Artists appearing
at Festival at the Edge 2024
Artists already confirmed are listed below.
We are still finalising our programme, so keep checking back as more performers are confirmed and added.
Len Cabral
Len Cabral is an internationally acclaimed, award-winning storyteller and author who has been engaging and entertaining audiences with his storytelling performances
for more than four decades. He is the recipient of a number of awards including the
National Storytelling Network 2001 Circle of Excellence Oracle Award, and most recently recipient of the 2023 NABS Brother Blue Circle of Elders Award. This award, named
in honour of Dr. Hugh “Brother Blue” Morgan, is given to NABS members as a recognition of their contributions to Black storytelling.
Just like so many characters in the folktales and stories from ancient times to present day, men from Cape Verde travelled the world as whalers while searching for a better future for their families. Len is a great grandson of one of those men that immigrated to America in the early 1900s. Len engages listeners of all ages with his retelling of folktales and legends from around the world.
*Photo credit – Jim Hooper.
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.
She is an experienced and highly skilled performer, a passionate advocate for the development of storytelling as a cultural and educational tool, and an associate lecturer in the University of Derby’s Creative Writing department. She is also Artistic Director of the House of the West Wind: College of Storytelling.
Shonaleigh has performed at storytelling festivals and events in Europe, America and Australasia as well as working with acclaimed organisations including the BBC, Hull Truck Theatre and The International Conference of World Affairs. She is also a co-founder of the Step Up Commission, which offers mentoring, funds and support to an emerging wordsmith performer.
For many years, Shonaleigh has shared the techniques of the Drut’syla storytelling tradition with students from across the globe. However, she is probably the last carrier of this age-old tradition.
The drut’syla repertoire comprises twelve interlinked cycles, each of several hundred tales. Training also involves a complex system of oral memorisation, visualisation and interpretation (midrash) of tales.
*Photo Credit – Katherine Betteridge
Sahand Sahebdivani
Sahand Sahebdivani (1980) is one of the most well-known storytellers of The Netherlands. In 2004 he founded the Mezrab, which became one of the most important storytelling stages of the world. Sahand arrived in the Netherlands as a refugee of the Iran-Iraq war at the age of three. The experiences of him and his family have been the basis of the majority of his work. In 2014 he co-founded the Mezrab Storytelling School, a school that is striving to link the ancient art of storytelling with today’s burning questions. Since 2018 he is co-artistic director of the Amsterdam Storytelling Festival.
*Photo Credit – Guido Benschop
Ana Maria Lines
Ana Maria Lines is an exciting Storyteller and workshop leader with an international reputation, vast repertoire and captivating style. She works in schools, festivals, clubs, libraries and many varied events. Her performances and workshops have engaged and captivated adults and children alike.
Ana has performed in the United Kingdom, Italy, Cuba, Spain, Croatia, Portugal,
Mexico, Singapore and Japan. Her repertoire is wide and varied: from folk tales
and myths from Brazil, to stories from around the world.
Ciderhouse Rebellion and Jesse Summerhayes
The Ciderhouse Rebellion joined by Adam’s daughter, poet Jessie Summerhayes create an immersive and cinematic folk-tone-poems, woven between and around spontaneously created music.
Their work has been championed by the Folk on Foot podcast, whilst Jessie’s poems have been featured on BBC Radio 4’s Power Lines. Their much-celebrated collaboration with Ballet Folk has been a massive hit on the festival circuit, continues to place them at the heart of the UK’s most innovative folk exploration and led to their latest acclaimed release which has developed into a folk ballet – The Tears of Jenny Greenteeth.
“The edge of the seat excitement is tangible, the fiddle, accordion and voice working in symbiotic rapture” – Northern Sky
“Mesmerising and hypnotic” – Songlines
Videos Of Ciderhouse:
https://youtu.be/HtNW0Le6gUc Live at Manchester Folk Festival
https://youtu.be/q7v9_-fVV7g Live – The Old Kilns Above Stables Farm
https://youtu.be/JWQ_fE59yRc The Whitby Rose
Video of Cider Rebellion with Jessie Summerhayes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GFk7kqdmyg
Dan Walsh
BBC Folk Awards Best Musician nominee Dan Walsh combines ‘virtuoso playing and winning songwriting’ (MORNING STAR). Describing what Dan does is no easy task but at the heart of it is British, Irish and American folk music delivered with a healthy dose of funky grooves – all performed on clawhammer style banjo helping to challenge all preconceptions about the instrument. His poignant songs, astonishing musical departures and lively humour create a truly memorable live show which has wowed audiences across the world from intimate seated rooms to huge dancing crowds in festival fields.
Walsh has recorded five albums to much critical acclaim and he is an in demand performer, touring the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and throughout Europe. He has also released two banjo tablature books including the brand new book of clawhammer arrangements of Irish folk tunes. He is also an in demand session musician, previously working with Joss Stone, Ward Thomas, Imelda May, the Levellers and Seth Lakeman. Both solo and as a member of the award winning Urban Folk Quartet, this unique and eclectic musician has stunned audiences across the world.
Mossy Christian and Megan Wisdom
Described as ‘One of the true new custodians of the tradition’ by Bright Young Folk, award-winning musician and singer Mossy Christian specialises in the musical traditions of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. His solo shows are in high-demand for clubs and festivals across the UK and further afield. Mossy has also developed and toured multiple shows with the storyteller Taffy Thomas MBE, as well as working in theatre and television.
Folk singer, musician and ethnomusicologist Megan Wisdom was born and bred in Suffolk, where she cultivated her signature warm and simple style in the traditional music scene of East Anglia, which she has been a part of for as long as she can remember. She released her debut EP in 2018, and regularly performs at folk clubs and festivals nationwide.
Together, they have developed a reputation for bringing traditional material to new audiences, whilst remaining faithful to the original voices who first gave life to the songs and music of East Anglia. They have performed at Whitby Folk Festival, Sidmouth Folk Festival, and Cecil Sharp House, amongst many others, and as Guests of Honour with Taffy Thomas MBE at the International Storytelling Festival in Marrakesh.
They will be bringing their brand new show “Where is my boy tonight?” to Fate. This show explores the stories of England’s East coast fishing communities through a blend of live music and field recordings, with archive photographs and illustrations. The show brings to life the rich heritage of the East coast through the voices of its inhabitants.
Ailsa Dixon
Ailsa Dixon is a traditional storyteller and musician deeply rooted in place, and passionate about sharing traditional tales and unheard histories. She specialises in Scottish stories, and is particularly interested in narratives with feminist and environmentalist themes. A traditional musician, she often incorporates traditional song and folk cello and clarsach into her performances.
Alongside contemporary theatre storytelling, she regularly runs workshops focused on applied storytelling with schools and community groups. Ailsa has performed work with the Compagnia Raccontamiunastoria in Rome, the Scottish International Storytelling Festival, Glasgow Village Storytelling Festival, Aberystwyth, Orkney and Perth Soutar storytelling festivals, Beyond the Border and the Edinburgh Fringe.
Her recent solo projects include a residency on the Tall Ship Glenlee devising and performing an immersive historical storytelling, and a personal solo show inspired by her Aberdeenshire roots –The Silver Thread: Stories from the North Sea. Her many collaborative projects include bilingual environmentalist show Hear Us and Hasten, SISF headliner Speak Out the Other, Wir Leid a celebration of Scots language and contributions to Queer Folks Tales amongst many others.
At this year’s FatE, Ailsa will be performing solo, and as part of the Young Edinburgh Storytellers.
Alison Brackenbury
What will you hear in Alison Brackenbury’s prize-winning poems? Stories of hares, history, horses and unreasonable hope. Descended from long lines of servants and skilled farmworkers, she grew up in an isolated village. After fifty years in a small Gloucestershire town, living beside a railway cutting, with foxes and owls, she writes from a borderland between worlds. Her poems celebrate a fragile, precious Earth – and the starling, still singing on the roof.
Alison’s work can be found in her ten poetry collections, and in her substantial Selected Poems, Gallop. Her poems have often been heard on BBC Radio, especially on Radio 4’s arts flagship, ‘Front Row’, and in her own critically acclaimed radio programmes. ‘Evocative, amusing and utterly compelling….’ Radio Times Choice.
Her latest collection is Thorpeness, (Carcanet, 2022). Its poems smuggled a blackbird into The Guardian, a water vole into The Daily Telegraph, and Mr Hill, a village roadsweeper, into The Financial Times. Praised by The Observer for their ‘craft and musicality’, her poems try to echo songs, to which she is addicted, in their determined rhyming.
Gillian Clarke, National Poet of Wales, wrote: ‘Alison Brackenbury loves, lives, hymns and rhymes the natural world and its people like no other poet’. Alison is now engrossed in writing Village, a prose book filled with unforgettable fellow-villagers.
‘Alison Brackenbury’s poetry is hospitable: open to all… robust, humorous – often touching… Her technical mastery is a delight.’ Kate Kellaway, The Observer
‘Her best poems belong to a line of understated English nature writing that can be traced back through Edward Thomas and John Clare… quiet perfection.’
Tristram Fane Saunders, The Daily Telegraph.
‘One of the country’s best writers.’
Mark Whitley, The Countryman.
Alison forgot to mention her famous food writing! Festival at the Edge is in July… time for a poem full of summer fruit?
‘Mouth-watering…’
‘Pick of the Week’, BBC Radio 4.
Sample poems and videos can be found at Alison’s website.
https://alisonbrackenbury.wordpress.com/
Andy Harrop Smith
Andy Harrop Smith has been telling stories for over 20 years and for most of that time he’s been on the FatE organisation team. He’s told tales to toddlers and spun stories to seniors from Aberystwyth to Edinburgh and has seldom been pelted with rotten vegetables. He’s been a ‘storyteller in residence’ for Harry Potter Tours and at National Trust properties, and has spooked out audiences in haunted houses and ‘nights at the museum’. His story telling style is quirky, quaint and often liberally lacquered with dark humour. Andy loves dressing up and often sets the scene with home-made props (that usually fall apart). He’ll tell you anything from an epic to a mucky joke and if you’re very unlucky he’ll sing a sea shanty.
‘WIDECOMBE FAIR’ or Poor Old ‘Oss is a re-telling of the sad tail of horse overloading and ghostly goings-on around Dartmoor. This show was planned for 2023, but a severe throat infection meant that Andy was unable to perform it, but we didn’t want you to miss out, so we are delighted that Andy will perform this at FatE 2024. Join Andy Harrop-Smith and Tom Pierce’s old grey mare for half an hour of Tom Foolery and any other Toms you can think of.
We’ll need plenty of audience involvement including singing (this is a ‘horse opera’), music (from an improvised ‘orsechestra’) and lots of horsing around.
Caleb Richards
Caleb Richards is a composer and ethnomusicologist who has been studying the sitar and Hindustani (North Indian) Classical music for the last three years. He is incredibly grateful to have been taken on as a sitar student by Sheema Mukherjee of the Imagined Village and Transglobal Underground, two of Caleb’s biggest musical influences.
As well as his sitar tuition under Sheema, Caleb is currently studying for a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music at St. John’s College, University of Cambridge, where his work focuses on ethnomusicology and composition. In addition to the sitar, Caleb also plays guitar and mandolin, and is a singer, with his most recent work exploring the potentials for fusion between Indian Classical and English Folk music. Caleb has previously performed at Shrewsbury Folk Festival, and his music has often been played and performed on BBC Radio Shropshire and BBC Introducing.
David Hughes
From the wild heart of Scotland, David is a storyteller, science communicator and outdoor educator. His style is easy going and heartfelt, blended with a dry, Scottish wit that brings old tales alive, dancing in the space where the imaginary realm of story meets the magic of everyday life. Words are the ocean in which he swims. David tells stories from all over but favours stories from Northern Europe, Ireland, and, of course, Scotland – from the mysterious, cold, and dark places where strange stories lurk, just waiting to be coaxed into the soft warm glow of a hearth fire and set loose into the hearts of listeners.
David is part of the ‘Young Edinburgh Storytellers’, a troupe of storyteller-musicians that tell stories of the relationship between people and the wild and queer. Their sell out award winning show, ‘Land Under Wave’ debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023 to critical acclaim. He is thrilled to be participating in FatE this year!
https://davidhughesstoryteller.com/
https://www.facebook.com/wildtimeskinghorn/
https://www.instagram.com/storyteller.david/
Dr. Bramwell and Eliza Skelton
Sing-Along-a-Wickerman is unmissable for Wickerman enthusiasts, folk fans and anyone who loves a very silly time!
Featuring audience sing-alongs, a screening of the original film Wickerman (starring Edward Woodward) and a wealth of dreadful jokes!
Audiences are provided with a goody bag full of dark secrets for use during the film, a Pagan hymn book with lyrics to all the songs, and the movie will be screened in all its camp, twisted glory. David Bramwell and Eliza Skelton will be at the helm to guide you along with the words and actions…
“Frankly genius” – The Guardian
Emily Hennessey
Emily Hennessey was born on a small Swedish island in the Baltic Sea and raised by trolls in the forest. Here she learned to cook porridge, steal gold and scare children; skills which are useful to her now as a professional performance storyteller.
Emily loves to tell epics, myths, wondertales and folktales from all over the world to anyone who will listen. She’s toured in India, Iceland, and across Europe.
Work and travel in India have kindled in Emily a great love of Hindu mythology. She’s journeyed over 10,000 miles across India by train, bus, rattling rickshaw and rickety bicycle. She’s lived with a yak-herding family on the Tibetan plateau, and learned from children in Tamil Nadu who perform stories from the Mahabharata through music, dance and song.
She lives in the Lake District with her children and husband, Nick. Together they run the Stealing Thunder StoryNights club.
Gabriela La Foley
Since 2002 Gabriela La Foley has been wandering around the Northern Hemisphere with her trusty ukulele, telling tales and singing songs. Her passion is to spread the sunshine and joy of the magic ukulele. An emcee once introduced Gabriela to an audience by dispensing with all the usual stage jargon, and announcing her simply as; “Happiness In A Hat”. That title stuck, and it has been her morning motto ever since, as she dons her hat and flower, and heads off to spread ukulele joy.
Gabriela is a truly unique entertainer, who has a special ability to include the audience, they may start off wondering what the show will be about, and before they realise it, Gabriela has turned the show around to be all about the audience. She gives every ounce of energy and love to the audience.
“Absolutely fab. Such fun!”
Garry Jones
Garry Jones, founder of “Off our Trolley Arts” is a professional artist and designer. With over 30 years’ experience, he specialises in community and carnival arts as well as art in education.
After graduating in theatre design from the University of Central England, Garry honed his skills working for Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Royal Shakespeare Company before discovering his love of community and carnival arts. Since then, he has received acclaim for his work with schools, colleges, charities and community groups locally, nationally and internationally. Garry is a versatile artist who can deliver a wide range of “hands on” craft- based activities alone, in collaboration with other artists or as a facilitator of group sessions. He has vast experience working with people from a wide range of ages, backgrounds and abilities.
Previous projects have included murals, paintings, mosaics, push along 3D carnival floats, costumes, head- dresses and carnival backpacks. He has a particular interest in using recycled materials to create stunning pieces of art.
At this year’s Fate, Garry will be leading Craft Workshops in making animal masks.
Instagram: offourtrolleyarts
Jenny Moon
Jenny Moon has been storytelling, story-writing and writing about storytelling for 20 years. She has a number of publications (books) to her name including ‘Folk Tales of Rock and Stone’ (The History Press).
This year, Jenny will be returning to FatE with her delightful Laughter Yoga workshop. Laughter Yoga has become a popular well-being experience and is an excellent way to relax, de-stress and invoke your positive emotions.
Jo Jukes and Rick Wilson
Jo Jukes’s heartfelt lyrics sing of connection to the landscape and nature on her doorstep. Songs of the natural world, songs of endurance, songs of hope and fortitude.
Rick Wilson has four solo albums to his name and credits on countless others. He has worked as musical director, workshop and project leader amongst storytelling and theatre initiatives worldwide.
Together, they make a beguiling duo performing their emotive, rhythmically diverse tracks from their first album ‘Weaving the World’ and second album ‘The Ancestor in Me’ plus new creations and story songs.
Kanj Nicholas – Cancellation due to Personal Circumstances
We are sorry that Kanj Nicholas has had to cancel her appearance at this year’s festival due to Personal Circumstances. We hope we will see her next year.
Linda Moylan
Linda Moylan is a London-based, Irish-born singer-songwriter. Originally hailing from Waterford, Linda’s family migrated to England in 1980s. A natural singer, songwriter and storyteller, her songs explore a wide array of themes from forgotten stories to her experiences of growing up in a tough Irish household near the East End of London docks.
Her 2018 EP ‘London Irish’ was recorded and produced by Gavin Glass in Orphan Studios, Dublin and received critical plaudits.
In 2020 Linda released a duet with the late, great folk legend Julie Felix – recorded and released just before the sad loss of Julie.
Linda’s second full album ‘The Merchant’, released in 2021, has a distinctly folk flavour and was produced by English folk royalty in the form of Show Of Hands’ Phil Beer. The album is a reflection of folk life today from the working class streets of London – a perspective that Linda is at at home in and an authentic narrator of. It garnered some great reviews and plenty of airplay – including from several BBC shows. Linda is currently working on her third album.
“…one of the finest roots music collections that you’ll be likely to come across in this or any other year. ****”
– Kevin Bryan, Morning Star
“Linda is very much a story teller…and a dispenser of wisdom from the streets.”
– Mike Davies, Fatea
Mark Borthwick
Lake District Storyteller Mark Borthwick trained his tongue both round the traveller’s fireside and in the sewers of New York City, bringing a lay-by largess and the easy charm of the stovetop folk artist to his storytelling.
A fiddle player, guitarist, and one-man band enthusiast, Mark weaves music and stories together to create textured soundscapes which whet the appetite of any imagination, and amuse the bouche of every intellect. When he’s not telling tales, Mark is studying to be a Doctor of salmon stories (actually true).
At this year’s FatE, Mark will also be performing with the Young Edinburgh Storytellers.
He grew up in Cumbria, where he was raised by a pack of badgers in the forest, and enjoyed a feral youth eating daffodils and sniffing snails.
Mister Fox
Who is Mister Fox? Or… what is Mister Fox?
Mister Fox – a tale born of fire, dance and folklore. If you listen for the drums and look for the fire on Friday evening you will discover for yourself. From the darkness they come; processing vermin with burning torches flickering, they follow their banner gathering crowds in their wake. Down to their arena they prowl. They claim their space, fires are lit, and they begin. To the beat of the drum and the tune of the band they enact their show, blending dance and story in a display as bewildering as it is fascinating. No two shows are quite alike, sometimes they’re alone, at other times they are accompanied by further strange figures. The show closes and, as they are swallowed by the night, all you’ll be left with is a memory – and a wish to untangle the web they have woven.
https://www.facebook.com/mrfoxdance
*Photo credit_Rob Cooling
Nicola G Day
World, European and British Champion in Tai Chi and Qigong, Nicola G Day
has been studying the martial art of Tai Chi since 1989, and has been teaching tai chi since 1999. She has coached hundreds of people of all ages, from 7 years – 100 years in both Tai Chi and Qi Gong. She has travelled the world studying and competing. Nicola is also a Holistic Therapist working in complementary therapies dealing with matters of mind,
body and spirit.
Paula J Roscoe
Paula is an international award winning author who decided to bring all her talents and experiences together to create a programme for women who are ready to come back to life after grief, using writing together with an array of healing modalities to heal the mind, body & spirit.
“You cannot heal one without the others. It’s like sticking a plaster on an open wound and crossing your fingers!” P.J. Roscoe
Paula knows the power of the written word, having used writing as her own therapy after the tragic death of her son and it set her on the road to winning an array of awards for her historical and supernatural fictions, as well as adapting one into a radio play and being shortlisted for adaption to screenplay in January 2023.
Rapsquillion
Rapsquillion, grizzled veteran of the Shropshire and mid-Wales folk music scene, has been producing close harmony, mostly a capella for over a quarter of a century… from 15th Century frottola to 21st Century ‘protest’, parody, traditional, world, jazz and the chapel hymn book, as well as some home-grown songs and tunes. Our invigorating harmonies and rhythms are at their impressive best towards the ‘witching’ hour, when, bellies bloated and all cares and sheets to the wind we tear off our inhibitions and display our crinkled credentials to the world, with a highly contagious sense of fun, traditional music skidding sideways in to smart-Alec arrangements and beautiful harmonies. We hope that you enjoy the Rapsquillion experience as much as we do!
Sarah Liisa Wilkinson
Sarah Liisa Wilkinson is a storyteller who delights audiences with her always engaging, energetic and playful performance style. She has a particular interest in the folktales and myths of Finland and other Nordic lands, but loves to tell tales from all around the world. She has trained as a performer with Philippe Gaulier, and as a storyteller with Nell Phoenix and Ben Haggarty, and has told stories to people in the UK and internationally in theatres, clubs, pubs, festivals, churches, front rooms and all-night sleepovers. She is a member of The Embers Collective, a storytelling and music group in London.
Sue Bailey
Sue Bailey has been telling tales for hundreds of years. (Well, that’s a tall tale if ever there was one!) She lives on the Isle of Wight and has told tales sheltering from storms in caves, sandblasted by beach debris, on the top deck of buses and ferries, and in many other strange (and not so strange) places.
She has helped countless children create their own stories inspired by local treasures (both human and artefact) and, is one of the organisers of the IW Story Festival. She loves passing on the story gems that have come her way, intent on keeping alive the oral tradition. Folk tales, nursery tales, tales of wonder, and tales to inspire, or scare the pants off you – she will share them all. Just make sure you pass them on too!
Solo Circus (a.k.a. Mark Russell)
Solo Circus, AKA Mark Russell is a multi-skilled circus skills entertainer, juggler, stilt walker, and all-round entertainer! He has been on the circuit for almost thirty years and will be entertaining younger audiences and their families with workshops and walkabout activities throughout Saturday and Sunday.
Festival at the Edge is thrilled to welcome Solo Circus as he makes his debut at this year’s festival. Join him for fun, frolics and learn a new skill or two at the same time from this hugely experienced and energetic artist, who has enthralled audiences from castles to corporate clients, fetes to festivals, and bingo halls to building societies.
Suzanne and Jake Thomas
Suzanne and Jake Thomas, a storyteller and a musician, live in on the slopes of the local Clee Hills and can often be found on the footpaths, gathering folklore, songs and stories to share.
This year they’ve been searching for tales and snippets of the lore of the local cunning folk, remedies and charms, and throwing them into the pot; stirred in collaboration with Andy Harrop Smith. The result is a potent brew: “Cunning, Crafty and Wise,” but which of the three bards is cunning, which is crafty and which is wise?
Tim Ralphs
Tim Ralphs grew up listening to storytelling at festivals and started his first storytelling club in his school library. He rose to prominence after Young Storyteller of the Year in 2007, won a British Award for Storytelling Excellence in 2012 for his telling of Gilgamesh (with Simon Heywood) and had much success taking his Rebranding Beelzebub to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2014. He ran The Story Forge in Sheffield and hosts Beeston Tales in Nottingham.
His storytelling is complex and intelligent, reflecting Tim’s quest to get to the beating heart of each tale. Whether he’s telling myth or fairy-tale, he brings a unique, dynamic energy to his stories born of deep respect for the craft.
These days, when he isn’t telling tales, he provides training to academics in the use of storytelling to communicate their research, as well as teaching the OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation’s “Story, Self and Spirit”.
@TimRalphs
The Time Bandits
Formed in 2001, The Time Bandits are a Chester-based folk band who are equally at home playing concerts and for dances. Influenced by artists such as the Albion Band, Blowzabella and Steeleye Span our repertoire mixes Renaissance and early dance music with traditional and contemporary songs and tunes played on a variety of instruments including fiddle, border bagpipes, saxophone, recorders, melodeon, bouzouki and electric bass. The band have recorded a total of six albums to date. The most recent, Stolen Histories, was released in May 2022.
The band make regular appearances at venues across North West England and North Wales. Recent festival appearances have included performances at Chester, Upton upon Severn, the Lake District and Beverley Folk Festivals.
Why the name the Time Bandits? The band chose its name from the Terry Gilliam ‘Pythonesque’ movie of the same title. Similar to the spirit of the movie, the remit of the band is, in essence, to be musical ‘time travellers’ raiding and pilfering over 500 years of musical material to be brought back and performed in an updated setting for a modern audience.
Central to the band’s philosophy is that early music is not for the museum. Whether first played 500 hundred years ago, or perhaps a mere hundred years ago, this is living music that should be played and enjoyed with a passion. We hope you agree.
Tink (a.k.a. F R Maher)
FR Maher writes books and articles about diverse subjects but has a lifelong interest in fairies. As Tink, she organises The Legendary Faery Festival in Llangollen, North Wales. As a writer, the elusive Fae are a source of fascination that won’t quite let her go.
‘Once inside, it’s very hard to escape the faery ring,’ she says.
She also writes for performance. Last October, Owen Teale, (Ser Alliser Thorne in Game of Thrones), performed her monologue set in the near future, ‘Huw’ on Sky Arts.
Her latest offering is a radio and stage play on the subject of The Cottingley Fairies which was the theme of her presentation at FatE30 – in which she explored how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the genius creator of Sherlock Holmes, tricked by two young village girls into believing their fairy photographs were real.
