Storytellers

Xanthe Gresham-Knight
UK

Xanthe Gresham Knight has been telling stories for over twenty years. She studied at Oxford University and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, co-founded the Big Wheel Theatre Company and worked as an actress and teacher before discovering storytelling. She has toured Shahnameh for 15 years, recently working with Adverse Camber production company. A regular performer at the British Museum and the Smithsonian, she is also Storyteller in Residence for Psychologies magazine and has had Residencies at Harvard University, The Chelsea Physic Garden and Stoke and Staffordshire Libraries.

Xanthe wishes to acknowledge Adverse Camber Production Company, The British Museum, The Smithsonian, Magic of Persia, Chester Beatty Library, Arash Moradi, Crick Crack Club (London), Sherry Robinson for their support.

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Steve Killick
UK

Steve Killick is a Clinical Psychologist and Storyteller based in Cardiff, Wales, UK. He has written Telling Tales—Storytelling as Emotional Literacy and Building Relationships through Storytelling—A Foster Carer's Guide to Attachment and Stories, and is Storyteller in Residence for the Storytelling and Health International Conference, UK, 2017. He is a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Storytelling, University of South Wales and a featured Storyteller for Beyond Storytime. He is Clinical Lead for Barnardos Family Bereavement Service in Cardiff and is interested in the uses of story in learning about emotions and dealing with loss and trauma. Steve also hosts 'Kemi's Storytelling Suppers' in Cardiff - a regular event with fine food and stories.

Steve would like to acknowledge the support of Storytelling for Health International Conference (Swansea), the George Ewart Evans Centre for Storytelling (University of South Wales) and Beyond the Border International Storytelling Festival (Wales).

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Jackie Kerin
Australia

Jackie has a background in theatre, film and television but for the past 15 years has focused on the traditional art of spoken storytelling. She is also the author of several award-winning children’s picture books.

Jackie’s repertoire is broad but she has a particular interest in developing original Australian stories drawn from her colonial and post-colonial heritage. She frequently collaborates with musicians and visual artists and has a passion for creating bold Japanese-style kamishibai stories.

She is the current president of Storytelling Australia Victoria and works tirelessly to create opportunities for storytellers to network and grow locally and internationally.

Jackie acknowledges the support of Storytelling Australia Victoria, Newport Fiddle and Folk Club, Williamstown Literary Festival. These organisations have created experimental spaces for the work to grow. She also acknowledges the work of Devdutt Pattanaik and Amar Chithra Katha (stories from the Mahabharata), David Holt (Freedom Bird) and Yatsu-Higata Tidelands (Kamishibai).

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Michael Cheng

Michael Cheng graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Theatre Studies. He has a diploma in Special Education from the National Institute of Education and a Diploma in Playback Theatre Leadership from the Centre for Playback Theatre (New York).

Currently a freelance applied drama practitioner, Michael has initiated and facilitated several community theatre projects. He has worked across a wide spectrum of communities, from young children, people with special needs, married couples, people with HIV, to vulnerable populations and people-at-risk.

As a performer, most of his work has been with Tapestry, tackling social issues in community performances. He has also performed with companies like Paper Monkey Theatre, The Necessary Stage, Drama Box, and In Source Theatre. Currently he serves as Vice-chair of the Board of Directors at the Centre for Playback Theatre. He is Artistic Director of Tapestry Playback Theatre, and a Practitioner Member of the International Playback Theatre Network (IPTN). He is also a member of the Singapore Drama Educators Association (SDEA) and a MOE-registered trainer.

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Playback Theatre

Kamini Ramachandran
Singapore

A pioneer in the field of storytelling in Asia, Kamini is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts with a BA in English Language & Literature (Hons) from the University of Reading (UK) and an MA in Arts Pedagogy & Practice from Goldsmith’s, University of London (UK). A respected artist educator Kamini is a specialist storytelling lecturer for tertiary level programmes in Arts Management, Art Therapy and Performing Arts at LASALLE.

She is the creative force behind MoonShadow Stories, which spearheaded performance storytelling for adult audiences in Singapore and has produced World Storytelling Day in Singapore since 2005. She founded the non-profit arts organisation The Storytelling Centre Ltd to advance the art of storytelling.

She has been featured at the Scottish International Storytelling Festival, Federation of European Storytelling Conference, Festivale Internazionale di Storytelling Roma in Italy, Festival at the Edge in England, Alden Biesen International Storytelling Festival in Belgium, Beyond the Border International Storytelling Festival in Wales, Sharjah International Storytelling Festival UAE, Sydney International Storytelling Conference, Chennai International Storytelling Festival, Georgetown Festival in Penang and more.

Described as “Singapore’s most mesmerizing storyteller” by Professor Tommy Koh at the International Summit of the Book she is one of today’s most unique voices in storytelling.

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