LAURA CASILLAS

LAURA CASILLAS: “The Story-Lady” From Guanajuato, Mexico

Being the only girl in a family of five brothers, she quickly learned to defend herself in a world of men by climbing trees, playing marbles, and when necessary using her fists. It was a free life, and beautiful, but this would all change as her country entered a dark period of political oppression and unrest during the 70’s and 80’s. As a teenager she witnessed first-hand the injustice that Mexico was living, where putting up a poster was enough to make you disappear.

Laura knew she could not keep silence. Her fierce love of freedom led her to join a clandestine revolutionary group at age 16 to fight for the defense of human rights. Twice she was jailed, but even this did not stop her from raising her voice for those who could not. She managed to put herself through night school for laborers until years later, now with a daughter, she finally achieved her dream of becoming a human rights’ lawyer and continue her fight in another way.

A violent, abusive husband nearly crushed her spirit, however, until she was saved by stories. She started working at a public library that was always full of children waiting after school for their parents to pick them up, but the books would always go untouched. In order to encourage the kids to read, she started telling them the beginning of different storybooks, and suddenly all the children wanted to read. This was how she discovered that human beings are all made of stories, and that stories are made of the memory of our ancestors, and can strengthen you to find your path and build the dreams of she who tells and they who listen.

Now her militancy is through art.

Laura’s debut performance for the world storytelling cafe was on 18 April

If you are enjoying this story, feel free to make a donation, everything you pop into the hat below goes directly to Laura:

 

Our Festival Performers

"Now that the world is standing still, people are asking for stories" Achira.


John Row

Much loved curator of our Story Circle. Perfoms each Sunday

Taffy Thomas

Iconic figure in British Storytelling

Hugh Lupton

Passionate for the hidden layers of the British landscape and related stories

Daniel Morden

A teller with passion and relish.

Kim Weitkamp

Renowned North American storyteller

Paul Jackson

Legendary teller, Chair of the Society for Storytelling

Shonaleigh Cumbers

Renowned teller from the Yiddish oral tradition

Juliana Marin Fryling

Travelling teller from Colombia. aka Achira

Dave Tonge

Teller of irreverent tales from many lands

Gayle Ross

Member of the Cherokee Nation, and legendary teller

Ian Douglas

Fun, inviting and light hearted, with a unique ability to connect

Gary Bridgens

Veteran of festivals and outdoor performances

Cafe Clock Tellers

Continuing a thousand year old Moroccan tradition,

Richard Hamilton

Passionate about Moroccan storytelling.

Alice morrison

Alice Morrison is an adventurer and confirmed Morocco-phile

Maria Whatton

A magical teller who will transport you to another place

Liz Weir

Irish teller with a Global reputation. Awarded an MBE in 2019

Trudy Terry

Our Texan teller from the borders with Louisiana

isabelle Hauser

Magical stories & harp from Switzerland

Debra Weller

Florida based teller and educator

RIIKKA PALONEN

A barefoot forest girl from Finland

Sharon Carr

Fantastic Canadian teller, with a varied repertoire

Shane Ibbs

Inspired by folk and fairy tales around an open fire

Tuup

Storyteller, Poet, Percussionist and Lyricist

Mike Dodsworth

Magical tales from the deserts, mountains and forests

Baden Prince

A dynamic performer known for his dry humour.

Pauline Cordiner

Scottish Stories from a rising star

Su Squire

Magical tales, and a very special guest star.

Veronica Chambers

An animated style of telling that sucks you in

Eamonn Keenan

Stories of heroes, the fairies, ghosts, witches, death and love

Giles Abbott

Giles is in huge demand as both a writer and performer.

Justine de Mierre

A passionate, energetic and inventive storyteller who delights in connecting playfully

Janina Vigurs

A children's teller who rejoices in the ridiculous

Clive Pig

Children of all ages love Clive's lively shows

Sef Townsend

Traditional tales and stories collected on Sef's extensive travels

Hannah Brailsford

Powerfulland versatile teller

Maria Credali

traditional tales to take you on a journey of magic and myth.

Suzanne Arnold

Strong female protagonists

Gerry Donlon

aka Bards Aloud. Stories comic, and stories quirky

Sola Story

Bringing metaphors and tales alive

Chip Colquhoun

Renowned children's teller and educator

Laura Casillas

"The Story-Lady" From Guanajuato, Mexico

Gary Cordingly

Exploring the connections between oral and visual storytelling

GRACIELA VERÓNICA

"La Juje", from the province of Jujuy in Argentina

Emily Hanna-Grazebrook

Magical, heartbreaking, hilarious!

JOTA VILLAZA

The leading traditional folk teller from Colombia

David Thompson

Hold onto your hat as David whisks you away.

Sarah Lloyd-Winder

Tales of adventurous women

Lorenzo Caviglia

Our Italian master teller

Órla Mc Govern

Renowned Irish teller and playwright

Cath Little

Gifted Welsh teller.

Lisa Schneidau

storyteller and environmentalist

Mark Fraser

Storyteller, illustrator and writer.

Tom Phillips

Tom 'the Tale Teller' Phillips

Nick Toczek

A legend in the poetry world, curator of our World Poetry Cafe

Donavan Christopher

aka RAPPAMAN, Respect All People.

Paul Cookson

Best selling poet and musician

Roger Stevens

An award winning poet, author and musician.

Ian Whiteley

English poet, singer/songwriter and performer

Alexander Dickow

Bilingual poet writing in English and French

Sue Hardy-Dawson

Yorkshire born poet, artist, and illustrator

Philip Nanton

a creative writer and spoken word performer from Barbados

Julie Stevens

Jumping Jules, poet from Cambridge

Clare Bevan

Bracknell’s First Poet Laureate

Amanda Edmiston

storyteller and writer with a background in herbal medicine

Roger Jenkins

Award winning Singaporean Storyteller

Trevor Millum

a writer of… poetry for children and adults, short stories, a novel, books of local interest, education resources.

Kirsty Hartsiotis

Gloucestershire-based storyteller and writer

Paul Richmond

US based Beat Poet Laureate

Deeptha Vivenkanand

India based storyteller who loves to tell stories about stories, strong women, and political satire.

Tamar Eluned Williams

Award-winning Storyteller from Wales

Carl Merry

Storyteller from Essex, UK

Nana Tomova

Sussex Based Storyteller from Bulgaria

Amy Douglas

Award Winning Storyteller, performer, promoter and advocate for the past three decades

Vanessa Woolf

"London's resident storyteller"

Giorgiana Elena Popan

Romanian Storyteller and Actress

Chris Warren

English Poet and Performer

Ellen Sjömålen

Swedish storyteller from The Land of Legends

Jay Leeming

Storyteller and Poet from the US

Marion Leeper

Storyteller from Cambridge

David Driver

West Yorkshire poet

Polina Tšerkassova

Storyteller, multi-instrumentalist and anthropologist from Estonia

Norman Perrin

Storyteller from Canada

Adriana Ene

Storyteller from Romania

Paro Anand

Multi-award winning writer, Paro Anand writes for children, young adults and adults

Rob Cloney

Rob Cloney is a Canadian storyteller who has been delighting audiences for over 30 years.

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.

Colin Urwin

Colin Urwin hails from the Glens of Antrim in Northern Ireland.

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.

Jo Henwood

Jo is co founder of the Australian Fairy Tale Society

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.

Deepa Kiran

Deepa has been in the fields of education, communication & performing arts since 1998.

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 .