Our storytellers

Marion Leeper

Marion has been telling stories ever since she can remember. Her sparkly, multi-sensory storytelling enchants the youngest children, people with special needs, and adults too. She works in and around East Anglia, in schools, libraries, museums – even, once, a nuclear bunker – and appears at festivals including Womad and the East Anglian Storytelling Festival. She has taken her early years show, Stories in the Dark, to the prestigious storytelling festivals Beyond the Border and Festival at the Edge. As first Bard of Cambridge in 2016 she has performed at many local spoken word events, and has toured her adult shows, The Kitchen Cat and Orlando Furioso, around the UK and the US. She writes about using stories in education (her book Developing Early Maths through Story) is published by PPS books. Choose an existing show from her website, or she can tailor a storytelling session or workshop especially for you.

Glenys Newton

Glenys is currently the Bard of Cambridge having stepped into the mighty shoes of Marion Leeper who was the previous Bard. She has been telling stories for a few years now and has told in pubs, theatres, churches, festivals, schools, libraries, village halls, literary festivals and basically where anyone is prepared to listen. Glenys won the prestigious The Moth storytelling competition in 2014 to tell the first Moth story ever to be told outside of America. She loves to tell biographical stories, her own and those of others and in 2016 toured in the UK, Holland and Belgium with a performance of refugee stories having volunteered in refugee camps across Europe. Glenys works closely with the Essex Book Festival in creating events to tell the stories of the people of Essex. She has had two books published, non fiction, and you can find details, along with a blog, on her website – and events for the rest of the year. You can book Glenys for storytelling sessions or a workshop tailored to your needs and wishes.

Malcolm Busby

Malcolm has told stories all over East Anglia and the surrounding counties, in schools, village halls, in parks, country parks and nature reserves, in gardens, in barns, in front rooms, in museums-indoors and outdoors. From the humblest of spaces to festivals to the O2 Arena.

His stories reflect his interests and can be about the environment, the history of a place, be about people or just about anything. He can tell you well known stories, stories created with groups or tell any combination to suit the event, the place and the audience. Any story he reads or hears and likes, enjoys and relates to is bound to be retold at some time, be it a bit of Cambridgeshire folklore, a Greek myth or a Grimms folktale.

Malcolm is a member of Equity (M00312222) as well as the Society for Storytelling and Cambridge Storytellers. He has also been awarded the title of Suffolk Skald. For an idea of what stories he tells to groups look at the list of shows below; Fenland Tales, Cambridgeshire Tales, Tales of Country Folk, Ghost Stories, Animal Stories, Fairy tales as the brothers Grimm wrote them, Tales of Black Dogs and other mythical animals, English Hero Tales. Any show can be modified for example Cambridgeshire Tales can be Suffolk or Norfolk or even Essex, the list goes on! To contact Malcolm for a booking email storyteller@malcolmbusby.co.uk or visit his website.

Rachel O’Leary

Rachel relishes stories that show strong friendships, myths of untamed goddesses, and tales that help us cherish nature. She finds it fascinating to share these with adults and children of all ages. She loves to watch them drink up a nourishing story and hear their responses.

Rachel has told at fetes, in a youth club, libraries, museums and classrooms, a smoky roundhouse, a chilly chapel, a freezing fen, cosy living rooms, bars and barns and meeting rooms. She is based on the Cambridge/Suffolk border, and currently holds the title of Skald of Suffolk. She can find or create stories to suit a particular event or group. For more information, to read Rachel’s blog or find out about her writing, see her website.

Would you like to learn more about telling stories – for adults, for children, for your own family? Please contact us to talk about workshops local and national, festivals, and courses: storytellingcambridge@gmail.com

You may also enjoy The Society for Storytelling, where you can find out about storytelling clubs, groups and services in the UK.