My name is Susan Perrow. I am an Australian whose ‘work’ passion is stories and storytelling. I am an author, storyteller, teacher trainer and parent educator. For the last 30 years I have been documenting stories from other cultures, writing stories and telling stories to groups of children and adults – all this woven in with a career in teaching, lecturing and consulting in Australia, Africa, Asia, China, Europe and North America. I currently have four published story collections, in a total of 10 languages.
Academic Work: In 2000 I wrote and tutored a 150-hour unit on Storytelling for Southern Cross University - the first of its kind at an Australian University. In 2001 I completed my Masters Research on Storytelling in a cross-cultural situation (post-apartheid South Africa). I have presented papers on my therapeutic storytelling work at many World Conferences, including the Fifth International Action Research Conference in Ballarat, Australia in 2000; the first International Conference on ‘Imagination in Education’ in Vancouver, Canada, in 2003; the International Kolisko Conference in Cape Town, South Africa in 2006; and 'This Examined Life' - a national Medical Conference - at Iowa University, U.S. in 2013 . From 2015 to 2021 I have been the keynote at various National Teachers and Health Conferences in Australia, Denmark, the US and the UK, and at International Storytelling Conferences hosted in Chennai, Portugal and Singapore.
WECAN National Teachers Conference, upstate New York, Feb 2017
Guest speaker, International Woman’s Day - pictured with Olive Stobart, Lennox Head VIEW Club ‘Woman of the Year’.
Book Launch, Barcelona, April 2016
Sept 2019 - Therapeutic Story Writing Seminar (an extension of the LitFest) in Bangalore for 25 Storywallahs and Children’s Authors from across India ... a creative dynamic group ... many stories were birthed!
Slovenian Book Launch, Ljubljana - 10th April 2018
Current Work: Today my time is spent writing, consulting with teachers, parents and therapists, and running seminars on therapeutic story-writing. I travel internationally - from China to Africa, Europe to America and across my own sun-drenched land of Australia. I also offer online courses for specialist groups. When I am home I enjoy walking, kayaking and camping, and lots of family time.
My collections have been translated into many languages, including Mandarin (simplified Chinese), Korean, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Croatian, Portuguese, Spanish. Slovenian and Serbian (Turkish and Vietnamese and Danish in process). The Japanese translation, commissioned by Tokyo Shoseki, has been a most important project. Entitled 'Stories to Grow the Hearts of Children' it includes therapeutic stories of hope and resilience for the families that survived the 2011 tsunami.
I also have an e-book series - 'A Spoonful of Stories' - each book with a different theme. I have completed four so far, plus a children's novel entitled 'The Adventures of Little Silk' (see e-book links).
My latest book includes stories for all ages in the community - it is entitled ‘Stories to Light the Night: a Grief and Loss Collection for Children and Families’ - published by Hawthorn Press, 2021..
Storytelling Concert - 20th November 2022
Workshop for 60 grade teachers (classes 4,5,6) in Beijing, March 2019
Susan Perrow (M.Ed.) Curriculum Vitae
30 years experience in teaching, teacher training, storytelling and parent education
14 years experience running workshops for health professionals – psychologists, therapists, school counsellors, nurses and doctors
1986 – 1997: Founder and director of Periwinkle Children’s Centre - Byron Bay
2000: Developed the first Storytelling Course (150 hours) for an Australian University - Southern Cross, Lismore, NSW
2001: completed a Masters Research on Storytelling in a cross-cultural situation – post apartheid South Africa
2001 – 2003: Funded by the Australian Government to pilot creative courses and resources for children with challenging behaviour – CARE Program, Byron Council
International lecturer, teacher trainer and mentor since 1994
2008: Resource book on ‘Healing Stories’ published by Hawthorn Press (UK). Now translated into several languages, including Chinese, Korean, Portuguese and Croatian.
2012 - Second resource book – ‘Therapeutic Storytelling: 101 Healing Stories for Children’ – published by Hawthorn Press (UK)
E-book series launched via Kindle Direct Publishing in Feb 2013 - 'A SPOONFUL OF STORIES (see e-book page).
2017 - Third resource book - An A – Z Collection of Behaviour Tales: From Angry Ant to Zestless Zebra - published 2017 by Hawthorn Press (UK)
2021 - Fourth resource book - Stories to Light the Night: A Grief and Loss Collection for Children, Families and Communities - published 2017 by Hawthorn Press (UK)