Duncan Williamson was a Scottish traveller who went on to become one of Britain's master story-tellers. During his lifetime he was acclaimed 'the greatest English-speaking storyteller', 'the national monument of British storytelling' and, at his death, Scotland's 'greatest contemporary storyteller'. Fireside Tales, his first book, reveals this artistry and mastery in all its glory. This new edition is edited by his wife, Linda Williamson. Fireside Tales is narrated with an intense commitment to generations of the travelling people, who used animal fables, wonder tales and splendid horror stories to instil in their children moral judgment and a knowledge of right and wrong. At every corner the technical skill of the narrator is revealed, his ingenious mixture of conversation and action, frequent change of pace, use of the first person – all attributes of the born storyteller which compel attention, where tension and excitement are at fever pitch throughout. With a universality that can relate to every reader, this book represents one of the great collections of traveller stories.

This book looks at education in the context of several distinct travelling groups including Circus, Fairground and New Travellers. Cathy Kiddle argues that education is important for Traveller children in that it enables them to develop into independent learners and, through this, independent people, able to speak for themselves.

Introduced by Barbara McDermitt The telling of tales and the oral tradition in Scotland has long and honourable history, both in the annals of the folk and in the more formal pages of literary publication. Writers as different as Hogg, Scott, Stevenson, Cunninghame Graham, Buchan, Grassic Gibbon and Alasdair Gray have all drawn on the form or the voice or the features of the folk tale. Duncan Williamson, arguably the greatest traditional tale teller in modern times, is a master of this spellbinding art, and here in a single volume Linda Williamson has gathered together some of the most memorable tales in his repertoire. Transcribed from recorded sessions for the sound archives of the School of Scottish Studies, these twenty-six stories give us privileged access to the travellers’ fireside with stories of talking animals; of the broonie, selkies and fairies; of cunning Jack’s adventures; of kings and giants in long tales for the winter nights. ‘An extraordinary collection of stories.’ The Scotsman ‘Exemplary and delightful . . . [Williamson] is the inheritor of a rich and vital oral tradition . . . and is recognised as a master narrator.’ Times Educational Supplement ‘ . . . the bearer of the richest oral tradition in Europe.’ Herald

Jack Zipes has reinvigorated storytelling as a successful and engaging tool for teachers and professional storytellers. Encouraging storytellers, librarians, and schoolteachers to be active in this magical process, Zipes proposes an interactive storytelling that creates and strengthens a sense of community for students, teachers and parents while extolling storytelling as animation, subversion, and self-discovery.