Our 2023 Headliners Line-Up

Shonaleigh

Shonaleigh is one of Europe’s leading storytellers. Having learned the Drut’syla tradition from the age of four, she carries thousands of oral stories from the Jewish tradition and shares their magic, mystery and wisdom with audiences around the world.

For more, click on Shonaleigh

Luke Wright

Luke Wright is a poet, theatre-maker, and broadcaster. Luke makes a new show or play every year and schlepps it around a variety of glorious venues. Occasionally he presents stuff on the radio. He is also John Cooper Clarke’s regular warm-up guy. Hi latest collection of poems is called PEAK.

For more, click on Luke Wright

Xanthe Gresham

Xanthe Gresham-Knight is a writer and international performance storyteller with a wide repertoire. Author of ‘Goddesses and Heroines’ with Thames and Hudson, she has created a variety of shows celebrating the feminine divine including ‘Cassandra’ for Radio 4 and ‘The Online Goddess Lounge’, funded by The Arts Council of England.

For more, click on Xanthe

Jason Buck

Jason has been a performer most of his adult life, including gurning, comedy and sword swallowing, but his passion lies in stories – ‘there’s nothing like getting lost in a story, the pictures in your head are better than film’. Jason has written and published seven collections of his own stories and has won prizes for his storytelling.

For more, click on Jason Buck

Karin Lundengård

Karin is a Swedish storyteller and winner of the GAWIE 2023 commission. She is researcher with interests in traditional stories and information preservation. Working with research on reproducibility of computational biomedical models, Karin also has interests in crafting, horse riding and archery. She tells a vide variety of stories, from personal memories, to Viking myths and folklore, and weird tidbits from the deeper levels of Wikipedia.

Despina Ariou

Despina was born and bred in the little island of Syros, Greece, where -after travelling Greece and Europe- she now lives. Despina teaches English and Spanish as second languages. Growing up listening to tales from her granny, she believes stories are a very useful tool for educational purposes and also for trying to make the world a better place by creating strong community bonds and the comforting feeling of sharing.

For more, click on Despina

Liz Berry

Liz Berry was born in the Black Country and now lives in Birmingham. Her first book of poems, Black Country (Chatto 2014), a ‘sooty, soaring hymn to her native West Midlands’ (Guardian) was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, received a Somerset Maugham Award, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Award and Forward Prize for Best First Collection.

For more, click on Liz Berry

Zahra Afsah

Zahra was born and raised in Tehran. She studied Art and Archaeology at SOAS and in 2016 completed her second MA in Persian Painting and Transcultural Visuality at the Courtauld Institute of Art. Her MA dissertation examines the links between oral storytelling and Persian miniature painting, exploring the direct influences of the oral tradition in the Khamseh of Nizami of 1494-95.

For more, click on Zahra

Martin Daws

Martin is a full time professional Poet and has been for 20 years. He has developed a strong reputation for creative Education, Publishing and Performing, and, also, delivering creative commissions for a wide range of organisations including; Literature Wales, British Council, National Theatre Wales and RSPB Cymru.

For more, click on Martin

Casey Bailey

A poet and conscientious rapper is how Casey Bailey would describe himself, shunning some of the more typical subject areas for this genre of music and focusing on highlighting the issues that have blighted his community.

Born and raised in Nechells, he saw first hand how easy it was for his peers to make one wrong move and slide into a life of crime and misdemeanour.

For more, click on Casey

Ryan Dre Sinclair

Ryan Dre Sinclair is a 29 year old Poet,  Producer, Host,  Self Published Author & Founder of Empower Poetry CIC  from Birmingham. He has been writing Poetry from his early teens after using it as an avenue to express his feelings and emotions after his brother was nearly murdered.

Ryan’s motivation stems from an ambition to inspire and have an impact on people, in order for them to take action on what they believe in, through sharing a message which is special and relatable for his audience.

For more, click on Ryan