Author: Cat

What Cat Does in Schools

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‘SUPERMEGA STORYTELLER!’ Jason, age 14

‘I think Cat is the best storyteller in the world’ Cameron, age 6

The Helpful Hedgehog

A full school day usually consists of 3 or 4 x 50 minute story sessions, though Cat can be flexible about this. Ideally the sessions are with one class at a time but she can work with year groups or key stages. Cat doesn’t read from a book and never sits down for long! She is a physical performer who combines language, characterisation, gestures and musical instruments in a seemingly effortless but wonderfully captivating way.

Cat will help you plan a busy but successful day. It is possible to mix and match sessions ie performance sessions for both juniors and infants, or a combination of performances + workshops

Infants

Cat and dulcimer

 

Cat loves infants and will work with children from 3 years old. She combines age-appropriate stories with action rhymes, music, singing, physical objects, dance and games to create highly interactive sessions for little listeners. They are imaginative, engaging, memorable, educational and great fun! She sometimes works with puppets too. Her BEAR TALES show has proved enormously popular.

Cat has a general repertoire of infant and nursery stories but she also offers themed days: ONCE UPON A RHYME (famous fairy tales with Cat dressed as a fairytale princess!) SHINE! (stories on the theme of light – perfect for autumn term because it complements Divali, Hanukah and Christmas) BEAR TALES (wonderfully entertaining bear stories from around the world, fascinating facts about bears and gorgeous bear and teddy bear hand puppets) and WORLD TALES (glorious stories from around the world. Great for exploring cultural diversity).

Juniors – Performance

Cat tells WORLD TALES in her junior sessions, choosing age-appropriate stories that will engage and challenge her audience. Years 3 and 4 love magic and humour, for example, but older children often feel they have outgrown such fanciful fare, so Cat will give them problem-solving stories, lateral thinking and word play.

For juniors, Cat can also offer MEET THE AUTHOR book sessions. Author events can be quite dry, but Cat includes all her characteristic flourishes – a high energy performance style, music, fairy lights and plenty of audience interaction – to create lively, entertaining programmes that really bring her books to life. All sessions include Q & A and inspirational talk about writing and being an author. One performance can accommodate up to 150 juniors, so a real ‘book buzz’ is generated – especially at the book signing!

NEW! PROMOTING NON FICTION READING THROUGH WHACKY SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS! A wonderfully entertaining 50 – 60 minute session in which Cat conducts amazing science experiments using household items. Crucially she brings along the books the experiments come from, so children can see the benefit of reading and exploring non fiction.

Parents love this session too – especially dads! Launch your next literacy drive with a BANG! After school sessions are available.

‘Absolutely wonderbubble’
‘I can’t wait for the next visit – the wacky experiments were fantastic!’
‘I loved it all but the cola experiment was fizzingly good fun!’  Jamie
‘Hold your breathe because you never know what’s going to happen’
‘Is it a bird? Is it a ‘plane? No! It’s a flying teabag! How does she do it?’  Drew
‘I hope you can come again soon as I really enjoyed it. I love your books and the story telling too. I liked the pirate one best. I liked the experiments too – they were great for kids.’

‘The children thought your visit was fantastic and they have been further motivated to read. Meeting you has given the children that extra dimension to their reading. The whacky science was trully inspirational! Good books have just got better!’

 

Juniors – Workshops

SPARKY IDEAS WORKSHOPS  A collection of story games to get brains fizzing and generate ideas of creative writing.

BOOK DESIGN WORKSHOP – A fascinating ‘behind the scenes’ look at the evolution of a book cover suitable for Years 5 and 6. Working in small groups, the children assess various Barkbelly cover designs, learn about marketing and the book business, and design a cover of their own.

 

Seniors

With teens, Cat favours the ‘big’ themes of life and death, love and loyalty. She often looks at relationships – between lovers, friends or family members. Through her intimate, emotionally-charged stories, Cat shows that life is frequently confusing and love is rarely straightforward. But for all the brutality of our times, life can be beautiful too.

POETRY WORKSHOPS. Cat explores her belief that poetry should be an expression of emotion. Through guided imagery, students will identify the emotion they are feeling then express it through writing verse.

 

Fees & Availability

Cat offers great value for money, based on twenty years professional experience as a performer, writer and artist in education. She is based near Stratford Upon Avon in the West Midlands, so a HUGE part of the country is readily accessible for day visits.  Cat is happy to travel further (she frequently works in Sussex, for example) though travel and/or an accommodation fee  might be added. 

Half day visits are possible in local areas.

Storytelling in Libraries

Cat Storytelling For Children , , ,

Cat does a great deal of work in libraries as both a storyteller and an author.

Age 3 – 7: Cat happily works with children as young as three, making her a popular choice for Bookstart sessions. She combines age-appropriate stories with action rhymes, music, singing, hand puppets and physical objects to create lively, interactive and entertaining sessions for little listeners.

Storytelling
Cat in action – storytelling

Age 7 – 12: Cat can offer either storytelling sessions or Meet the Author book sessions (or a combination of both!)

Cat tells WORLD TALES in her junior sessions, choosing age-appropriate stories that will engage and challenge her audience. Years 3 and 4 love magic and humour, for example, but older children often feel they have outgrown such fanciful fare, so Cat will give them problem-solving stories, lateral thinking and word play.

MEET THE AUTHOR book sessions. Author events can be quite dry, but Cat includes all her characteristic flourishes – a high energy performance style, music, fairy lights and plenty of audience interaction – to create lively, entertaining programmes that really bring her books to life. All sessions include Q & A and inspirational talk about writing and being an author.

Family Sessions

These are always available to complement book weeks, summer reading schemes, etc. Beautiful full-colour A4 posters can be supplied free of charge to help to publicise your event.

Performance poster

 

Young Writers Workshops

Cat has worked with many of the Young Writing Squads in Wales. She has a selection of one-hour and two-hour creative writing workshops suitable for juniors (7 – 12) and seniors (12 – 16).

 

Adult Workshops

Cat frequently leads training sessions for librarians.  She also welcomes any opportunity to work with the Over 65s. This age group is frequently overlooked and underfunded, which is a great shame because they are wonderful listeners and always keen to find ways to occupy their time. Afternoon events for this age group can be enormously popular. Both story sessions and reminiscence sessions are possible – please contact Cat for a chat.

Fees

Cat offers great value for money, based on twenty years professional experience as a performer, writer and artist in education. Please ask!

Cat is based in the West Midlands, two minutes from junction 4 of the M5. This makes travelling very easy, and Cat works nationwide.


Public Events

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Cat sometimes works at festivals, museums and tourist attractions, telling stories for children and family audiences.

Cat running

Past clients include Cadbury World, Acton Scott Working Farm, Margam Park, Croft Castle, Torfaen Council’s Go Wild! ecology day, Eastnor Castle Family Fun Week, The Powis Wood Fair, Afan Forest Park, The Walsall Leather Museum, Together in Diversity event at the National Garden of Wales, The Green Man Festival and Worcester City Museum.

Green/Ecological Tales

Cat often leads woodland story walks, so many of her children’s stories have a forest/ecological theme. As the children walk through the wood, they pause to listen to stories and collect leaves, seeds and feathers. These are used to make leaf crowns or Native American story sticks. Other activities include sky-walking and Hunt the Snail.

Cat DOESN’T do children’s parties – sorry!

Testimonials

Cat Storytelling For Children ,

‘The pupils were enthralled and captivated. Absolutely loved it. Met the needs of our kids. Rich language experience. Structure and content of session appropriate to age and abilities of pupils’ – KS1 Teacher evaluation, Read a Million Words in Wales project

‘It was a truly inspiring day. Lots of very positive comments from pupils and staff. Thank you so much!’ – Swindon Library Service

‘Excellent presentation. Very high standard. The children benefitted from a super day’ – Penllwyn Primary School

Children’s drawing of Jaco the Leek

‘I think Cat is the best storyteller in the world’ – Cameron, Machynlleth CP School

‘Thank you for the boundless energy and enthusiasm you have given to each class. You have made our Writing Week exciting, fun and thought provoking’ – Kington Primary School

‘I have seen Cat work with a variety of ages of children for events organised as part of our Bookstart Week celebrations. Each activity was tailored beautifully to the ages of the children and exceptionally well prepared. Cat’s storytelling mesmerised the children and the sessions were really lively and interactive with a good range of storytelling, props, music and songs. I would highly recommend her and am looking forward to a return visit in October. Inspirational!’ – Bookstart, Swansea

‘Last year you visited our school. Since then you inspired me to read. I started by reading ‘Barkbelly’ and now I am reading ‘Snowbone.’ Now my mum has to tell me to STOP reading and go to sleep. But when she leaves the room I carry on reading because I love your books’ – Amelia, Sutton Coldfield

Falling Like Feathers

Cat Storytelling For Adults ,

 

Full blooded fairy tales from Old Europe.

 

The best fairy tales are told only when the children are asleep. In the stillness of night, their strange, timeless potency drifts like perfume, filling our minds with images that are familiar yet deeply mystifying. Hearts are quickened by dark desires, startled by casual cruelty… soothed with the balm of happiness.

Falling Like Feathers is a journey into the dreamlike landscape of fairy tales. Laced with luscious language and shimmering images, it’s a step from the safety of the path into the delicious danger of the forest.

A mysterious, flame-haired storyteller arrives at a snowbound castle to tell stories to a haughty queen, her 17 year old daughter and assorted guests. The storyteller is told to watch what she says. ‘I know how you storytellers work,’ says the queen. ‘You charm us with your soft smiles and wonderful words. You enchant and beguile but all the while you are sowing seeds in our minds. Firing our imaginations. Feeding our dreams. Such power you have in those seductive little tongues of yours…’

As the snow deepens outside, the storyteller tells of witch-maidens and marsh queens, clay dolls, flowers with the power to wipe memories, poisoned apples, talking doves and a sword sharp enough to wound the wind. And the queen is right – the storyteller is working a mysterious magic with her wonder tales and she will not leave the castle as she found it…

The show is performed with dulcimer and song. Running time approx 2 x 50 plus interval

For adult audiences (12+) 


Audience comments:

‘A spellbinding evening. Very unusual and entertaining.’

‘Marvellous – taken away to a different world!’

‘Quite enthralling – I thoroughly enjoyed it.’

‘A welcome escape into the world of make-believe!’

‘What a magical way to spend a Friday evening after a workaday week.’

‘Excellent storytelling. Feeds the imagination and full of character and humour.’

‘Absolutely loved it. THAT’S what’s making me want to tell stories. Never stop!’

‘So very vivid, we thought we’d seen the stories. Thank you for a wonderful evening.’

‘Thank you so much – everyone enjoyed the evening immensely.’

‘You showed us that fairy tales are not just for children – and some are not for children at all!’



Bawdy Stories

Cat Storytelling For Adults

Bawdy StoriesWelcome to the medieval market town of Much Meddling on the Marsh where everyone is up to something or other! Pregnant priests, greedy wives, frustrated husbands, sexy wandering minstrels, enchanted chamber pots and shoes with scarlet ribbons – they’re all here, tossed together in a saucy stew and sprinkled with sin!

Bawdy Stories is Cat’s foray into the timeless battle of the sexes. Hugely entertaining and laugh-out-loud funny, it’s a glorious collection of really old tales, many with a classical pedigree (Chaucer, Boccaccio, the Arabian Nights) And they may be hundreds of years old, yet you’d swear she was talking about someone who lives round the corner…

Adults only (16+) Contains sexual references, ribald images and earthy language.

‘A storming success. The belly laughs transformed our blushes and it was absolutely priceless watching an eclectic mix of villagers relishing every word.’ – Village promoter, 2006.

‘A great show – really entertaining and fun! Cat is a tremendous raconteuse and knows how to work the audience. A true delight!’ Audience member, Derbyshire 2006.

Kissing The Wind

Cat Storytelling For Adults

CatTales of love and longing

Kissing The Wind is a glorious, whirlwind adventure that ties three tales by the enigmatic Marie de France into an enchanting love knot. In Guigemar, a wounded knight searches for the only woman who can cure him. In Yonec, a secret love affair ends in tragedy and in Lanval, a handsome knight who charms two beautiful women finds himself in an impossible situation.

Kissing The Wind is an exhilarating, sensual journey through a medieval landscape. It is richly enchanting, cinematic, heart warming, lyrical – and elegantly bawdy! If you love language, you’ll love this.

This show was devised in Paris and inspired by the Unicorn Tapestries in the city’s Cluny Museum.

Performed with dulcimer, recorder and song.

For adults only (16+)

Reviews

‘Saucy as well as spellbinding’ – The Times

‘The audience was enthralled and had a thoroughly enjoyable evening’ – Bath Literature Festival

‘Cat’s tales of knights, maidens, love, lust, magic, courage and adventure proved to be an enthralling experience for me, and so far as I was able to judge, for everyone else who was there. We were all hanging on her every word! Told with music and song, they became an intimate theatrical experience which was so good that I even forgot the shortcomings of the hall chairs!’ – Village review, Bucks