Jan Blake is one of the UK's leading storytellers, and has been performing worldwide since1986. Specialising in stories from Africa, the Caribbean, and Arabia, she has a reputation for dynamic and generous storytelling. Recent highlights include Storymoja Hay Festival in Kenya, where she performed
All Things Are Connected for the United Nations Environment Programme and, at the Barbican, her retelling of the
Sundiata Keita, the West African epic, with musicians Kouame & Raymond Sereba. She will be the 2011 recipient of the biannual Thuringe Marchen Preis, awarded to scholars or performers who have devoted their lives to the service of storytelling.