News

Contact Sophie:

Tel: 01332 840007 email:info@sophiesnell.co.uk

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Feb 12

May 11

Settle Storytelling Festival

The festival organisers have been
running a series of interviews for
the festival blog asking
professional storytellers about their
work. One of these is with Sophie -
see the full interview at http://settlestories.blogspot.com

"Many, many thanks for a terrifically stimulating storytelling afternoon -
nothing but positive feedback!"

Paul Houghton, Staffordshire
University, February 2012


"I loved the skilful way you teased "the storyteller within" out to be released
on the Great British Public!"

"Feeling on top of the world after a day's advanced storytelling with Sophie Snell.
I am looking forward to telling my stories
at the library - I can hardly wait to
get to work!"

"I like the imagery of the "dominos" of
the story falling down as each part of
the story was told. I had a terrific day
and ended up with a new interest."

Feedback from participants of Only
Words Aloud and More Words Aloud workshops, summer and autumn 2012

"Absolutely fab! Thank you for such
vivid and amusing stories. Food
for the soul."

"My friends saw your show at Whittlesey yesterday and were blown away! They
were full of praise for you!"

Straw Bear Festival, January 2013


"Vivid, beautiful tales, very gripping!"

"Really relaxing and beautifully told."

"Tha'ss right good as we say round here!"

Seven Deadly Sins, Tales from the Undercroft, Norwich, November 2012

My page of news and titbits to keep you in touch with what I am up to. I welcome any comments, enquiries or commissions.

So please email me at: robandsophie@hotmail.com or Tel 01332 840007.

February 2013

One of the things I love so much about being a storyteller is the fascinating range of venues I get to visit and people to meet. Here's a taste of some of those experiences that have stayed with me over the last 12 months:

... a gorgeous grand historical house, telling beneath elaborately painted ceilings and a luxious carpeted gazebo amongst lush green shrubs, then a marbled stone hall with roaring fireplace and visitors both local and international discovering "storytelling" for the first time and one family challenging me to tell a story in my rusty German...

... the corner of an old city market, nestled between winking glittery santas telling to a toddler and his dad one moment, then an elderly couple intrigued by the idea of a storyteller in santa's grotto, to the surprise appearance of a group of prisoners on day release who clearly relished the chance to interact with the outside world for a few hours, chat to a friendly face and swap memories of old stories...

... a hidden woodland grotto by night, lit up with paper candle lanterns, surrounded by a crowd of eager be-mittened children and their parents, cold breath hanging in the air as I tell a favourite thrilling and comic monster tale to the first cold flakes of falling snow...

... the much more challenging environment of a high security mental health hospital, literally locked in with a group of enthusiastic, curious patients and kindly staff, suddenly overwhelmed by the detailed re-telling by one lady of one of the stories I had told at my last visit, followed by a request to tell it all over again...

... a village pre-school high up in the Peak District, small faces gathered round earnestly watching every facial expression and gesture as if it was the first time they'd ever heard a story...

... and a lecture theatre filled with sceptical students, suddenly leaning in, phones and note-taking abandoned, followed by rapid fire questions about how I remembered the story, where did it come from, how do you tell a story fresh each time without making it up or reading or acting, why is using props with little ones sometimes counter-productive, do I ever tell urban myths, did that bit about my wedding, the registry book and that poor girl with a fish hook buried in her cheek really happen?

All of this and more over the last year, and so I realise how lucky I am to be doing what I do. And this last year I have been to lots of new places as well as revisiting clients from last year - I have left up on the website my events pages from 2011 and 2012 so that if anyone is interested you can see the sort of gigs I do.

Last year my elderly parents moved to a village just outside Oxford, so with a keen desire to visit them as often as I can, this has become a second base for my work, allowing me to take on jobs in and around Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Buckinghamshire and Somerset, without worrying about hotels or painfully early morning starts :)

Another bit of news is my development of training workshops for aspiring tellers - "Only Words Aloud" and "More Words Aloud", for beginners and developing storytellers. We hosted 2 sets of each workshops last year in the early summer and then the autumn, followed by opportunities to tell for real at the Flying Donkeys storytelling club in Derby. This proved very popular and it is has been lovely to watch participants grasp the nettle and prove to themselves they could do it!

I now have 2 more public workshop dates scheduled for this Spring - Sunday 21st April for beginners and Saturday 27th April for improvers. Both at my home in Derby. Contact me if you would like more details.

Over the next few weeks you can see Seven Deadly Sins at several locations : 27th March at Nottingham's Broadway Cinema, Studio Theatre; 20th April at Cromford Mills, Cromford, Derbyshire; 19th June at Chinese Whispers, Brighton's storytelling club. I am running a storywalk starting at the Gothic Wharf, Cromford Mills on 28th April, and on 8th April I will be hosting an evening of stories at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham "Strange Tales from the Flying Donkeys".

Next week is World Book Week with schools every day, and dates and projects are starting to come in for the summer and autumn - check out the Events page on this website and my Facebook page for more upcoming news and dates.

Finally do sign up for my Facebook page - I am using this more and more to post upcoming dates and workshops, and to post interesting snippets and links related to storytelling, with recent photographs and news.

Sophie Snell Storyteller on Facebook





"The Hairy Toe" - still one of my favourite stories :)

"Sophie was extremely professional throughout the entire project, and her manner, with the children and staff alike, was enchanting. We have already booked Sophie to come back in the Autumn Term to work with children across the whole primary age group and look forward to reaping the benefits of her visits."

Catherine Llewellyn & Jill Edmonds, teachers at South Wilford Primary School, Nottingham, July 2011