A unique insight into the ancient art of storytelling, and a practical guide for anyone wanting to build their skills. The Society for Storytelling. Roughly 30,000 years ago, something happened that would change the face of the world forever: an ape-like creature painted a story onto a cave wall. This would become the most important invention for that ape's species. It would enable education, science, therapy, politics, religion, ambition... let alone innumerable forms of entertainment... Whether you're telling or listening to a story, you are exercising the heart of all that marks us apart from every other animal: the imagination. This book will share with you the benefits of doing so, and provide tips for finding, telling and using stories in your own life. AUTHOR: THE SOCIETY FOR STORYTELLING champions and promotes storytelling throughout the UK. Paul Jackson, the cover illustrator, is the current chair of the society and Christine Willison was the chair from 2012-2017 and is known for 'Bookbug', her children's literature project which visited schools, museums and events many years. Other contributors include Chip Colquhoun who has told stories in seven countries, represented the Oxford Reading Tree online, and wrote the EU guide to storytelling for schools, and Tony Cooper who has been a professional storyteller for the last 36 years, sharing tales with radio listeners, Indian street children, nuclear physicists, prisoners, French midwives, Danish college lecturers and passing strangers. 40 b/w illustrations