Illustrator Storyteller Writer
The Full Story
Cofiant / About
Peter Stevenson is a storyteller, children's writer, book illustrator, folklorist, film maker, crankie maker, artist book maker, organiser of the annual 3 day Aberystwyth Storytelling Festival and Y Mabinogi Project in collaboration with Aberystwyth Arts Centre, and the Wales Appalachia Project, along with Stories@Medina, a storytelling club that encourages collaborations with visual artists, musicians, and puppeteers. He has illustrated, compiled and written many children's books, travelled the country with storytelling shows for adults that use hundreds of illustrations, crankies, and live music, has written four books of Welsh folk tales for the History Press.
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Born in Lancashire but lived in Wales for most of his life, Peter studied illustration at Manchester Art College, and went on to research folk drama and folk tale as a postgraduate in the Institute for Dialect and Folklife Studies at Leeds University, intrigued by the way words and images weave together, whether as an illustrator complimenting the words of an old folk tale or contemporary story, or as a storyteller describing the paintings in his head to the minds of a gathered audience.
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He has illustrated, written and compiled children's books and fairy tales for publishers such as Ladybird, Hodder & Stoughton, JM Dent, the National Trust, the History Press, Grund, Fernleigh, Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, Ward Lock, Collins, Kingfisher and many more. He has illustrated books by Edna O'Brien, JM Barrie, Jeremy Strong, Caryl Lewis, Sian Lewis, Manon Stefan Ros, Joy Cowley, Margaret Mahy, C Clement Moore.
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As a storyteller he has told tales in church crypts, village halls, the hulls of trawlers, in Greek tavernas, grand theatres, in inglenooks, underground sewers, cafes, art galleries, working men's clubs, kitchen tables, an allotment, and a leaking tents in a hailstorm. He has toured storytelling shows with talented musicians Ailsa Mair Hughes, Ceri Owen-Jones, Elsa Davies, Harriet Earis, Alison Matthews, and Pixy Tom Owen. He has performed at Beyond the Border Wales' International Storytelling Festival, Arts Centres and Theatres and Cinemas across Wales and the Borders, the Hans Christian Andersen statue in Central Park, the Centre for Engaged Storytelling in New York, the George Ewart Evans Centre for Storytelling. His films have been shown at Wales One World International Storytelling Festival and Native Spirit Foundation Film Festival
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Peter has lived in Aberystwyth for the last 35 years where he is frequently seen walking the old Welsh tramping roads with a pack on his back, a sketchbook in his pocket, a story on his lips, his head in the clouds and his feet in the mud.
Mae Peter Stevenson yn storïwr, yn awdur llyfrau i blant, yn ddarlunydd llyfrau, yn gasglwr llên gwerin, yn wneuthurwr ffilmiau, yn wneuthurwr ‘crancis’, yn arlunydd llyfrau celf, yn drefnydd yr ŵyl dridiau flynyddol adrodd storïau yn Aberystwyth, Prosiect Mabinogi mewn cydweithrediad â Chanolfan Celfyddydau Aberystwyth, a Phrosiect Cymru Appalachia, ynghyd â Stories@Medina, clwb adrodd storïau sy’n hyrwyddo cydweithrediad rhwng arlunwyr, cerddorion a phwpedwyr. Mae wedi dylunio, llunio a sgrifennu llawer o lyfrau plant, wedi teithio’r wlad gyda sioeau adrodd storïau i oedolion sy’n defnyddio cannoedd o ddarluniau, ‘crancis’, a cherddoriaeth fyw, ac wedi llunio pedwar llyfr o chwedlau gwerin Cymreig i’r History Press.
Cafodd Peter ei eni yn swydd Gaerhifryn ond mae wedi byw yng Nghymru am y rhan fwyaf o’i oes. Astudiodd ddarlunio yng ngholeg celf Manceinion ac aeth ymlaen i ymchwilio i ddrama a chwedlau gwerin fel myfyriwr ôl-raddedig yn Institute for Dialect and Folklife Studies Prifysgol Leeds gan iddo gael y ffordd y mae geiriau a delweddau yn gweu trwy’i gilydd yn ogleisiol, y ffordd y mae darlunydd yn cyfannu geiriau hen chwedl werin neu stori gyfoes, neu storïwr yn disgrifio’r paentiadau yn ei ben i’w cyfleu i feddyliau’r gynulleidfa.
Mae wedi darlunio, sgrifennu a llunio llyfrau plant a chyfrolau o chwedlau gwerin a’r tylwyth teg i gyhoeddwyr megis Ladybird, Hodder & Stoughton, JM Dent, the National Trust, the History Press, Grund, Fernleigh, Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, Ward Lock, Collins, Kingfisher a llawer mwy. Mae wedi darlunio llyfrau gan Edna O'Brien, JM Barrie, Jeremy Strong, Caryl Lewis, Sian Lewis, Manon Stefan Ros, Joy Cowley, Margaret Mahy, a C Clement Moore.
Fel storïwr mae wedi adrodd straeon yng nghladdgelloedd eglwysi, neuaddau pentref, cyrff llongau pysgota, tavernas Groegaidd, theatrau mawr, yng nghil pentanau, carthffosydd tanddaearol, caffis, orielau celf, clybiau gweithwyr, wrth fyrddau cegin, mewn gardd ar osod ac mewn pebyll sy’n gollwg mewn cawod o genllysg. Mae wedi teithio gyda sioeau adrodd chwedlau ynghyd â cherddorion talentog megis Ailsa Mair Hughes, Ceri Owen-Jones, Elsa Davies, Harriet Earis, Alison Matthews, a Pixy Tom Owen. Mae wedi perfformio yng ngŵyl ryngwladol adrodd storïau Beyond the Border Wales, mewn canolfannau celfyddydau a theatrau a sinemâu ar draws Cymru a’r Gororau, wrth droed cerflun Hans Christian Anderson yn Central Park, yn y Centre for Engaged Storytelling yn Efrog Newydd, a’r George Ewart Evans Centre for Storytelling. Mae ei ffilmiau wedi cael eu dangos yn Wales One World International Storytelling Festival ac yng ngŵyl ffilmiau y Native Spirit Foundation.
Mae Peter yn wedi byw yn Aberystwyth am 35 o flynyddoedd, a gwelir ef yn aml yn cerdded ar hyd hen lwybrau troed Cymru gyda phecyn ar ei gefn, llyfr braslunio yn ei boced, stori ar ei wefusau, ei ben yn y cymylau a’i draed yn y llaid.
