The Transformative Power of Folktales

Life is a Festival #91 Jan Blake

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Today on Life is a Festival I am honored to share the delightful and mesmerizing voice of one of Europe’s most renowned storytellers. Jan Blake has been tellings stories around the world for 35 years and has recently been going through a transformational process herself!

Our conversation unfolds through six stories, beginning with “Abiyoyo,” Jan’s favorite tale as a child and ending with “The Keys to the Devil’s Kitchen” for her ancestors. Along the way we talk about why folktales are transformational, we touch on mythopoetic masculinity, and we explore whether it is possible to become lost in a story.

Jan specializes in stories from Africa, the Caribbean and Arabia, and she has been performing myths and folktales for 35 years. In addition to performing in every major storytelling festival worldwide, Jan has been the Storyteller-in-Residence for the Hay Literary Festival, the curator for Shakespeare’s Stories at the World Shakespeare Festival, and the recipient of the British Award for Storytelling Excellence.

Jan is also performing in the upcoming Gathering of Stories event organized by my friend and the host of the Mythic Masculine Podcast, Ian McKenzie. It’s is a two day live streamed festival that brings together storytellers, musicians, and poets from around the world to provide new insight and perspectives for tending the soul of the masculine. You can register for that at https://bit.ly/g-stories.

Also if you have yet to fill out the short Life is a Festival audience survey you can do so here: https://bit.ly/festival-survey