We are delighted to welcome our guests to the Festival of Stories. We would like to thank them all for supporting our festival and for bringing a sprinkle of magic to Cambridgeshire.
Cassandra Wye has travelled the world, for over 20 years, telling stories from Barbados to Borneo, from the heart of the rainforest to the roof of the world. Fizzing with exuberance, energy and enthusiasm, their love of stories and storytelling knows no boundaries. Cassandra swoops audiences of all ages off on unforgettable adventures wherever they go.
Cassandra passionately believes that storytelling can and should be for everyone - and has pioneered ground-breaking inclusive storytelling initiatives in the UK, USA, Africa and Asia to increase access to arts and education for marginalised children and young people.
Ellie Sandall has worked as a freelance author and illustrator for fourteen years, having graduated from Cambridge School of Art with an MA in children’s book illustration in 2007. Ellie creates picture books for two to six-year-olds, generally featuring animal characters and nature. The characters are often based on animals Ellie sketched while visiting zoos, and Ellie’s latest book, 'Balancing Bernie', features lots of dogs including Ellie’s own Basset Hound.
Ellie works largely in watercolour, pastel, crayon and collage, and loves experimenting with a mixed media approach. Ellie likes to create books inspired by the interactions between siblings, friends and family groups. The books have a playful feel, and the artwork features lots of colours, patterns, and textures.
Alongside Ellie’s illustration work, Ellie enjoys working with children and running art classes and finds children’s natural creativity and enjoyment of experimenting with materials inspirational.
Heidi Latronico Ferris works with schools through PECT's (Peterborough Environment City Trust) bespoke Eco Charter; encouraging over 40,000 students a year to think sustainably and collectively reduce their impact on the environment through long-term behaviour changes across the whole school community.
Heidi is passionate about enabling children to spend quality time outdoors and exploring the wonderful world around them. In recent years, Heidi has run a number of Wild Literacy and Wild Together projects with Talking Together funding which has aimed to give the early years workforce and parents ideas for how to develop young children's understanding and vocabulary through outdoor activities.
Heidi has created our fantastic Festival of Stories Family Activity Book which is full of free or low-cost bee-themed activity ideas. Heidi has also recorded a number of videos where she demonstrates how to complete some of the activities. The book and the videos can be found on our Festival of Stories Resources. webpage.
Katie Durrell understands the importance of storytelling and books in children’s lives and always encourages reading wherever possible.
Before becoming a Makaton tutor, Katie had a varied background in the entertainment industry and still teaches drama. Katie qualified as a Makaton tutor in 2022 and has thoroughly enjoyed getting involved in many different projects.
Katie produced the Makaton videos for this year's Festival of Stories Resources, and they look forward to hopefully seeing lots of signing at this year’s festival.
Marion Leeper has been a supporter of Talking Together right from the start and has delivered many storytelling sessions to families across Cambridgeshire on our behalf. Last year Marion took part in our first festival where they also delivered a storytelling workshop for those working with children, and throughout this year Marion has been delivering sessions as part of our Storytelling Magic programme.
Marion is a weaver of words, and teller of legends, fables and tall tales, with surprises galore in their coat of many pockets. Marion is well-known in Cambridge and roundabout, for their amazing story mat, and outdoor show 'Love Stories for the Earth', and for the fun, the silly songs, and the chances to join in when the stories start.
Rose Feather is a picture book maker whose stories often wriggle out of the books and spread across the room.
Over the past five years, Rose has been making collaborative books with community groups and delivering lively story-making workshops with families.
Nick, John, and Matt are The3Engineers. They have written a set of fun, rhyming children's books named, ‘The Adventures of Scout’. Their aim is to inspire the next generation to take small positive actions to better the world.
They want readers to join ‘Scout’s Team’ and actively participate in fixing some worldwide problems which feature in their books. By taking small but important steps, they hope their books encourage children and parents to plant some seeds to feed the bees, to pick up plastic, and to upcycle household waste and turn it into rescue kits to help animals in their local habitats.
