ADULT STORYTELLING MENTORSHIP BIOS
Rona Barbour (UK)
Rona comes from a long line of celebrated storytellers and has been a passionate storyteller; writing and telling stories since childhood. Rona’s work has led her to be described as “The Godmother of Storytelling” in the UK. Rona was a Director of the Society for Storytelling (England) for 6-years. She is a Continuing Professional Development tutor in storytelling skills accredited with the UK government, and has lectured on storytelling in the UK and Russia. Her work in the community earned her a “She Inspires Award” in 2021.
Roger Jenkins (Singapore)
Roger started storytelling in 1998 after careers in both teaching and theatre. He brings the experience earned through teaching, acting and directing community performers to his role as a mentor. His strengths as a teller are in comedy, spontaneity, visualisation and wordplay, though as an experienced improviser and tandem-teller, he likes to work with whatever his mentee brings to the session. An award-winning author, his constructive advice is great in helping to shape or tighten a story’s structure.
Kiran Shah (Australia)
Kiran Shah has been a professional storyteller since 1999. She co-organised story circles and storytelling courses which culminated in the formation of the Storytelling Association, Singapore in 2006, of which she was the founder president. She has been a part of many groups performing for adult audiences in Singapore and elsewhere. Kiran continues to perform for adult audiences in Australia for several organisations. This will be Kiran's fourth year of being a adult performance mentor for FEAST.
Mabel Lee (Singapore)
Mabel Lee has been a professional storyteller in since 2000. She was a member of Talespin, a ground breaking collaborative that helped pioneer adult performance storytelling in Singapore in the early 2000s. She later went on to do numerous adult performances under the auspices of Story Weavers, the adult performance arm of the Storytelling Association (Singapore), as well as being featured internationally and in international showcases in Singapore based storytelling festivals. Over the years Mabel has mentored many aspiring tellers in honing their stories for performance.
Christine Carlton (Australia)
Christine Carlton is an Australian performer and educator whose storytelling is an interplay between stories of impact and playful engagement. She has worked throughout Australia and internationally and has offered several well received workshops and coaching sessions for FEAST. She provides individual coaching and mentoring for people keen to expand their storytelling skills.
Sheila Wee (Singapore)
Sheila has been living and breathing storytelling since 1998. She co-founded Singapore’s first professional storytelling company with Kiran Shah, and because of her work to pioneer the revival of storytelling in Singapore both for children and adults, she has become known as Singapore’s Godmother of Storytelling. She tells stories to adults, teens and children and she is adept at varying her storytelling style according to her audience. She is comfortable telling to small groups, or to audiences of over a thousand. Her storytelling has been described variously as warm, engaging, elegant and captivating. Sheila’s storytelling experience is deep and wide-ranging and she works both in Singapore and internationally. An award-winning storytelling trainer, Sheila’s highly practical and inspirational workshops have garnered consistently high ratings from participants. She relishes the chance to work one-on-one with a storyteller to bring out the best in them and their story.
Jeeva Raghunath (India)
Jeeva has been a professional storyteller since 1997, telling stories to both adults and children. She is noted for characterisation, use of voice and improvisational skills. She has travelled to 27 countries performing in festivals and educational institutions and conducting storytelling workshops. Jeeva has been a mentor to many upcoming storytellers and runs a popular online story clinic where she coaches storytellers one on one according to their individual needs and interests. Jeeva’s company Kathaikalatta runs an international storytelling festival “Under the Aalamaram every year in Chennai, India. She is also an author of 15 children’s books and translated over 65 books from English to Tamil. She has won several awards, the most recent being “Mangaiyar Tharagai 2024” (Star Lady) for her services to the community through storytelling.