Everyday Magic Storytellers

ANNE JOHNSON (Director of Everyday Magic)  is a storyteller and songwriter who is committed to bringing live storytelling and music into the schools. She believes children need stories, music and art in the same way that plants need sun and rain. Over the last seventeen years she has developed Everyday Magic as a resource for teachers and children. She believes it is crucial to have long term relationships with the schools, and together with the Everyday Magic team of storytellers, musicians and artists to work in partnership with the teachers to provide a very special contribution to the school’s programme. Anne is co-author of “London Folk Tales For Children” and “London’s River Tales” published by The History Press.

Kate Corkery  is an international Irish storyteller  fluent in French, Spanish and Gaelic. She runs a monthly storytelling club for adults ‘Around the Fire’ from the Irish Cultural Centre in London, (recently refurbished) where she is Storyteller in Residence and as a result won ‘Best Storyteller at The Fringe Report Awards’. Kate is a frequent guest teller at other UK storytelling clubs and festivals across Europe. She regularly returns to her native Ireland, featuring in festivals and running master class weekends. She  won the BASE award for Outstanding Storytelling Performance in 2012 for ‘Sweet Shop on the Shore’. Kate partners Winston Nzinga in ‘Spud & Yam’ and has performed at events in Norway, Spain and Columbia with tours in Uruguay and Argentina.  Kate’s  engaging and beautifully written ‘Cork Folk Tales‘ is published by The History Press.

Nell Phoenix has been a full-time performance storyteller for nearly 20 years. Based in London, she has often created storytelling performances for institutions such as the British Museum, the V&A and the Royal Opera House. She has told hundreds of stories to thousands of school children, 3-19 years old, in the UK, India, Colombia, Mexico, China and Peru. Teaching storytelling, improvisation and devising skills is a key part of Nell’s work for all ages, home and abroad. She runs courses, weekly classes and workshops for school children and their teachers! She has run sessions for students, teachers, librarians, priests, would-be and developing storytellers.

She is Artistic Director of StoryNight at Torriano, Kentish Town’s thriving performance storytelling club for adults. Nell is a passionate promoter of storytelling as a performance art AND as a vital tool for the well-being of all ages!

Sef Townsend   (co-author of “London Folk Tales For Children” and “London’s River Tales” )  has spent many years animating children and adults through the medium of story, language, rhythm and song and he is equally at home in a nursery school, in the family atmosphere of a local festival, or at a national museum. Always the focus in his work is the ‘join in’ activity, where the ‘audience’ usually ends up singing along or joining in the telling. This is also popular in his work with teachers, and with his refugee, peace and reconciliation, and interfaith projects. His vibrant performances have taken him to Northern Ireland, The Middle East and South Africa

Alongside Everyday Magic, Sef has worked with EAST, a group dedicated to bringing together people of the East End of London helping them to celebrate their cultural diversity, develop their storytelling skills and provide performance experience in sharing their stories in public. Recent exciting projects have included celebrating Chuseok, the Korean Harvest,at a weekend special at The British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum, and a four week storytelling, teachers’ workshop and research tour of Chile and Argentina.

TUUP  has been retelling traditional for 30 years now. He is a percussive musician and songwriter with the band Transglobal Underground. Tuup has worked at the British Museum, Docklands Museum to name just a few. TUUP was featured in a DVD released by Story Spinners, an educational film company that is available at http://thestoryspinner.co.uk/online-shop.  TUUP’s most current storytelling recording  is “Time Tells The Story”.

Everyday Magic Registered Charity 1148659