Interview with Mike Rust
What storytelling opportunities are there locally and nationally?
Locally there are five storytelling clubs in Shropshire.
Nationally there is FaTE (although local it is on the national stage) and smaller festivals and there are a series of clubs throughout England. In Wales storytelling is centered on universities and educational establishments. In Scotland there is a national centre of storytelling in Edinburgh with a network of outreach clubs. N. Ireland and Ireland also have a network of clubs and there is an International festival in Ireland.
Throughout the UK there are English folk festivals which feature storytelling like Whitby.
Many educational establishments and libraries use storytellers.
There is also the Young Storytelling Competitions and workshops in storytelling like at Bleddfa.
What work are you / have you been involved in?
I was a founder member of the Society for Storytelling and a founder member and director of FaTE.
I have run the Tales from the Edge club for many years. Currently I am a storytelling advice director for Whitby folk week.
And there's still time to time sit and tell stories.
What careers are there available using storytelling skills?
There's Lawyer, estate agent, politician, journalist, author, teacher, salesman (for any type of thing), any role that needs to put a picture into a person's head.
Mike Rust's biog from "English Folktales" by Amy Douglas and Dan Keding.
Mike Rust has spent most of his life living in the Welsh Marches, the English lands that border Wales. He has always had a love of stories, jokes, anecdotes, and tales of the strange and magical. Throughout his life he has collected stories from farmhands and landowners, gamekeepers and publicans, He is a founder member of Tales at the Edge, as well as a founder member of the Society for Storytelling, a binational body that promotes stories and storytelling in England and Wales .