Frances Roberts Reilly is a poet, storyteller and filmmaker of mixed heritage. Both Welsh Gypsy and English, she’s a direct descendant of Abram Wood and the notable family of Welsh triple harpists, fiddlers and storytellers. She was born on the Welsh border and grew up in England.
Frances tells her family’s stories, originally attributed to her six-times great-grandfather, the Gypsy storyteller Abram Wood, and four times great-grandfather, John Roberts aka Telynor Cymru. She has entertained audiences on CBC radio, at Guelph’s Bookshelf and Enabling Garden, the Celtic Roots Festival in Goderich, Baden Storytellers Guild and Latitude’s International Storytellers festival. She has also performed for seniors in St. Petersburg, Florida.
As a poet, Frances began writing seriously while working at BBC television in London. After making award-winning documentaries, she moved to Canada and gained an Honours degree in English Literature at the University of Toronto.
Frances has an international profile as a Romani writer. Her most recent book, Parramisha (‘story’ in Romani) is a poetry collection that speaks to a sense of double belonging that has continually structured Romani identity and unity – that of being ‘home’ and at the same time being ‘other’.
Frances says: ‘As Roma, we belong to our community and at the same time, we belong to the landscape of the territories and countries that we live in.
What’s written about us by non-Roma there exists a stereotypical image that’s both romantic and vilified. In writing our own Parramisha we are obligated to deconstruct those prevailing narratives readily available in popular discourse and that have unjustly treated us.
As in storytelling as well as in poetry, the Gypsy’s own story of journeying from the known into the unknown world infuses our stories and poems with strange moments that have travelled with us all the way from India to Europe and now to Canada.
Frances Roberts Reilly
If you would like to support this teller, please make a donation
LATEST PERFORMANCE
Stories and poems inspired by her Gypsy family in Wales, Europe and Canada
Start time: July 29, 2020 6:00 pm GMT
As in storytelling as well as in poetry, the Gypsy’s own story of journeying from the known into the unknown world infuses our stories and poems with strange moments that have travelled with us all the way from India to Europe and now to Canada.
If you would like to support Frances Roberts Reilly, please make a donation