All articles in Folklore
31st October, 2017 in Folklore
Creating ghost stories
Essex, in spite of its friendly and prosperous present, has an ancient history of Roman invaders and Saxon immigrants, Pagan groves and Christian conversions, Viking raiders, Norman conquerors, Civil War battles and sieges, witches, witch-hunts and witch trials, smugglers on its…
21st April, 2017 in Folklore
Connecting story, science and self for a sustainable future this Earth Day
In honour of Earth Day, let us tell you a story. One that concerns the past and the present and tells of a possible future where stories save the day by reconnecting people and communities to the world around them and to what it means to live a good life on planet Earth. Once upo…
2nd February, 2017 in Folklore
Michael Rosen on the power of storytelling
There is a hidden magic and meaning in the act of sharing a story, as celebrated children’s author Michael Rosen explains… The festive season is a time for stories. They could be the tales about your life that you tell while catching up with loved ones, they might be a yar…
1st February, 2017 in Folklore, History
The art of historical storytelling
Kindra Jones (a.k.a. The Lady Knight) brings history to life through costumed interpretation in schools, museums and heritage sites across the UK. Here, she discusses the key to historical storytelling. Stories are powerful. Telling a good story can transport you to any place, an…
1st February, 2017 in Folklore
The Ballad of Eliza Woodcock
In this exclusive video for National Storytelling Week, professional storyteller Chip Colquhoun performs The Ballad of Eliza Woodcock from his book, Cambridgeshire Folk Tales for Children. https://youtu.be/haN-dNB10ow?si=dUJ5PEaXDpE2s4Dt
31st January, 2017 in Folklore
Storytelling: Painting the tales
Katherine Soutar has provided the cover illustrations for the vast majority of books in The History Press’ popular Folk Tales collection since the series began in 2009. In this exclusive article for National Storytelling Week, Katherine discusses how she finds inspiration for eac…
30th January, 2017 in Folklore
The challenges of adapting a folk tale
In December 2016, an animated adaptation of The Hunchback and the Swan, a popular folk tale published by The History Press, debuted at an exclusive screening at Aardman. The tale features in three titles written by storyteller Taffy Thomas and the film was created by Dotty K…
26th January, 2017 in Folklore
10 things you might not know about storytelling
With the aim of promoting awareness of the art and history of storytelling and to highlight the significant knowledge of its storytelling authors, The History Press continues to publish new content in support of this ancient artform. Here professional storyteller Cath Little…
25th January, 2017 in Fiction, Folklore
What I love about performance storytelling
‘This story is set a very, very long time ago…’ That’s how my story Alice and the Snap Dragon begins. After that… away we go! We can twist, we can shout, we can shake it all about and even make up a song if we want to. That’s what I love about the art of performance storytelling;…
10th January, 2017 in Folklore
Folk tales: Do they need updating?
When we, as oral storytellers, stand in front of an audience and tell a story it never comes out quite the same way twice. Many things affect the telling and cause the story to change: our mood, the audience – are they enthusiastic/undemonstrative – current events, the environmen…
10th January, 2017 in Folklore
Why the story you tell is important
‘Fairy tales are more than true, not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten’ – G.K. Chesterton We know we live in a time when many dragons exist, those of climate change, global inequality and probably quite a few others that…
6th October, 2016 in Folklore
The Storyteller: A poem about the art and practise of storytelling
In the 1980s, folk singer Mike Jones wrote The Storyteller, a song inspired by the work of his friend, Taffy Thomas. Cherished by Taffy for the past thirty years, The Storyteller is reproduced here as a poem, its words perfectly encapsulating Taffy’s own thoughts on the…