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:
Laura Casillas
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 .