The Heart of Storytelling

Jackie was born in Melbourne and set up home here in Newport almost 30 years ago after living in nearly every State and Territory in Australia, She’s been an actress and worked in theatre, film and television. A desire to choose which stories to tell led her to oral storytelling and later - to writing. To date, she’s written five non-fiction picture books for children. Jackie is passionate about t...

Rachel Hedman competed in storytelling as a sophomore high schooler in 1994. Everything went wrong with her first telling, and she considered quitting. By senior year, she received 5th in State (Wisconsin) for Storytelling. Rachel launched the BYU Storytelling Club as a freshman; it earned the Service Award. She became the first recipient of the J.J. Reneaux Mentorship grant from the National Stor...

From Tim: Long, long ago I was an acrobat in the New Circus revolution. Surprisingly that took me deeply into how to connect with people using narrative. That’s how I realised that story is at the heart of everything, and having the courage and technique to lead people through stories is deeply humanising. So I ran away from the circus to become a storyteller and later a coach. I founded and train...

Jan Blake is a storyteller, consultant, mentor & plenary speaker who has been performing world-wide since 1986. Born in Manchester, UK to Jamaican parents, Jan specialises in folktales and myths from the Caribbean, West Africa, North Africa, and the Arab regions. With a mesmerising presence and a gift for bringing traditional tales to life, Jan has enthralled audiences across the globe. Drawin...

To find out more about me, you can go to www.alyssacurtayne.com FB/Instagram/TikTok/YouTube @alyssacurtaynestories

Csenge Virág Zalka is a professional storyteller and author from Hungary. She collects, researches, and performs traditional stories in three languages. Csenge holds a master's degree in Storytelling and a PhD in culture studies, and has published various books both in English and Hungarian. She especially enjoys telling long traditional tales and epics. Csenge currently lives in Budapest and work...

Beverley has been involved in communication all of her working life. She started her career working for Jackie magazine before moving into marketing then lecturing and teaching. Beverley counts herself fortunate to have been encouraged in her storytelling by some of Scotland’s master Storytellers and tradition bearers. She is very proud to have been called a storytelling activist and feels strongl...

Priscilla Howe, a full-time storyteller since 1993, travels the world (15 countries and counting) with a headful of stories for all ages. She’s primarily known as a performer for children but also has a full repertoire of personal stories, folktales and literary stories for grownups. Her book, Clever, kind, tricky and sly: A Bulgarian folktale sampler is a result of five months on a Fulbright scho...

Rebecca Lemaire is a versatile Belgian-British storyteller based in the south of Spain. She tells stories and teaches wherever the wind takes her across Europe, Asia and Africa, at festivals, in a prison, in a Tibetan monastery and online with Palestinian refugees. Her repertoire includes mystical and healing stories, humorous tales from her Belgian and British roots, magical stories from the time...

Kerima is an activist storyteller and educator with roots in both South London and South Asia. She trained at the School of Storytelling at Emerson College in Sussex where she created her first hour long storytelling performance “If the Trees could Speak” about the rights of Indigenous people fighting to protect their forests in India. She has performed this at Amnesty International, the School of...

Shane is a trained Oral Storyteller from the UK, with International and National experience in Canada, Sri Lanka, Morocco, Holland, Sweden, Ireland and all over the UK. A frequent storyteller at numerous UK festivals and schools, having also curated and run storytelling at several UK festivals. Shane has been a ‘Resident Storyteller’ for over 7 years concurrently, in different children’s outdoor l...

Rebecca Lemaire is a versatile Belgian-British storyteller based in the south of Spain. She tells stories and teaches wherever the wind takes her across Europe, Asia and Africa, at festivals, in a prison, in a Tibetan monastery and online with Palestinian refugees. Her repertoire includes mystical and healing stories, humorous tales from her Belgian and British roots, magical stories from the time...

Corinne is a storyteller, performance maker and teacher with mixed Irish / English ancestry. Beginning with folktale, myth or legend and emerging in the complex world of today, Corinne creates performances that recentre marginalised voices and silenced histories. From festival tents to lecture halls, board rooms to community centres, Corinne's performances are collaborative experiences between the...

Jenny Lynne Sessions aka Jen-ix. Is a truly unique open hearted powerful, multi-dimensional, magical being . ….. A creative catalyst for change and transformation a compassionate cage rattler, shamanic healer, transpersonal therapist, seer, coach, poet, author and speaker, storyteller, songwriter, radio presenter,channel for higher guidance and healing sound frequencies. Honouring the interconnect...

In this episode, I interview Lisbeth who is a classmate from Emerson College, we are studying oral storytelling.

Elena Medusa was born in Thessaloniki Greece and had a career in cinema for fifteen years. She then started a second career as a voice facilitator. Six years ago she met the Odyssey again after not working with it since her school years. Odyssey and Elena started their storytelling adventure together. She lives in Athens and travels frequently to the islands and to ancient temples where she recite...

In this brief episode, I talk about myself, which in itself is a personal challenge, as I'm more than happy to let others take the limelight. But as I explain in the episode, there is a lot of deep unravelling happening for me in this course.

I spoke with retired storyteller Jenni Woodruffe and we spent two hours chatting about her experience and life. Unfortunately, I had to cut a lot of the interview, but the original will be retained.

Michael’s has an interesting background. Ask him about his time living in Japan or Bangladesh; his time as a university lecturer; as a disability advocate; his time in the military; vipassana meditation in India; his clowning course in San Francisco; bushwalks in Tasmania; his one and only caving expedition; his Commerce degree; his MBA; trekking in the foothills of the Himalayas;  his storytellin...

Anamika Bhati is a Trinity Guildhall qualified speech and drama trainer who works with stories embracing different styles to ensure more engaging and holistic learning. She is an International storyteller, author, curator and podcast producer. She is a passionate trainer who works closely with children in schools, libraries, and festivals. Anamika’s stories involve cultural diversity and inclusion...

Em Chandler (she/they) is a proud queer/trans storyteller, magician, and theatre-maker, based in Ballaarat and Naarm. With over 16 years of experience working with kids and their adults, Em adores connecting with others through kindness and wonder. Em loves to bring her unique repertoire of spells, stories and songs to every situation - whether intimate community events or major festivals. Passion...

Geetu Valecha has been a storyteller/ educator for nearly a decade. She feels that stories are magical and therapeutic and have to be shared. Her favourite audience is the little ones who are so into her stories when she narrates them dramatically and eagerly wait for more. She helps children learn their early literacy skills, empathy, creative thinking, imagination, and more through her story ses...

Elena Asciutti is of Italian origins. Since 2003, she has worked in international cooperation and public affairs, within civil society organisations, the United Nations, the European Commission and academia.  For professional reasons, she has travelled and lived in many cities, such as Beijing, Beirut, Brussels, Damascus, Madrid and Rome. Currently, she lives and works in Florence, where she is in...

Kiran had a career in social work and early childhood education before discovering storytelling as a profession in Singapore 25 years ago. She hasn't stopped since and has travelled to many lands (India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Iran) to perform and offer workshops. She was the founder president of the Storytelling Association, Singapore in 2006 and when she moved to Australia in 20...