Mary Medlicott & Storyworks [Home] - Storyteller and Storytelling Author

Mary Medlicott, Storyteller and Author - Storyworks

"Shemi was a complete delight. It was an object lesson in how to engage children as well as a feast of story for adult ears." - Marion Leeper, Bridge of Tales Storytelling Festival, Cambridge

The Elves and the Shoemaker

My choice as the first story in this series is one you probably know - The Elves and the Shoemaker. To illustrate it and the points that come after, I’ve selected some random pictures of shoes from my photo archive along with a couple I've taken this week.

Here’s the story:

A poor shoemaker was down on his luck. He had only enough leather left in his workshop to make one final pair of shoes. He didn’t know how he and his wife would survive after that. But before going to bed, he cut out the leather thinking he would sew that last pair of shoes in the morning.

That night, while the shoemaker and his wife were in bed, two naked elves came to the shoemaker’s workshop and sewed and finished the pair of shoes.

In the morning, the shoemaker was almost speechless. WHO could POSSIBLY have made the shoes? And they were SO beautifully made, not a stitch was out of place. When a customer came into his shop that morning, he definitely wanted those shoes – and paid a lot of money for them. So now the shoemaker had enough money to buy leather for TWO pairs of shoes.

Click here to go to more of my Storyworks Blog

And now let me introduce myself

What do I tell? All kind of stories! Ancient myths and local legends. Tales from history or things that have happened to me. Stories I’ve heard on my travels or found in dusty old books. Stories I’ve created myself and some which I have published, as in Shemi's Tall Tales and Stories for Young Children. All are prepared for the particular audience and then spontaneously adapted to the particular occasion as and when I speak.

I perform in English and Welsh and for all kinds of audiences - adults, children and family audiences. I also work as a storytelling consultant and trainer, running all kinds of courses to help teachers, students, parents and others to be able to tell stories too. These are based on my Storyworks philosophy which is, in essence, a belief in the importance of sharing our stories and our experiences of them. (Click here to find out more.)

My storytelling takes me to schools and libraries, festivals and arts centres, conferences, concerts, colleges, children’s centres and community venues.

With me I bring my story bag which contains all kinds of surprises - objects, cloths and sound-making instruments to beguile my audiences, young or old.

I travel round England and Wales and abroad to perform my stories, speak at conferences and run my courses but my time is mostly divided between the London area and South-West Wales. My education work in Wales is particularly suited to the Cwriciwlwm Cymreig.

I am a member of Equity and of Academi and am on the Academi database of writers in Wales. I was a founder member of the Society for Storytelling and I edit their Artisan, Oracle and Papyrus publications. I review children's books for School Librarian and write articles on storytelling and related subjects for the general press.

Do please contact me to discuss bookings or for any further information