I’m a contemporary storyteller, creating and sharing intelligent, irreverent spoken-word shows with audiences across the UK, and beyond. I also research and write about contemporary storytellers, as well as training and mentoring students to develop their own storytelling practices.

Raised between the North-East and Argyll (often in the back of a Ford Cortina), I especially love telling English and Scottish fairytales, the fiery folklore of the Anglo-Scottish Borders, and salvaged stories from the two kingdoms’ historic and mythic pasts.

I’m also fascinated by the challenge of using storytelling to help promote a positive sense of belonging, and a spirit of creative citizenship, across a range of communities and contexts.

I’m currently leading a British Academy funded research project which supports storytelling artists in England to develop ethically-engaged performance repertoires in contemporary contexts. You can find out more here.

Plus, I’m working on a research project with Village Storytelling Centre in Glasgow (funded by Creative Scotland) to discover how contemporary storytelling practices can support the emergence of new, inclusive arts ecosystems in the modern city.

At the same time, I’m developing and touring Stories from Mythic England. This fierce and funny performance project sets out to re-discover the many different tales England has told itself about its identity and destiny. And it embraces this tradition of self-storying as an opportunity to start playful, inclusive, and empowering conversations about the kind of nation(s) we want to imagine for ourselves today …