We are delighted to be welcoming Nell Phoenix & Michael Harvey as our headline storytellers for the first time to the festival this year. Michael is also our guest storyteller for the Storytellers Supper, a popular Friday night event at the festival, which can be booked here:
Joining our headliners for the first time are storytellers Vanessa Woolf with her new show 'She's Electric: My Strange but True Story', Alastair K Daniels with his new show 'When The Gentlemen Go By', Laura Sampson with her show Yamanba (She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain) , Maria Credali with her show 'Seven Years A Wolf' and Tim Ralphs show ' Secret Commonwealth' . This is just a taster of what to expect at this years festival, with many more delights being programmed for the weekend.
Featured Storytellers!
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Alastair K Daniel...
is a performance storyteller who lives on the border between London and Surrey. He has worked as a professional storyteller for over 25 years and regularly performs internationally, most recently in Greece, Belgium and Morocco, where Alastair was part of the team that broke the world record for the longest continuous storytelling performance. Alastair's storytelling manages to combine high energy performance with an almost conversational style, drawing the audience into tales so that they become an integral part of the telling.
Dan Allum
is an award-winning Romani writer, speaker and workshop facilitator from Cambridge. Growing up within a travelling Romani Gypsy community, he taught himself to read in his mid-teens before later studying drama at university and developing work with the BBC, ITV, Left Bank Pictures, the National Theatre, Royal Court Theatre and Royal Opera House. He joins our festival this year with a rehearsed reading from A Road of My Own, a multi-strand project that asks how much of our lives is inherited, how much is consciously chosen, and what it means to find your own voice and direction.
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Laura Sampson...
is a British-Trinidadian storyteller, writer and noh practitioner who loves to tell stories of big emotions, surreal situations and misunderstood women, from all over the world.
Recent commissions include Folk Horror (Crick Crack Club), Noh Reimagined Festival (London), solo show Yamanba, and a new retelling of Old English epic Beowulf. Laura is also founder of story promoter The House of Rumour, and a published author of two children’s story collections (2023 + 2025), with another for adults out in October 2026.
Maria Credali...
tells stories with a warm, engaging, and intimate style. She will leave you with a warm heart and smile on your face.
Previous commissions include Yarn Storytelling Festival in Ireland, The Royal Shakespeare Company,
Festival at the Edge and many other national and international festivals.
mariacredali.co.uk
“Joyous, beautiful, inspiring and poetic.” Taffy Thomas MBE.
“Storytelling gold” Lisa Schneidau.
Maria Gillan...
is a well known popular storyteller and Bean An Tí (Irish Session Host) on the storytelling circuit in Ireland and on the Cyberspace Platform.
She loves listening to stories and will tell a story at the drop of a hat. She loves co-creating stories with anyone ‘from the cradle to the grave’. She believes deeply in the power of stories to build communities, heal prejudice and to build resilience.
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Marion Leeper...
needs no introduction as the festivals former chair. Based in Cambridge, Marion and her amazing story mat are familiar visitors to museums, schools and libraries around the region. She has toured her shows for grownups to clubs and festivals around the country and internationally. She tells stories for children of all ages, and specialises in multi-sensory storytelling for the very young and for people with learning difficulties, working with the charity Bag Books.
Michael Dacre...
a storyteller, second hand bookseller, social worker, out-of-worker, waiter (for what’s next), brings to the festival The Death of St. Edmund, a uniquely East Anglian story with origins in street theatre once performed by the legendary Ockington Morris.
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Tim Ralphs...
is a storyteller based in Nottingham. He founded The Story Forge in Sheffield and hosts Beeston Tales. A commended entry at Young Storyteller of the Year in 2007, he won a British Award for Storytelling Excellence (with Simon Heywood) in 2012 for their Gilgamesh.
His Rebranding Beelzebub was described in The Times as “a 5 star story”.
Vanessa Woolf...
stories for adults are real, exciting, magical and engaging from start to finish. Her trailblazing performances and live events have taken her around the world. She has shared her stories for TEDxStormont, on TV, radio and on podcasts. Her CV includes unique collaborations with major museums, cultural institutions, architects, publishers, film makers, artists & academics.
Festival Regulars!
Baden Prince
Chris Richardson
Gerry Donlon
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Holly Green
Jonathan Lambert
Minnie Wilkinson
Shane Ibbs
C B Jackson
Dan Sedgwick
Glynis Newton
Hugh Lupton
Justine De Mierre
Roisin Murray
Simon Hooten
Carl Merry
Despina Ariou
Hannah Brailsford
John Row
Merl Fluin
Sarah Lloyd -Winder
Vero Chambers
More Delights!
Crankie Magic...
Discover the art of the crankie: a scrolling picture artform which brings a whole new dimension to storytelling, for adults and children alike. Come and meet some of the most talented crankie performers from across the country and beyond.
Find them on our Sunday morning story trail and in other unexpected places throughout the festival.
Bronia Evers
Returns to the festival with a brand new show 'Oakheart'.
Wendy Dacre
Will perform a brand-new adventure, Alf and the Trolls, and the mysterious and unearthly Snake on the Western Wave.
Peter Stevenson
Welsh storyteller, illustrator, children’s writer is using crankies to launch his new bi-lingual picturebooks
Taletta Bierens de Haan
From Bloemendahl in the Netherlands, brings the story The Flying Ship and the Fool of the World, and the Boy who went to sea in a sugarpot.
Sara Hurley
Her stories feature ancient myths and encounters with the more than human and set in the Devon landscape.
Dungeons & Dragons...
"The stars are falling from the sky, and with it the age of monsters returns."
Bradley Perry-Bartlett joins us this year from Tabletop Quests will be leading a game of Dungeons and Dragons where players create a shared improvised story. Unlike regular improv a roll of the dice determines if the actions of the character being played succeed or fail, and that informs what happens in the story. Participants and onlookers will be helping to influence the game.
Music, Poetry & More...
The festival wouldn't be the same without the contribution from the wonderful musicians who entertain us between stories. This year we have another wonderful lineup including Tumbrel, Kimberly Moore,
Rick Sheppard and The Happy Couple.
Our friends from Get A Word in Edgeways will also be joining us again this year along with The Strumpshaw Tree Fair.
There will also be plenty of poetry with the chance to share your own work in the open mic slots and story rounds to get involved with too. Not to mention workshops and Maypole dancing to have a go at!
