Emily Dodd, the education officer for the Scottish Seabird Centre, talks about the role of storytelling in communicating science to children and in inspiring them to care about the maritime environment and its birds.  She also discusses her experiences using GLOW, a digital learning network, to share the story of Percy the Puffin with classes all over Scotland.

To contact Emily Dodd, and for more information about education programs, see the Scottish Seabird Centre’s website.
Exercises to accompany the Percy the Puffin story are available to download on-line.

In this continuation of my interview with storyteller Michael Williams, he talks about some of his favourite sources for stories.  He also discusses the responsibility a storyteller has to his stories and his audience, relating the unexpected reception The Fearful Giant received in a mixed group of Israeli and Palestinian women.

Storyteller Michael Williams recently returned from a tour of the Holy Land where he and eleven colleagues told stories to and facilitated workshops with mixed groups of Israelis and Palestinians.  The tour was the culmination of a School of Storytelling program called Healing Words – Storytelling as a Pathway to Peace.  In this interview, Michael Williams describes experiences that have strengthened his belief in the power of story.  He then outlines his own dreams of working with conflict in all parts of the world through storytelling in collaboration with other professions.

Allison Galbraith is a professional storyteller from Lanark, Scotland.  In this podcast I talk to her about a workshop she recently gave at a conference on climate change hosted by Scottish Natural Heritage.  Allison shares some insights on why storytelling and other art forms are an important part of any response to climate change, gives some tips on finding resources for telling stories on environmental themes, and talks about the benefits of counting beans.   There’s a story about talking trees somewhere in there too…something for everyone.

Further information on Allison Galbraith can be found on the Directory of Scottish Storytellers.

This is the second part of the two-part interview I did with Bretagne storyteller, Fiona MacLeod.  Here she talks about re-storying trees, stones, and water; her annual week-long storytelling in nature workshop; and some resources for environmentally-friendly tales.  She leaves us with the question of who will save water today?

Environment, Social Change, and Story

I caught up with Fiona MacLeod, a storyteller from Brittany, France, at the Scottish Storytelling Centre where she was storyteller in residence for the month of February. While in Scotland she facilitated a workshop on Contemplation, Story and Pathways to Peace as part of the Edinburgh Festival of Middle Eastern Spirituality and Peace. In this, the first part of a two-part interview, I ask Fiona about her experience of stories and storytelling as pathways to peace.

The Scottish Storytelling Centre
The Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality and Peace

I caught up with Fiona MacLeod, a storyteller from Brittany,  France, at the Scottish Storytelling Centre where she was storyteller in residence for the month of February. While in Scotland she facilitated a workshop on Contemplation, Story and Pathways to Peace as part of the Edinburgh Festival of Middle Eastern Spirituality and Peace.  In the first part of the interview she shares her thoughts and experiences in working with stories in this manner.  In the second part of the interview she talks more about storytelling and the environment, particularly rocks, trees and water.  She also describes the annual week-long workshop she facilitates in France on storytelling and the environment.  I hope you find the interview as useful and inspiring as I did.

Fiona MacLeod: Stories as Pathways to Peace (podcast)

Fiona MacLeod: Trees, Stones and Water (podcast)