Suffolk may seem a kindly and civilised place, but away from gentle rolling fields – in the wild eroding sea, in the waving reed beds, the tangled woods and even down dark town streets lurk secret tales. Hear stories shaped by generations of Suffolk mardle and wit: storyteller Kirsty Hartsiotis will take you into a hidden world of green children and wild men, tell the strange secret of Black Shuck and the romantic tale of the county’s last dragon … proving you’re never far from a story in Suffolk.
There’s always been this jib that Suffolk doesn’t have many traditional stories – but Kirsty isn’t having any of that, after all, she (and Cherry, her partner for Suffolk Ghost Tales) have retold 60 of them already! Some of our most iconic fairy tales – like Rumpelstiltskin and Cinderella – have distinctly different Suffolk equivalents, and there’s a rich strain of seriously strange medieval and early modern stories set in the county. Fairies abound, there are ghosts of course, and Black Shuck isn’t the only beastie you might meet on a dark night…
Picture Credit, Green Girl, Katherine Soutar
Bio
Kirsty Hartsiotis, who is originally from Suffolk, has been a storyteller for more than twenty years, both solo and with her group Fire Springs. She came to storytelling with a lifelong love of stories and history, and a background in drama, heritage and education. She’s also a writer, and is the author of Suffolk Folk Tales and, with Cherry Wilkinson, Suffolk Ghost Tales, as well as a number of other folk tale collections. With her other hat on, she’s a museum curator, curating the Designated Arts and Crafts Movement collection at a Gloucestershire museum, and an Accredited Arts Society lecturer in art history – and folklore.
