About Lisa
“I am a professional storyteller: I find stories old and new, work with them and tell them to others.”
Photo: Little Ghost Photography
I use storytelling to inspire, provoke curiosity and build stronger connections between people and nature.
I work with the oral storytelling tradition, where traditional and modern stories are shared from memory and passed on to others. You’ll find me telling stories at events and venues all over the UK and beyond: schools and museums, nature reserves and festivals, arts centres and boardrooms. My work includes performance storytelling, corporate training and story creation with communities.
Storytelling allows me to combine two of my great passions: nature, and creative imagination. I’ve been telling tall tales for 20 years, continually learning and sharing with a diverse storytelling community in the UK and beyond.
I’m passionate about bringing our story heritage to a wider audience, and using story to explore our relationship with nature and folklore. I have written five popular books of folk tales, including the best-selling Botanical Folk Tales of Britain and Ireland (History Press). I also speak at events and write features on wildlife, storytelling and the land.
My story
I was born in north Buckinghamshire and originally trained as an ecologist.
Before becoming a full-time storyteller, I worked in the nature conservation sector for the 25 years across the UK, in roles including farm advisor, river surveyor, political lobbyist and conservation director.
Storytelling eventually took me over, and I have been a full time freelance creative for five years. I live in Devon.
Photo: Tony Emsworthy
What is storytelling?
Storytelling by word of mouth is an age-old tradition. We all need magic and inspiration, desperately so in these difficult times, and many traditional stories lie at the roots of our beliefs and our journeys. Whether you are two years old or a hundred and two, there’s something heartening about sharing in a good tale. Stories can offer a flash of inspiration, a whole load of belly-laughs, a hero’s journey or a new way of looking at life.
Traditional stories passed down through the generations include folk tales, fairy tales, myths, epics and stories of how it all began; but there are many other kinds of story. Historical true tales can really pack a punch. Science offers us curiosity for the facts, sometimes stranger than fiction. Story creation is a powerful medium to imagine our way into a more positive future: we are making new stories all the time.
The better we know and understand a story, the better we will tell it. Part of the craft of good storytelling is to really get into the heart of a story, honour the community and the place it has come from, and bring it alive in ways that connect with the people listening in the here and now. In our technological age, telling someone a story directly from memory through the spoken word almost feels like a radical act. The story is not a tangible thing, but it’s very real in the imagination of the person who has told it and the person who hears it. In this way, story lives and changes: the essence of living folklore.
Storytelling also gives us the opportunity to colour-in aspects of the living environment around us. When Little Red Riding Hood walked into the woods, what were the trees like? The bird song? Story demands that we sharpen our senses and immerse ourselves in another place and time. It infects us with curiosity about human motivations and about all those other species that we share this planet with. Curiosity leads to connection.
These days, the word ‘storytelling’ has many modern applications, from social media to marketing, but the principles of good storytelling remain the same no matter how they are used. Storytelling through the spoken word is one of the oldest crafts, and I believe it’s an essential part of the human condition.
