Our curator of storytelling John Row, is a veteran of the U.K. festival scene and a familiar figure at Glastonbury Festival Kidz Field and Cambridge Folk Festival, where he has been performing for nearly thirty years.
He cut his teeth as a stage performer at the Ipswich Arts Theatre on free Monday night shows where his late wife Rose, was a theatre electrician and with Nick Toczeck in the poetry and music review Stereo Graffiti in the 70’s and as an open air performer in the East Anglian Albion Fairs in the 80’s. He added storytelling to his bow as the eighties drew to a close and was immediately drawn into a world of magic and wonder. He has shared that world in a mish mash of settings from prisons ( he was the first storyteller in residence in a British prison) to international schools across the world. His annual visits to Vienna in the first decade of this century saw him tell stories to thousands of Kindergarten children as they struggled to come to grips with English as an additional language. A crowd at the Algiers Book Fair listened, enthralled, to him speaking in what was for some their fourth language and he has become a favourite in the schools near Colibita in Transylvania where he has a house he uses as a writing retreat
He has told stories from Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei in the east to Lapland in the north, Shajah in the middle east, Texas, North Africa and across Europe.
Recently he has been collecting stories in Romania, leading an oral storytelling project in prisons, performing in schools and pootling from festival to festival.
Now isolated like many across the world as this virus spreads he is travelling the virtual highway of the world wide web to keep on sharing stories and as always encouraging others to do the same.
Check out his book of traditional tales from around the globe ‘Out of The Hat’.
Connecting the world with John, Monday 25 May!
John Row
If you would like to support this teller, please make a donation
Connecting the world with John, Monday 18 May!
John Row
If you would like to support this teller, please make a donation
Live performance on 10 May 2020:
John Row
If you would like to support this teller, please make a donation
John’s previous performances from the Story Circle
John Row
If you would like to support this teller, please make a donation
John Row
If you would like to support this teller, please make a donation
John Row
If you would like to support this teller, please make a donation
John Row
If you would like to support this teller, please make a donation
John Row
If you would like to support this teller, please make a donation
John Row
If you would like to support this teller, please make a donation
John Row
If you would like to support this teller, please make a donation
If you enjoy John’s work, feel free to make a donation, everything you pop into his hat below goes direct to John
John Row
If you would like to support this teller, please make a donation
Our Festival Performers
"Now that the world is standing still, people are asking for stories" Achira.
Justine de Mierre
A passionate, energetic and inventive storyteller who delights in connecting playfully
Gerry Donlon
aka Bards Aloud. Stories comic, and stories quirky
Trevor Millum
a writer of… poetry for children and adults, short stories, a novel, books of local interest, education resources.
Deeptha Vivenkanand
India based storyteller who loves to tell stories about stories, strong women, and political satire.
Fabio Lisboa
Storytelling Trainer who has performed/taught in Brazil, Canada and the United Arab Emirates.
Bob Kanegis
A fortunate day spent on the trail with a park ranger who combined, poetry, puppets and folktales showed Bob the possibilities of the Storyteller's Way.
Irene Lofthouse
Irene uses words to inspire all ages, regularly appearing at arts/literature festivals and children's events; she's regularly booked by schools, museums, libraries, theatres, community groups, NHS, charities and more to facilitate bespoke sessions.
Maria Papanikolaou
The last 10 years I combine storytelling with educational programs for children, in Museums, Cultural Centers, Schools, Art places, etc. I love working with children. I have also published two books, a Greek Myth and a tale of my own.
Raine Geoghegan
Raine Geoghegan, MA, poet and prose writer of Romany, Irish and Welsh descent will share tales of the English Gypsies, Romanichals through poetry, monologue and song.
Antonio Rocha
Antonio has received several awards and grants, including the once in a lifetime Circle of Excellence Award. This award was presented to him in 2015 by the National Storytelling Network for his exceptional commitment and exemplary contributions to the art of storytelling.
Dawn Ellis
Dawn’s parents calmed her down with Grimm stories at bedtime and they stayed with her. She has been performing, one way and another, ever since.
Jan Williams
Her most popular books are An amazing storytelling cat and Essex folk stories for children.
Csenge Virág Zalka
She published several folktale collections, including Tales of Superhuman Powers: 55 traditional stories from around the world (McFarland, 2013), and Dancing on Blades: Rare and exquisite folktales from the Carpathian Mountains (Parkhurst Brothers, 2018)
Zouhair Khaznaoui
Zouhair has been sharing the magic of Hikayat since 2017 in the Clock Storytelling programme.
Theresa Kelleher
Theresa was born within the sound of Bow Bells to Irish parents. Out on the streets she was known as the ‘little Irish girl’, at home admonished for her cockney accent.
David Heathfield
He runs Creative and Engaging Storytelling for Teachers courses onlinehttps://davidheathfieldblog.wordpress.com/teacher-training/ and has worked online as a storyteller and storytelling teacher trainer internationally with the British Council, IATEFL and the Hands Up Project .