Book Lauren Bianchi
As a Scottish Storyteller, Lauren feels steeped in the culture which has been drawn from the landscape, the people and the history. Lauren believes it is important that this heritage continues to be passed on from generation to generation. She also firmly believes that we are all citizens of the world so she researches and tells stories from different countries and cultures. Lauren’s contribution to these cultures is to tell real and imagined stories – myths, truths and somewhere in between.
As a child, she remembers very clearly her grandmother telling her stories of the adventures she got up to in her childhood. She wanted to hear them again and again, to imagine the faces, the landscape, the voices – she loved the stories so much because Grannie really brought her back there with her, jumping over the burn when her friend fell in, her father, Lauren’s Great-grandfather calling the bairns in ‘fur thur tea,’ and her wee brother shaking the painter’s ladder! Lauren’s first attempt at Storytelling was during a drama session when the class were going to be exploring the story of Cinderella in Scots – but shock, horror, she forgot the book! This was the push she needed to take the next step of her journey into storytelling and tell the story to the group instead of reading it aloud. After that session, she never looked back.
Lauren is and aspires to be a feminist storyteller – she wants to show girls and women that they can be and are featured in stories which are an inspiration to all people. She wants to challenge the notion that stories with a male character as the central protagonist or hero, are for everyone, and stories with female heroes are stories for girls. She is constantly searching for stories in which the female protagonists do not need to be saved from the Dragons and evil witches, but find the power within themselves to outwit their captors and create their own lives.
She has experience working with many different groups including many different types of people. One of her particular passions is for social justice and this shines through her work in terms of client groups and practice. In the past she has worked with many different groups on long and short term projects including within the criminal justice system; with young carers; within various primary schools in Fife and Glasgow and with a group of older Women in an over 50’s project.
