Learning Lore

Ebba Lisberg Jensen is a human ecologist, who for many years did research on forestry, biodiversity and sustainable urban development. She is a frequent participant in the storytelling group here at the department of pedagogical, curricural and professional studies. She is a humanities scholar always ending up in biology. Presently, Ebba is a senior lecturer at the teacher education at the University of Gothenburg. Her main professional focus is education for sustainable development, namely how individuals and society understand ecosystem functions and the interdependence between humans and nature. Privately, Ebba cherishes all forms of history, fairytales and Nordic sentimental song lyrics. 

Abdulrahman is a Fulbright scholar from Lebanon and holds a MSc in Neuroscience from The University of Texas at Dallas. He is interested in teaching neuroscience to children as a form of science education and social-emotional learning. At his startup, Neurochem Lab, Abdul develops neuroscience educational programs, using storytelling as his primary learning approach. 

Dr Si Poole, is an Associate Professor of Cultural Education at the University of Chester, UK; He is a folklorist, trustee of the Mythstories museum and a Director and Researcher at the Centre for Research into Education, Creativity and Arts through Practice (RECAP). His work currently focuses on gardening in education, and as the founder and holder of the National Plant collection of Mentha, his work champions gardening as a creative praxis and considers what that means for communities; his research also covers a wide array of other creative praxes and pedagogies; storytelling; walking methodologies; and the intercultural use of music; informal songwriting; and arts, and crafts, based initiatives. He has worked in 18 countries developing research initiatives and presenting interactive vocal performances, most recently as a Visiting Professor at Gothenburg University, and next month a Visiting Professor at Uppsala University, Sweden. Si is also a published poet; Managing Director of Soil Records; and has written and released seven albums to critical acclaim and is still singing and songwriting with 'the loose kites’ to this day.

Dublin born storyteller Clare Murphy has worked with story for 19 years. SHe has performed on stages around Europe and the Americas for audiences of 5000 people. She tells myth, folklore, wisdom tales, science, and history, as well as the occasional true story. She teaches and consults with all kinds of people and organisations worldwide from The Royal Shakespeare Company to NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory to The New Zealand All Blacks Rugby team.

Meet two teacher educators from Ludwigsburg in Germany. They have experience of using storytelling in language teaching. Andrea tells a bilingual version of Little red riding hood. Rachelle Breuer, M.A. has taught college-level EFL (English as a Foreign Language) and German as a Foreign Language in the U.S. and Germany, and she currently works as an EFL instructor / academic staff member in the Institute of English at Ludwigsburg University of Education. Andrea Mercier-Droste, M.A. has taught college-level EFL/ESL (English as a Foreign/Second Language) in the U.S. and. Germany, as well as Linguistics and Applied Linguistics in Germany. She currently works as a linguistics instructor / academic staff member in the Institute of English at Ludwigsburg University of Education, Germany. Her professional interests include bilingualism/multilingualism, language identity, language bans and bias, language acquisition and language attitudes. She has a passion for bilingual storytelling, code-switching, debunking myths about bilinguals/multilinguals, and encouraging a more inclusive definition of bilingualism/multilingualism.

Daniel Morden has been a professional teller of traditional tales since 1989. He has travelled all over the world, from the Arctic to the Pacific to the Caribbean, sharing and collecting stories. He has appeared at the National Theatre, Hay Festival, The National Storytelling Festival of America, WOMAD, many theatres, arts centres, festivals…and thousands of schools.In 2017 he was awarded the Hay Festival Medal for his services to storytelling.    He has written several award-winning anthologies of traditional stories, includingDARK TALES FROM THE WOODSHe also coaches storytellers and teaches an annual beginners weekend at Ty Newydd Writer’s Centre.

It was at the Music and Storytelling Festival in Ljungby last summer that we met Mara Menzi from Kenya. And we took the opportunity to record a podcast episode when we had the chance. It became a very interesting conversation about storytelling's ability to spread hope, which is important in our time. Mara is an award-winning storyteller and author who has captivated audiences across more than 30 countries worldwide. The Ljungby festival marks her very first performance in Sweden! She is passionate about the transformative power of story. She is also the visionary founder of Msitu wa Ndoto, a groundbreaking initiative operating from the oldest human burial site in Africa (78000 years old),that celebrates nature and cultural heritage. She is currently in the process of creating East Africa's first story forest.

This pod cast is recorded live infront of an audience at the music and storytelling festival in Ljungby 13th of June 2025. Svend-Erik Engh, are a Danish storyteller based in Edinburgh. He brings Viking sagas, Norse myths, and Scandinavian folktales to life with a vivid, physical style shaped by his training at Odin Teatret. With over 30 years of experience, he has performed across the UK and Europe, including acclaimed shows like GIANTS and Gullrun’s Saga. His collaborations with illustrator Tea Bendix have led to stage productions and the book Danish Folk Tales (The History Press, 2023). He has giving storytelling workshops for schools and storytellers. Neil Sutcliffe is an accordionist and folksinger from Scotland. After completing the degree at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, he has built a performing career encompassing both traditional and classical music.Together Neil and Svend-Erik have created Walk the Oars, Wolves Within and Gullruns Saga, the latter part of the the music and storytelling festival in Ljungby. In this pod cast Neil plays accordion and Svend-Erik tells a folktale and we all consider the power of storytelling.

Swedish storyteller, singer and folk musician. 2014 she started a Masters at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, a masters that came to focus on learning and creating by copying. This lead to her creating a series of performances with the Eddic Poem Voluspá, copying masters of different epic singing- and storytelling traditions around the world. At the moment she is touring The Hairy Girl, a storytelling performance in English, telling a Norwegian fairytale with a big Japanese Taiko Drum. Kersti has worked a lot as a storyteller in schools, often letting children take over her stories and tell them themselves. Now she is part of the Storyraiders, a group introducing the Swedish concept of Storyraids to primary schools in the UK.  

Dr. Camilla Brudin Borg is a Senior Lecturer inLiterary Studies at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Her work focuses on innovative methodological development at the intersection of ecocriticism, narrative studies, andliterary futures. She leads research projects that explore the use of utopian genres as creative tools for imagining a wider range of possible futures. Her collaborations includeclimate researchers, environmental education experts, citizens, and students.  In 2022, Dr. Brudin Borg was invited to participate as a panelist during the Nobel Week in Stockholm, where she discussed “The Future of Life” and her explorative work on utopian methodologies to envision sustainable future imaginaries. She is also the founder and leader of the international research network One by Walking, where she contributes with investigations in transdisciplinary methodological perspectives on narration and walking, with a focus on long-distance hiking.  Additionally, she is the co-editor of Contemporary Ecocritical Methods (2024) and the editor of Framtidsutopier (2023), a collection of new ecological utopian stories to be used in schools.

Keri Facer is Professor of Educational and Social Futures at the University of Bristol, where she works, among other things, on questions of time and temporality, futures and storytelling in shaping how societies think about education, and educational purpose.  She leads the British Academy Programme ‘Times of a Just Transition’ – which is looking at how ideas of time, and temporal narratives, shape how societies frame and address sustainability challenges. You have worked for 25 years on the role of formal and popular education in uncertain times.  

Steve is a Clinical Psychologist and Storyteller who loves to work at the interface of these two areas- He is interested in how stories and storytelling can be applied in education and health and has written several books and papers in this area. He has written Telling Tales-Storytelling and Emotional Literacy - with Taffy Thomas - and Feelings are Funny Things-A storytelling toolkit' for schools - with Phil Okwedy. He has been very involved in the development of a project for schools, 'Feelings are Funny Things' which uses stories to explore our emotional lives in a way that safe and playful. He has taught, performed and run workshops at many universitas and storytelling festivals throughout Europe and is a Visiting Fellow at Centre for Storytelling, University of South Wales.

Mimesis Heidi Dahlsveen has worked as a storyteller since 1996 both national and abroad. Her artistic projects are often developed through working interdisciplinary with other artists, where she combines traditional and autobiographical narratives with theory. She is parttime associate professor in oral storytelling at Oslomet – metropolitan university in Oslo, Norway. Her research focus is on how the traditional narratives shed light on contemporary themes, and the poetic aspects of artistic processes. She has written several academic articles on oral storytelling, where she uses artistic research as an input to understand oral storytelling and narratives.

Sally Windsor is an Associate Professor in Sustainability and International Education here at the Department of Pedagogical, Curricular and Professional Studies at the University of Gothenburg. She teach courses in Education for Sustainable Development, and International and Global Education. Her research interests include creative and arts-based teaching for sustainability, and climate change education. She is especially interested in teaching about social sustainability in terms of understanding “living well”  together in a “world worth living in” and has recently been involved in an international ‘listening project’ named just that “Living well in a world with living in for all”.  

Trained at the Drama School Jacques Lecoq  in Paris, Abbi Patrixhas been exploring the art of storytelling for the past thirty years .His workis at the cross-roads of theatre, music and movement,on a permanent quest fornew ways and voices to enrich the form of storytelling.To transmit his searchto young générations of storytellers he created in France and in europe« the labo », a collective and multi-disciplinary space for research,improvisation and transmission.He is a founding member of Fest.

Dominic Kelly is an international storyteller with a warm, witty and immersive storytelling style. He has captivated audiences around the world. In the UK he has performed at venues including the Barbican, National Theatre, British Museum, and The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival. As a member of Stockholm-based company Fabula Storytelling, he has directed performances at theatres and arts centres across Scandinavia, including Norway’s Riksscenen. He has helped thousands of young people find their narrative voice through projects in schools across the UK and Sweden, particularly in areas of high social deprivation in England.