Daniel Morden

Daniel Morden is a master storyteller. He has travelled the world collecting and telling stories, from South Wales to Haiti. Daniel has always been a storyteller – even as a child walking to and from school.

“I would make up a story, about myself, or Spiderman, or the Viking God Thor, or some strange character I had invented. When I reached school, if I hadn’t finished the story, I would walk around the playground, muttering it under my breath. I had to know how the story ended.”

Daniel really enjoys retelling traditional Welsh folktales and his collection Dark Tales from the Woods won the Tir na n-Og Prize in 2007, as did his next collection of stories, Tree of Leaf and Flame.

Some of Daniel’s favourite stories are those about the strange monsters of the Ancient Greek world, the heroes that battle them, and the gods that rule over them all. He and fellow storyteller Hugh Lupton have recreated these stories in their books The Adventures of Odysseus and The Adventures of Achilles, both lyrical retellings of the most important works of literature. His most recent collaboration with Hugh Lupton, Three Heroic Tales, was published by Barefoot Books in 2017, and illustrated by Carole Henaff.

Daniel has been storyteller in residence at both the Royal National Theatre and the Barbican Centre in London, and has adapted stories for the theatre, television and radio.

His latest book, published by Gomer, is Secret Tales from Wales, introducing us to eight secret or forgotten stories.