Expressions and connections through stories: An interview with Richard O’Neill
R
ICHARD O’Neill is a highly acclaimed storyteller, author, playwright, scriptwriter
and creative producer. In 2013, he was named as a National Literacy Hero, an honour Richard continues to appreciate. Richard is a familiar face at festivals, museums and libraries across the UK where his passion for storytelling and writing have made him a firm favourite for leading events and taking part in projects.
Richard’s infectious enthusiasm for stories began when he was a small child. Richard was brought up in a nomadic Romani community in the North East of England. “Story was of major importance to us in terms of communication, education and entertainment,” he says. “It informed us about our culture and our history and taught us how to communicate effectively and how to enjoy words.”
Richard now uses storytelling and writing to help share information about his community and to support in fostering greater understanding. He continues to champion the role and importance of stories to all manner of communities. Richard’s extraordinary passion and commitment shines through as he discusses the motivation behind his work. “It’s vitally important that we not only keep the art of
storytelling alive, but that we also continue to develop it and show, not just tell, how many benefits it can bring to all of our lives.” The enriching qualities that storytelling brings are a key motivation for Richard. He goes on to describe research that has been undertaken in this area and how these findings are corroborated by his own experiences, as he explains: “I have seen storytelling be an amazing force for good. Around 40 per cent of all communication is through storytelling.” Experiencing first-hand the positive impact on communication and language has inspired Richard to raise awareness around this and has led him to formalise some of the opportunities behind that impact. He says: “I’m actively pursuing the creation of an academy of storytelling in the North of England to bring the skills and benefits to as many people as possible.” Richard’s first published work was a play that was included in an anthology called White Open Spaces. It was themed around concepts of racism and belonging and was part of a large theatre-making project organised by the rural, touring theatre company, Pentabus. Richard’s first children’s books were created through community work carried out in the North of England. The first of these was The Talking Toad and another was Fabulous Mr Ford and the School for Storytelling. One of Richard’s
Jake Hope (@Jake_Hope) is a freelance development and children’s book consultant, and is a former chair of CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group (YLG).
www.jakehope.org.
early picture books was a story called Astro Gastro in homage to snails. He says: “I often quip, they are slugs with caravans.”
Since those early days, Richard has gone on to work with international picture book publisher Child’s Play, co-authoring books before going on to create stories which he has solely authored. Richard has now collaborated with numerous leading publishers and is currently working on more books with the co-founder of his community publishing company, TOTT.
Richard is keen to help demystify the writing process as he describes parts of this, saying: “I say to children and adults on my many visits to schools, literary festivals, and educational conferences, that I write anytime,
Autumn-Winter 2023
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
