finland at least twice a year performing the finnish national epic in English.

Why did you become a storyteller?

The question that gripped me when I first heard a storyteller, in fact the same question that holds me still, is ‘where is the story?’ Storytelling is such a profoundly magical act, delicately holding in each hand the ‘there and then’ of the story and the ‘here and now’ of the telling. I have come to regard it as the greatest illusion, one that humans have been pulling off for many thousands of years. Stories hold so much meaning, layer upon layer upon layer of significance, and when we follow them they can lead us to the heart of our lives, to the heart of our being in the world.

Where do you get your stories from?

I began by only telling stories from the british isles, stories that were of the landscape I knew, but over the years I opened to other landscapes, however the vast majority are from northern Europe.

What advice do you have for aspiring storytellers?

A deeply enquiring mind is key to storytelling. Each story is an open question, one that we must be wary of totally answering. For me storytelling is the practice of conveying mystery, of sharing ambiguity. If we are too certain about the story we are telling then it becomes a lecture. Be open and above all be playful.

Who is your favourite storyteller?

There are a handful of storytellers that I enjoy and admire. However Daniel morden is, in my opinion one of the best tellers in the uk at the moment. His grasp of the rhythms of the oral tradition alongside his emotional sensitivity make his work very powerful indeed.

What is your favourite story?

Invariably the stories I love the most are the ones that have been with me for a long time. The sleeping king is one of them, of course but so too is cap of rushes. I heard a jackanory version of it when I was very young and it still holds everything that I find engaging in a story. However much I tell it I still can’t get to the bottom of it.

Who is your favourite folklore/ mythological character and why?

In the story of the sleeping king there is an old man who leads the farmer into the cave of the sleeping warriors. In many ways he is the most interesting character for me, he is the one that bridges the worlds, the one that holds side by side the ‘long ago’ and the ‘here and now’, and he is the one that knows the winding paths lead into the heart of the hill. He carries the key to so much that we have lost. Perhaps that was always so. Perhaps that is his job. He walks between worlds, crossing thresholds, and has the power to touch us deeply.

How do you relax?

I own a small woodland, so chopping wood is one of my favourite (and necessary) pastimes. There’s not much room for thinking when working physically, and I find I am open to a fundamentally different sphere of time, one of cycles and seasons. In those moments It’s a great blessing to give my physical body free reign instead of my imagination.

To find out more about Nick go to www.nickhennessey.co.uk or you can find him on facebook.

Interviews with Storytellers - Alia Alzougbi

2011-08-10T13:07:00.001+01:00

Alia is a Lebanese storyteller based in London. She performed at the Settle Storytelling Festival in 2010.

She tells us, "the modern history of the Middle East has been fraught with conflict. My family escaped Lebanon during the 1982 Israeli invasion and moved to Iraq, then fled Baghdad in 1991 during the Gulf War. Since then, we moved to Jordan, then Syria, and finally settled back in Lebanon some years back. I came to the UK 6 years ago.

Where in the world are you?

London, UK…for now. But I have a gipsy heart and something tells me I’ll be on the move again very soon!

How long have you been telling stories and where do you perform?

All my life! My father is a religious man and as children he would try to get us closer to our religion by telling us exciting stories about it. I learned from him. Professionally, I have been telling stories for around 6 years now. I perform in Museums, festivals, schools…and quite often in casual surroundings to my friends!

Why did you become a storyteller?

Sheer coincidence. I trained as an actress, and once I was asked to tell a story as a performance. I loved the process and the responsibility. In storytelling, you can’t say ‘Oh, it was no good because of the writer or the director…etc’ It’s all about you, so you give it all you’ve got.

Where do you get your stories from?

I like to research tales from the Middle East in the Arabic language to remain as close to their vein as possible.

What advice do you have for aspiring storytellers?

There is a jewel in every story, but it is not immediately apparent. Sometimes it leaps out at you because you are in a place where you need guidance, but sometimes it takes a little bit of time before you get the ‘aha!’. Find stories that speak to you in this way.

Who is your favourite storyteller?

There are many, but at the moment I am most interested in the works of Rumi. In the UK, it is Hugh Lupton.

What is your favourite story?

That keeps changing depending on where I am in my life and what guidance I need. At the moment it is ‘The Lion and The Well’ by Rumi. It is a very clever story about how the world around us is our own creation, depending on how we choose to see it.

Who is your favourite folklore/ mythological character and why?

There is a character in the Middle Eastern tradition called Juha. He is what we call a ‘wise fool’. His stories are very funny, even when they are a bit tragic. His logic is such that he sees the world in a convoluted way so that his experience of difficulty is always received with wonder and excitement. His resilience is in his humorous approach to the world.

How do you relax?

I spend time with loved ones. I practice yoga. I have a long, hot candle-lit bath. I close my eyes and focus on the good things in life.

Stories on a Postcard

2010-09-06T17:31:00.000+01:00

Ernest Hemingway once said his best work was a short story of only six words:

'For sale: baby shoes, never worn.'

So here's the challenge. Can you write a very short story that will fit on no more than a postcard? Even if you think you can't, why not give it a go? Get your creative juices flowing and send your story to Settle Stories, c/o Victoria Hall, Settle.

The Stories on a Postcard exhibition is a part of the first Settle Storytelling Festival. The exhibition will take place at the Gallery on the Green in Settle in Autumn 2010. Anyone of any age can take part. You just have to write a story that will fit on a postcard no bigger than 6" x 4". You can send in as many entries as you wish, but each one should be on a separate postcard.

Send your postcards by the 31st October to Settle Stories, c/o Settle Victoria Hall, Kirkgate, Settle, BD24 9DZ.

The opening of the exhibition will be announced locally and on our website www.settlestories.org.uk.

The main Settle Storytelling Festival brings together an array of accomplished storytellers who will be telling tall tales, short stories, historical anecdotes, stories of ghosts and stories through song to enthral audiences young and old and takes place 7th - 10th October 2010. Tickets are available from the Victoria Hall Box Office 01729 825 718 and the Tourist Information Centre in Settle.

Why is storytelling important?

2010-08-08T13:02:00.000+01:00

Once, there was an anthropologist who went to conduct research in small village in West Africa. The year before his visit the village had been given the gift of electricity, and every hut had a TV set. When the Anthropologist returned a year later he discovered all the televisions stacked up in an abandoned hut. So he went to see the Head Man.

Anthropologist: What don't you use TV sets?

Head Man: We have a storyteller.

Anthropologist: Maybe, but the TV knows thousands of stories.

Head Man: True, but the storyteller knows us.

People have told stories since the beginning of time. Stories lie at the heart of life experience, the most compelling form of communication, as ancient as language itself. They help us make sense of our lives and the world in which we live. Like the Head Man in the village, the Storyteller knows us, understands our predicaments and helps us comprehend the world in which we live.

All cultures and communities tell stories. They are the narratives of life, spanning the centuries and connecting the generations. They are the vessels in which we carry our history, our traditions, our hopes and our dreams. We all have a story to tell. There is no greater pleasure than listening to a darn good yarn.

Over the last twenty five years there has been a revival of this ancient artform, with storytelling clubs and groups springing up everywhere and performances taking place not just in the usual venues like libraries schools and theatres but even at events like the UK's first Divorce Show! (I'm not sure what that tells us about the power of story.)

Settle Stories celebrates storytelling. In the first instance we're presenting a Storytelling Festival 7 - 10 October 2010 with a festival launch on 28 September. Events will appeal to people of all ages.