Wow! The talks on Scott's lighthouse journal were amazing. From the project fellows, Hilary Clydesdale and Ainsley McIntosh, we learnt about the practicalities of paper and editoral practice; Matt Thompson explored the manuscript's journey while Anna Pilz expanded on the afterlives of the voyage;

I am excited to be on the train to hear the amazing Ainsley McIntosh and Hiliary Clydesdale present on their recent project transcribing Walter Scott's lighthouse journals. I know I will learn a lot about Scott, the Stevensons, and lighthouses, but I am hoping to also gather some new stories!

I am so excited to be co-leading this introduction to storytelling workshop! Come along to learn more about adapting, remembering and performing stories! Part of Grampian Wellbeing Festival. Venue hosted by Love RaRa. Hosted by Grampian Association of Storytellers.

I'm not sure how I feel about preparing my audio description script for 2:22 A Ghost Story completely alone, in the dark, surrounded by spooky noises, in HMT's supposedly haunted upper circle. If I survive, the audio described performance will be this Saturday matinee. #audiodescription

It was the first outing for both my Regency dress and my local history story (of the swashbuckling Excise man and forger, Malcolm Gillespie) today at The Grampian Association of Storytellers' event at Peterculter Heritage Museum.

I usually tell stories from folklore but I am exploring local history in preparation for telling at Peterculter heritage museum. Librarian Catherine at Aberdeen Central Library embarked with me on a quest to find more about notorious Exciseman, Mr Gillespie, and his fights with whisky smugglers.

I had a fantastic time at GREC's language cafe today. The theme was medicine. We did matching game and medical vocab bingo. For the story, I told Androcles and the Lion. Then everyone shared stories about sick animals or people. I was so impressed by the talent in the room! #storytelling

I am excited to be co-hosting this wellbeing story-creation session in Aberdeen on Friday!

We officially launched our language cafe toolkit today. I shared how I used storytelling to engage language learners in fun and useful activities. #storytelling

On Friday the Grampian Association of Storytellers held their monthly open mic storytelling session at the University of Aberdeen's zoology building! #storytelling

I'm back in the audio description booth this week, working with a fabulous team to provide audio description for this Saturday's matinee performance of Shawshank Redemption at HMT, Aberdeen. #audiodescription

If you're based in Aberdeen, join the Grampian Association of Storytellers for a storytelling evening at the Zoology Museum this Friday (10th April), 7 - 9 pm. Booking required: abdn.io/271 #storytelling

This afternoon, I am audio describing Friends, the Musical Parody at Aberdeen's HMT. Audio description enables visually impaired people to have the same experience as sighted people. In this case, it means that everyone can enjoy the music and laughs! #audiodescription

I love everything about this entire thread!

"Kill your darlings" has long been a mantra in writing circles but today I applied it to storytelling. The theme at language cafe was "dancing" and I prepared a few activities, a story and a creative follow-on. However, I had to drop most of the opening activities... and it was a great success!

I've never been diagnosed but this picture is exactly how I remember and imagine faces. I've always found it hard to explain how I can remember expressions but not features, and I think you can see it clearly here.

I'm looking forward to Leonie Jungen's talk. Who else is in the virtual conference room with me?!

Don't forget! You've still got time to pitch a talk for the Romancing the Gothic talk series next year! We're particularly interested in work focusing on women and people of marginalised genders and we love exploring traditions from around the world! romancingthegothic.com/2025/09/02/r...

The Grampian Association of Storytellers had a wonderful storytelling session on Friday night. We had ten tellers, representing different nationalities and life stages. I hosted and bookended the session, telling two stories that hold special places in my memory.

I'll be sharing stories and chatting about how 18th/19th century Gothic tales can be used in storytelling practice today for the Grampian Association of Storytellers!

Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching

We'll be exploring female tricksters, saucy tales, scandalous memoirs, Gothic murderesses, radical poetry, utopian communes, Black writing, revolution, travel, alternate histories and so much more! The long eighteenth century has some amazing reads! Explore them with me.

I had a lovely audience for storytelling at Absafe's haunted house last night. Wonderful small children helped me play the singing bowl while terrific older kids got involved in stories of a young fisherman who finds himself shipwrecked with three witches and a woman watching corpses rise.

I don't know why everyone is doing Ozymandias remixes but a) I'm glad they are and b) this is my favourite do far: two poems they are constantly in my head now mashed together.

I'm on a mission to try and merge my academic and storytelling lives. Hosting this event at the University of Aberdeen's exhibition is an exciting step on this journey!

I'm sad I can't attend this one because it looks great.

Join us !😊 englishassociation.ac.uk

I am really happy to be talking about my recent work at GREC's language cafe at this conference. Find me in the programme heyzine.com/flip-book/dd... and register here www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/online-une...

Our Publications serve our community - for, by and about those involved in our subject, in a multiplicity of ways. Visit our website, join us, contribute ! englishassociation.ac.uk

I'll be storytelling at Absafe's haunted house. 📅 Friday 31 October ⏰ 5:30–9:00 PM (last entry 8:30) 📍 Balgownie Lodge, Aberdeen 💷 Suggested donation: £3 (pay on the door or by bank transfer) 🎟️ Register here to help us plan numbers: 👉 AbsafeHauntedHouse_25.eventbrite.co.uk

I watched this and it was amazing. I recommend to everyone.

BARS News: Independent Researcher Bursary Call for Applications Independent researchers with an interest in any aspect of Romantic Studies (literature, architecture, art, politics, culture, history etc) are invited to apply for the Independent Researcher Bursary.  www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6189

I'm really looking forward to this one!

One of the great joys of storytelling is listening to the Greats, and Grace Banks really is one of those greats. On Friday, she transported the Grampian Association of Storytellers through her voice into northern lands and the natural world. Photos by Javier Álvarez

I'm just back from a networking event for Aberdeen filmmakers and creatives. I was blethering on about audio description and was heartened by how much interest in accessibility there was in the room.

Did you know I'm giving a free talk next week? I'll be talking women and the Early Gothic! From writers to publishers, renegades and regulars... Come join me (donations very welcomed!) Sunday 12th 10am - www.tickettailor.com/events/roman... 7pm - www.tickettailor.com/events/roman...

Telling 'A Twenty-First Century Tale' at the Worldwide Virtual Storytelling Guild. Picture by the amazing Anne Pitcher: [email protected]

I'm having a relaxing Sunday after spending the weekend training a new audio describer. She worked on an Act of the play, creating a description for visually impaired people that included all the action while not speaking over the dialogue!

You probably know that Walter Scott worked extensively with the oral tradition, collecting ballads and incorporating folklore into his work. But how does he portray storytellers in his work? Read the article by myself and Lisa McKenna to find out: jiss.aberdeenunipress.org/issue/38/info/

I'm preparing to audio describe the Book of Mormon musical at Aberdeen Performing Arts' HMT theatre this afternoon. Audio Description is a vital service that makes theatre accessible to visually impaired people.

This is my first post on Blue Sky. Hi! I'm a traditional storyteller, academic working on Romantic literature, and audio describer. I met a fabulous child storyteller recently who told me all about Mister Men. I discovered that even though I'd like to be Little Miss Neat, I'm closer to Mr Muddles!