WORD SPUN MAGIC
Artistic Director
Storyteller
Hannah Brailsford
A professional actress and facilitator, Hannah made storytelling her primary focus in 2010 and set up Tiny Tales Storytellers in 2012 for schools and families. Realising that there weren't any storytelling events for adults locally to her, she invested her energy and enthusiasm into building quality events to fill the gap and Spinning Yarns is the result. To find out more about her work visit: https://hannahbrailsfordstoryteller.com
Project Manager
Writer
Jacqueline Johnson
Jacqui is a writer, creator and explorer of stories. Her fascination with text and the cultural and historical appropriation of stories has led her in various directions through the fields of fiction, poetry, history, science, anthropology, performance and art. She is the founder and director of Jacqson Diego Story Emporium, and has written, created and led projects for children and adults across different disciplines, both in the UK and further afield.
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Associate
Storyteller
Hannah Need
Hannah a.k.a. The Storyteller of Southfields, has always loved telling stories and this passion for all things story led her to become a professional storyteller. Hannah’s stories might be tall tales, short stories but most of all she loves to tell traditional tales with a twist or two where she skilfully mixes stories with observations, anecdotes and a wonderful sense of humour. To find out more about her work visit: https://hannahneed.co.uk/
Associate
Storyteller - Improviser
James Little
James Little is a storyteller & actor. Trained at East 15, James brings a wonderfully fresh approach to our nights with his mix of modern spins on classic stories and brilliant improvisational skills. He delights audiences with his energy and enthusiasm. To find out more about James' work visit:
https://www.facebook.com/JamesLittle
Associate
Storyteller
Laura Sampson
'Laura is a London-based performance storyteller and writer whose studies in Japanese Noh and Old Norse sagas have led her on many adventures. She tells stories about big emotions and surreal situations from all over the world.
As a performer, Laura has worked with organisations including StoryJam, Crick Crack Club, British Library, Polka Theatre, and Secret City Arts. Current and recent projects include HIDE (Vault/Theatre Deli), Rewilding Cinderella (Brighton Fringe) and The New Mirror.
To find out more about Laura's work visit:
http://www.laurasampson.com/
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Associate
Singer -Songwriter
Inkcap
Isabel Oliver is an up and coming indie folk artist providing songs for and from the soul. Her beautiful blend of original and cover songs add the magic between the tales. To listen to her work visit: https://m.soundcloud.com/itsisabelisabelmusic
https://www.facebook.com/itsinkcap
Who We Are
Spinning Yarns was set up in 2016 by professional storyteller Hannah Brailsford primarily to create a platform to promote storytelling to an adult audience in South East Essex and to support collaboration with both emerging and established artists across a range of disciplines.
Our ethos is to make performative storytelling both accessible and exciting, blending this ancient art form with both traditional and contemporary music and spoken word.
We are committed to supporting local artists as well as national and international guests and bringing new audiences to storytelling.
We create pop up events that are suitable for both indoor and outdoor traditional and less conventional performance spaces.
We have a monthly virtual storytelling event, ‘Word Spun Zoomed’, that brings an international audience and some of the best UK storytellers together in ninety minutes of brilliant tale spinning.
We also host and facilitate a range of workshops in storytelling, performance and communication skills.
black & white image of James Little with finger pointing