Introducing Your July Storytellers
Ten amazing guests for our last shows at Wilton's
Hello Friends! I trust you’re all well. We’re just weeks away from our last (ever?) shows at Wilton’s Music Hall, and we’ve finally managed to wrangle a full lineup of storytellers for you. Consider today’s newsletter an introduction to ten new friends we can promise you’re going to love. So, without further ado…
July 2nd
Harry Potter fans will recognise Evanna Lynch from her series-stealing role as Luna Lovegood in the film adaptations of JK Rowling’s books; but you may also know her as the author of the searing memoir The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting, about her battle with eating disorders.
Joanna Neary is a comedian who you’ll have seen in any number of classic British TV comedies, including Miranda, That Mitchell And Webb Look, Green Wing and Time Trumpet. The Guardian described her as “a character actor par excellence”, and we know she’s going to be a storyteller par excellence as well…
Rosy Pendlebaby came recommended by veteran OneTrackMinds storyteller Steve Chapman, which is as good as a Triple-A Bond quality guarantee for us. Her vibrant Instagram account describes her as an ‘artivist’ - a hybrid artist and activist - although that doesn’t really do justice to the breadth and depth of her creative output. Expect fireworks…
Just as creatively exciting is Evie Fehilly, a writer, director, performer and movement co-ordinator. She’s a graduate of Met Film School, The Royal Court Theatre’s Writer’s Group programme and the winner of Man Up!, the world’s biggest Drag King competition in 2019.
And, rounding off our lineup of fabulous female storytellers is the wonderful Hannah Pierce. We met Hannah when she booked OneTrackMinds to take part in a special show as part of Coventry’s City of Culture celebrations a couple of years ago. Since then, she’s written her first book, All Boats Are Sinking, a memoir of her life living on a canal boat, which is published on June 20th.
July 3rd
Whenever we look to book guests for our show, we always ask our previous storytellers for recommendations of people they know who they think would be great for OneTrackMinds. In the eight years of doing this show, we’ve never had as many recommendations for a single storyteller as we have had for poet and artist Ella Frears. She’s the author of the poetry collection Shine, Darling, and the forthcoming Goodlord, published in June, which takes the form of one (very long) email to an estate agent. Frank Skinner described her as “exciting, a bit scary and sort of brilliant”, which sounds right up our street…
YA-Author and activist Onjali Raúf is the author of several best-selling children’s books, including the best-selling, and multi-award-winning The Boy At The Back of The Class, but her charitable work for the two NGOs she founded - Making Herstory and O’s Refugee Aid Team - is quite unbelievable. She’s an incredible woman, with a genuinely life-changing mission. And, no doubt, a wealth of stories to share with you all…
Hannah Silva is a writer, artist and performer, whose multi-disciplinary work explores the creative potential of generative Artificial Intelligence. Her book, My Child, The Algorithm was published last year and was named as one of Granta’s Books of The Year.
Keiran Goddard is a writer and social commentator. He’s the author of the novels Hourglass and I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning and is a regular contributor to The Guardian.
And, last but far from least, Isaura Barbé-Brown is an actor and writer who’s appeared in The Favourite and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, and who writes a regular column for the brilliant feminist horror film journal Bloody Women.
There you go! Ten fantastic storytellers, all with ten fantastic stories about ten songs that have changed their life. If you want to hear them, you know what to do - get your tickets from Wilton’s website, and, if you’re smart, use the code OTMCast to get top-price tickets for just £11 (a saving of £7).
Please come along! We’d love to see you, and to ensure that our last shows at Wilton’s are jam packed to the rafters. If you can’t make it, tell your friends - you can promise them a genuinely life-changing evening, and how often can you honestly say that?
That’s it for this week! In next week’s newsletter, we’ll be telling you all about our brand new venue. Our lips are sealed until then. All I’ll say is that it’s fit for a King…
See you soon,
KB. x