Trails of Tales that Travel
Trails of Tales that Travel
Books are a portal to another world, they give us freedom, adventure and knowledge.
by Danni Murphy
Michelle Russell knows this and over the last few years her and co-publisher Richard O’Neill have created a platform, Trails of Tales that Travel, for budding authors and storytellers to have their own children’s stories published.
Hailing from Carlisle and having a background in education from working for many years in schools and nurseries Michelle developed a passion for the power of storytelling and has seen first hand the effect stories have on children, she said:
“Books can do amazing things for children and nothing raises awareness about diversity, disability and kindness like books can.”
Many of the wonderful stories they have published or written centre around particular diversities in our society, whether its about representing different communities such as their books based on the Showman travelling community or disabilities as with the book they worked on with local mum Shefaly Begum whose beautiful book Saarah and Her Princess Throne which centres around Shefaly’s late daughter Saarah Ahmed and aims to tackle the stigma around disabilities in a way that children can engage with and understand.
Armed with their writing and illustrative skills Michelle and Richard are very sought after and have been approached by huge publishers such as Harper Collins, Bloomsbury and Pearson to create various books.
They work closely with various schools, nurseries and universities and have created books for particular educational settings, Michelle said: “One of the most wonderful books we worked on was for a primary school in Bradford which aimed to act as an educational tool about the local history of the area. We actually had six year 5’s work with us to do the research and be part of the editing process which was really fun and brilliant for them. Their book Broad Ford to Bradford is now available in all the local Bradford primary schools which is really amazing.”
Another fantastic project they worked on took them to Slovakia where Michelle and Raj Kumari-Byford who worked with the project took translated books to Ukarainan refugee children, their book’s One Though and One Koala were translated from English to Ukrainian by local Carlisle mum Alla Stoica, Michelle said:
“It was an amazing and humbling experience, to see the look on the children’s faces reading something that we had written, translated into their own language was really lovely.”
Michelle and Richard are always looking to help other budding storytellers where they can and are open to anyone who has an idea or interest in writing a children’s book but doesn’t know where to begin, Michelle said:
“Everyone has a story to tell or an idea – we just want to be able to help others get their stories, especially stories that raise awareness, out there to others and hopefully help to raise funds for various charities and causes along the way.”
If you are an individual, educational setting or organisation that would like more information and help on publishing your own book or you
would simply like to gain access to some of the books already published visit the website at: www.theactivitybus.co.uk/contact-us
Alternatively some of their books are available to purchase at The Emporium in Carlisle and also The Happy Herdwick at Oaktree Animal Charity in Wetheral.
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