Merry Christmas! A preview of 2017…

 2016 has been another breakthrough year for me with more presentations in more places to more people than ever before.  My year was dominated by #thetwits2016 and #shakespeare400 (see the report before it goes) but I’ll really remember it for all the people I’ve met and the response they had to what I do.

 

Next year will be a huge year both personally and professionally…

My offer for 2017 includes:
In 2017 I will be presenting Roald Dahl’s “The Twits” at literary events including the Guernsey Literary Festival and I’ll be celebrating World Book Day at North Swindon Library.
 
 

In March and April I’ll be telling tales from Shakespeare as part of Shakespeare Week and St George’s Day celebrations.

May-October 2017 – NEW!! Jeremy Strong’s “One Hundred Mile an Hour Dog”.

To coincide with the Summer Reading Challenge 2017 I will be presenting Jeremy Strong’s “One Hundred Mile an Hour Dog”.  Can Trevor train Streaker the Dog before the end of holidays or will he lose his nasty bet with Charlie Smugg? We’ll find out this summer.  I will also revive Rudyard Kipling’s “Just So Stories” as part of my summer offering.
 

My spooky tales sessions will return in time for Halloween.

I’ll be celebrating Christmas by telling traditional pantomime stories.

 

Fairy, folk and traditional tales will remain at the heart of my work but there will be bespoke projects along the way.  2017 will be the 100th anniversary of Rugby League star Jack Harrison’s death during The Great War and my retelling of Tom Palmer’s “The Last Try” will hopefully appear at commemoration events in the Spring.  I’m also looking forward to presenting stories at birthday parties throughout the year.

I’ll do my best to keep my blog and expanding photo gallery up to date so that I can share the highs and lows with you but you can help me too; if any of the above sounds exciting then share it with people you think might be interested, keep an eye on my calendar and come along to events.

All that remains for me to say is a big thank you to my beautiful wife for tolerating another year of chaos (although next year’s definitely going to trump this one for excitement) and my parents who continue to support my lunacy.

Have a very merry Christmas and I hope to see you in 2017.

John xxx