Storyteller Turned Writer
Hi, my name is Michael Harvey, award winning storyteller and bestselling author. For over twenty-five years I have been telling traditional stories to people of all ages all over the world. I have written a number of articles about storytelling over the years, had an illustrated children’s book published by Larousse and then, a few years ago, I self-published Celtic Folktales of Wales and almost straight away I became an amazon kindle #1 bestselling author.
Pig Boy is my next big project. I have had some really encouraging remarks and suggestions to the latest draft and am currently re-working the story. The suggestions were all valuable in themselves and also triggered several new scenes that I would never have dared to try before. A big thank-you to all those who helped.
The world of Pig Boy is the world of storytelling. It is larger than life, appeals to a wide age range and presents a world that is full of magic and transformation but is still a world that we all recognise. This world is a place of strong emotions and bold characters with clear intentions. It is a world of bodies, objects, landscape and magic. But for all its physicality and presence it is also deeply metaphorical and is able to shine a light on our own lives as long as we enter wholeheartedly into the story.
The Mari Lwyd - the Otherworld is alive and kicking in contemporary Welsh folk customs.
The Otherworld is often present in the world of Pig Boy. Sometimes you just glimpse it out of the corner of your eye and sometimes it dominates the story with beauty or horror. You will even get to meet Gwyn ap Nudd the King of the Otherworld. Now there’s a tricky character for you!
I’ll be making a studio recorded audio book and subscribers will get previews of the recording before publication. If you want get the recordings straight to your inbox sign up for updates here or in the form at the bottom of the page.
I started telling this story about twenty years ago and then worked with musician Stacey Blythe and singer Lynne Denman to turn it into a full show for the tenth anniversary of the Beyond the Border International Storytelling Festival. Soon after that we were asked to work with the storytelling production company Adverse Camber and we toured a revamped version of the show, renamed Hunting the Giant’s Daughter for about eight years which won a Britsh Award for Storytelling Excellence.
Performing Hunting the Giant’s Daughter. The show that sowed the seeds for Pig Boy. Photo Credit Gavin Repton
As well as telling stories and training storytellers I also facilitate creativity in schools. Working with young people and seeing the way they treat creativity as play and adventure have been a real inspiration for my own work. Do have a look around the site, check out the posts on mythology and creativity on the blog and get in touch if you have any questions or comments. And remember to have a look at my blog where you will find lots of background information about the story, the process of writing it and the wider world of mythology and the Mabinogion. There is a social bar at the top of every page with links to my facebook, twitter, instagram, flickr, youtube and podcast accounts.
By the way, most of the photographs on this site are mine unless credited otherwise, apart from the pictures of me on this page and the home page which are both by Chris Webb
A curse poured out of her like a poisonous snake. It slithered round the room and searched him out. The words poured over him and through him and it felt like they were flowing through his veins until his own blood took up their song.
Pig Boy, Chapter 1
Currently available as a pre-order from the publishers Cinnamon Press as well as Waterstones, Amazon UK & Coles Books etc
Featured blog posts...
What People Are Saying About the Latest Draft of Pig Boy
“a fast moving panorama of fantasy, honour, legend and a determination to win one’s birth right!”
“Brilliantly evocative, marrying the two worlds of the mythical and historical past into a single realm”
“The magic of Wales will be alive forever as long as storytellers like Michael Harvey show us the wonders of our heritage”
“I was hooked from the beginning .”
These quotes are from my valiant beta-readers who read the third full draft of the book. I am currently working on a new draft to incorporate their valuable observations and suggestions.