Hosts and Facilitators
Sue Hollingsworth
Sue Hollingsworth is from the UK and has been performing and teaching storytelling for over 20 years. She is the Director of the Centre for Biographical Storytelling, a Founder of the International School of Storytelling and a Founding Member of the Centre for Narrative Leadership. She is the co-author of the best-selling book The Storyteller's Way: Sourcebook for Inspired Storytelling and is currently finishing another book on telling biographical or personal stories. As a founding member of Friends of Amari she enjoys not only being in the village but also working with stories there. Apart from all this good stuff, she also really enjoys singing, dancing, walking, having fun with the people she works with and loves (often the same thing) and her “free range” lifestyle.
You can find out more about Sue by going to www.suehollingsworth.com
Sue Hollingsworth is a Patron of Friends of Amari.
Η Sue Hollingsworth είναι Βρετανίδα με εμπειρία στην αφήγηση και στην διδασκαλία παραμυθιών πάνω από δύο δεκαετίες. Είναι η διευθύντρια του Κέντρου Αυτοβιογραφικής Αφήγησης, ιδρύτρια της Διεθνούς Σχολής Αφήγησης και ιδρυτικό μέλος του Κέντρου για την Αφηγηματική Ηγεσία. Συνυπογράφει το best seller Ο Τρόπος του Αφηγητή: Πηγές για Εμπνευσμένη Αφήγηση και αυτήν την περίοδο τελειώνει ένα ακόμη βιβλίο με θέμα την αφήγηςη αυτοβιογραφικών ή προσωπικών ιστοριών. Ως ιδρυτικό μέλος των Φίλων του Αμαρίου απολαμβάνει όχι μόνο το να βρίσκεται στο Αμάρι αλλα και το να δουλεύει ιστορίες σε αυτό το περιβάλλον. Εκτός από όλα αυτά, της αρέσει επίσης το τραγούδι, ο χορός, το περπάτημα, η παρέα με τους συνεργάτες και αγαπημένους φίλους (πολύ συχνά τα ίδια πρόσωπα) και ο «ελευθέρας βοσκής» τρόπος ζωής της.
Μπορείτε να μάθετε περισσότερα για τη Sue αν επισκεφθείτε το www.suehollingsworth.com
Hugh Lupton
Hugh Lupton's interest in traditional music, in street theatre, in live poetry, and in myth, resulted in him becoming a professional storyteller in 1981.
For twelve years he toured Britain with the ‘Company of Storytellers’. Their work was instrumental in stimulating a nation-wide revival of interest in storytelling.
Since the mid-nineties he has worked as a solo performer and collaborator. In 2006 he and Daniel were awarded the Classical Association Prize for ‘the most significant contribution to the public understanding of the classics’.
His work with musician Chris Wood has resulted in commissions from Radio 3 and the ‘Song of the Year’ at the BBC folk awards. He tells stories from many cultures, but his particular passion is for the hidden layers of the British landscape and the stories and ballads that give voice to them. His first novel ‘The Ballad of John Clare’ was published in 2010, he’s recently finished a second ‘The Assembly of the Severed Head’ (to be published in May 2018). Hugh Lupton is a Patron of Friends of Amari.
Stella Kassimati
Stella Kassimati is skilled in facilitating workshops that help people of all ages connect with the origins of modern life through Ancient Greece as the cradle of Western Civilization. Using her deep knowledge of Greek Myths, Gods and Goddesses, coupled with a strong connection to her native Crete, Stella leads workshops and provides award winning performances that bring the rich heritage of this ancient culture to life.
Stella's family is in Crete; however her passion for storytelling took her to England in 2002 to train as a professional storyteller at the International School of Storytelling at Emerson College, East Sussex. She now teaches at the School and works around the world in both Greek and English and has represented Greec at International Storytelling Festivals in Edinburgh, Orkney, Rome, Athens and Kea. Her academic qualifications include BA Sociology and PostGradDip Tourism.
Stella is the founding Director of Friends of Amari, an international association contributing to the revival of the Valley and Village of Amari in Crete, through the art of storytelling: International Storytelling Centre; Courses; Festivals and by supporting local cultural initiatives.
Roi Gal-Or
Roi Gal-Or, is a founder of the International school of storytelling in England. He teaches the use of storytelling in service of the environment, education, healing, peace and reconciliation. Roi works with the power of stories and the imagination to inspire connection and social transformation, foster vision, possibility and personal development. When he is not at home with his wife and 3 kids you will probably find him somewhere around the world performing or magically weaving together stories community building skills, social development games and biographical work.
Daniel Morden
Daniel Mordenhas been a professional storyteller since 1989. His repertoire ranges from awful jokes to sacred myths. He has toured all over the world, from First Nation communities in Canada to Sydney Writers Festival. He has collaborated with Hugh on workshops, performances and books for over 20 years. For the past ten years, he has collaborated with musicians as THE DEVIL'S VIOLIN. To date they have created five shows, which have toured throughout the UK and to festivals all over Europe. His anthologies of Welsh stories, DARK TALES FROM THE WOODS and TREE OF LEAF AND FLAME both won the Tir Na Nog Award. In May 2017 he was awarded the Hay Festival Medal.
Dr. Martin Shaw
Dr. Martin Shaw is a mythologist, author and storyteller. His first book, A Branch From The Lightning Tree was awarded the Nautilus prize for non-fiction, and was followed by Snowy Tower and Scatterlings to complete a trilogy of works on mythology, landscape and the nature of the soul.
An international teacher, he has designed and lead both the Oral Tradition and Mythic Life courses at Stanford University, and, as a fellow of Schumacher College in Devon, co-created their MA in Myth and Ecology (with Dr. Carla Stang). His school of independent scholars in mythopoetic’s and wilderness studies is just entering its fourteenth year.
Principle teacher at Robert Bly’s Great Mother Conference, recent collaborations have included working with Mark Rylance, Coleman Barks and David Abram.
He is a scholar from The British School in Rome, and his translations of Gaelic and Welsh folklore (with Tony Hoagland) have been published in The Mississippi Review, Poetry International, Kenyon Review, Orion, and Poetry Magazine.
2018 will see the release of his new book, Courting the Dawn: Poems of Lorca (with Stephan Harding), with several more in completion: all involving a revisioning of the word romanticism in the early twenty first century.
Michl Zirk
Michl Zirk lives near Nuremberg (Germany). During a lot of years work as dramatic adviser in theatre. Storyteller since 1998.
He tells stories of all types (fairy-tales, magic-tales, sufi-tales, zen-tales, Greek Myths, short stories as well as stories from the bible or the “Decamerone”).He tells in the story-telling tradition, without a fixed text, but with gesture and mimic art. He tells as well for children as for adults. Since 1998 he organizes storytelling projects and festivals. From 2012 till 2018 he was president of the association of Storytellers for the German speaking countries. He is member of the friends of Amari because he loves Crete, he admires the nature as well as the culture and doesn’t want that all this is getting destroyed by financial interests. And he likes to collaborate with colleagues from many countries because this collaboration is an authentic work for peace and understanding.
Stella Kalogeraki
Stella Kalogeraki was born in Amari and lived there until she was 18. Her childhood memories and images always accompany her. She has a daughter and lives in Heraklion. She has retired after working for 35 years in healthcare administration. Her work in recent years has been about serving and helping citizens with Hospital problems. She studied Greek Culture and has a master's degree in Adult Education.
Stella has been involved in mountaineering for 30 years, initially with EOS Heraklion where she undertook excursions as a leader and then with other associations of hiking and mountaineering excursions. She loves nature with all that it includes, plants, animals, people and is passionate about its protection. Her interests at the moment are art (traditional dances), exercise (Chi Kung), self-awareness and personal development through groups (Psychodrama). This year Stella started studies at the NDI department of Heraklion, Crete. It is a person-centered, interventional, non-directive school of psychology. She is interested in volunteering and social actions that lead to a better world.
Γεννήθηκα στο Αμάρι και έζησα μέχρι τα 18 μου χρόνια. Οι μνήμες και οι εικόνες του με συνοδεύουν πάντα. Έχω μία κόρη και ζω στο Ηράκλειο. Είμαι σε σύνταξη αφού εργάστηκα για 35 χρόνια στη διοίκηση του χώρου υγείας. Η εργασία μου τα τελευταία χρόνια αφορούσε την εξυπηρέτηση και βοήθεια πολιτών σε προβλήματα των Νοσοκομείων. Σπούδασα στο ΕΑΠ Ελληνικό Πολιτισμό και μεταπτυχιακό στην Εκπαίδευση Ενηλίκων.
Ασχολούμαι με την ορειβασία 30 χρόνια, αρχικά με τον ΕΟΣ Ηρακλείου όπου και ανέλαβα εκδρομές ως αρχηγός και στη συνέχεια με όλους τους συλλόγους σε πεζοπορικές και ορειβατικές εκδρομές. Αγαπώ τη φύση με ότι περιλαμβάνει, φυτά, ζώα, ανθρώπους και με ενδιαφέρει η προστασία της.
Τα ενδιαφέροντά μου αυτόν τον καιρό αφορούν την τέχνη, (παραδοσιακοί χοροί), την άσκηση(Τσι Κογκ) και την αυτογνωσία και προσωπική εξέλιξη μέσω ομάδων (Ψυχόδραμα). Φέτος ξεκινώ σπουδές στην NDI τμήμα Ηρακλείου Κρήτης. Είναι σχολή ψυχολογίας προσωποκεντρική παρεμβαίνουσα μη κατευθυντική. Με ενδιαφέρει ο εθελοντισμός και οι κοινωνικές δράσεις που οδηγούν σε ένα καλύτερο κόσμο.
Michael Harvey
Michael Harvey is a leading contemporary storyteller currently on tour with Hunting the Giant's Daughter, a faithful contemporary retelling of Culhwch and Olwen (the oldest extant Arthurian epic) that has won rave reviews from theatres, literature festivals and major storytelling events. He has a broad repertoire and his work is rooted in the landscape and mythology of Wales. He has toured and led workshops extensively throughout the UK, Europe and South America.
Ross Daly
Ross Daly is one of the world's greatest exponents of the music of the Eastern Mediterranean. Many years before what we call "World Music" appeared on the scene, certain individuals, like Ross Daly, had already understood the enormous value and vast variety of the world's various musical traditions and had dedicated their lives to their study. Today, Ross Daly continues travelling and performing in Greece and abroad whilst simultaneously directing the Musical Workshop "Labyrinth" in the village of Houdetsi on Crete.