Join mythologist and storyteller Dr. Martin Shaw as he tells the eastern European story of “Faithful John” and provides commentary and discussion on its many layers. Shaw will pay particular attention to the relationship between initiation, commerce and the living world. Within these vivid, ancient tales we find an economy of the imagination – a fluid bargaining between humans and animals, wisdom and ambition, eros and sobriety. The old stories claim that there’s no such thing as a free lunch! 

Martin Shaw is an award winning author, storyteller and director of the Westcountry School of Myth in UK. He devised and led the Oral Tradition course at Stanford university, and is principal teacher at the Great Mother Conference in the Maine. Dr. Shaws translations of Gaelic and Welsh folklore (with Tony Hoagland)  have been published in the Mississippi Review, Poetry International, Kenyon Review, Orion, Poetry Magazine. David Abram describes his latest book, Snowy Tower, as “an outrageous piece of magic”, and Robert Bly claims him “a true master. Martin Shaw is one of the very greatest storytellers we have.”