About Amanda
Amanda
EDMISTON
Amanda takes people into other worlds through her stories, redolent with layers of history, lore, and the oft-forgotten wisdom of the natural environment.
Immersion into one of Amanda's stories involves all the senses and reveals facts that threaten to drift from the everyday consciousness. Each session is a magical experience and often stays in participants' memories for years.
Her work weaves together plants, herbs, and flowers with traditional tales, facts, and her own stories. You can expect to be drawn into an enchanted world, one that is frequently humorous and full of unexpected twists. Each telling or event is inspired by oral traditions, history, food, smells, places, objects, and the audience themselves.
Working with people in museums, botanical gardens, libraries, wherever they are, Amanda has created bespoke pieces for The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow, The National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh, Chelsea Physic Garden in London, and The Singapore International Storytelling Festival, amongst others.
“Thanks once again for your wonderful workshop last week. It was so lovely to hear the stories of the ‘treasures’ that folk had brought along, and you created such a warm and welcoming atmosphere for everyone. I also wanted to say how much I enjoyed your event on Saturday evening – I found it really inspiring and moving, and the stories were beautiful and beautifully told. It was one of the highlights of the festival for me.”
Beverley Casebow, Learning & Outreach Officer | Public Programmes National Library of Scotland
Following the Scottish International Storytelling Festival
A note from Amanda
When I embark on sharing a session… I start by creating a vivid picture in my audience’s heads. It feels like I’m opening a doorway into a world of enchantment: one built partially from reality, history, facts and part magical garden brought to life.
As the story unfurls I reveal layers of the place I can see, a dimension is added, the picture is augmented by real smells, objects and tastes that I share with the audience.
It feels like I’m stood at the edge of our senses….and I can see beyond the periphery and reach in!
Maybe try to imagine we are stood together outside an old stone wall, crumbling and encrusted with ferns……half hidden by ivy is a gnarled oak door with an immense iron handle and black keyhole…
“
Storytelling sessions feel like someone has given me with that key and the audience are trusted friends coming with me on an adventure as we peek into the garden. Some people can see rich scarlet velvety roses, clambering over statues, and branches of trees hiding the view. There are extraordinary things within but we can’t reach them or walk through. But I can stand in the doorway and reach in and share the medicines, scents and stories that the plants are sharing.
Ancient remedies and tastes of herbal potions help the stories to become real, sensory elements offering you a little hint of something magical taken from inside the story.
After the tale has ended, a little bit of its effervescence will travel with you and you will step away feeling like you’ve been to a completely different place, you will have discovered new things, started to understand forgotten facts and a little bit of the plant’s story magic will never leave!
”
You can hear all about Amanda’s journey, her practice, our ancestral herbal knowledge and how stories keep the knowledge alive, in this conversation with Carly Rose for The White Witch Podcast.
Amanda Edmiston is an Associate member of The National Institute of Medical Herbalists.
She holds PVG Scotland membership (to work with children and vulnerable adults) and has up-to-date DBS checks for England/UK.
She holds Public Liability Insurance as a member of Equity.
You can also find her on the Scottish Storytelling Directory and authors pages of The Scottish Booktrust.
For Press and Media.
