David is an international storyteller, teacher trainer and writer of educational resources. He appears at major conferences and festivals as well as more intimate events in Britain and around the world.
He tells stories from the world’s oral cultures with a belief in the power of storytelling to bring people together.
As a teacher trainer David runs storytelling courses and workshops for teachers and storytellers from diverse backgrounds and with different levels of experience. He also offers one-to-one storytelling coaching.
It’s not too late – email me if you’d like to register to get the video recording of the brilliant Global Online Conference 4 October 2025
David leads the Creative and Engaging Storytelling for Teachers global online course
David is the author of the Teacher Development book Storytelling With Our Students: Techniques for telling tales from around the world.
David is also the author of many practical articles and chapters on creative teaching ideas as well as the Teacher Resource book Spontaneous Speaking: Drama activities for confidence and fluency.
David has initiated two ongoing projects in support of Palestinian human rights – you are all invited to participate.
David and Haneen Khaled Jadallah from Gaza are currently collaborating with teachers, students and storytellers around the world on the global voluntary project Tell a Child in Gaza’s Tale.
We are sharing videos of stories told by children in Gaza and we invite you and everybody you know to choose a story, retell it and share it around the world. You are returning the hospitality shown from their homes in Gaza by these wonderful young storytellers.
Here are the stories: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BKu7JPXmONEB6y5cbeGlUW6zWi3SmRAP/view
Here is the YouTube playlist with the retellings from around the world and the most recent stories from Gaza https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj-mcWeMmSZw63V5abQ4fw3JIITI_S_kS&si=TV7bPTeN7TcTVOBl
To find out more about the project, read this article by Haneen Khaled Jadallah and David Heathfield https://www.hltmag.co.uk/feb24/tell-a-child-in-gazas-tale
If I Must Die by Dr Refaat Alareer in many languages and voices is an ongoing global project.
Poet, storyteller and teacher Refaat Alareer was killed along with close family in an airstrike on 6 December 2023. Already the invitation to recite his extraordinary poem If I Must Die in many languages and voices has made this growing playlist a testament to the power of the spoken word in calling for change. Read this article by Haneen Khaled Jadallah and me https://www.hltmag.co.uk/apr24/if-i-must-die
You can contribute to this ever expanding playlist https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj-mcWeMmSZx5E2Tw6c7SA4Kdk1421SJc&si=ascJcp7taukcESq1
David Heathfield – English
Sef Townsend – Yiddish
Despina Varda Avraamides – Greek and English
Letty Segura – Spanish
Georgia from Cyprus’ 12-year-old daughter – English
Ruth Kirkpatrick – Scots
Mechthild Lier – German
Mwana Ummy Ally and Tina Mtui – English and Kiswahili
Rebeca Robles – Spanish and English
Evi Karydi and da T5ughter Neleia- English and Greek together
Fiona Collins – Welsh
Jackie Ross – Doric
Şüheda Şahin – Turkish
Tammy Heathfield – French
Zahra Rezaei Afsah – Farsi
Zahra Afsah and Mehdi Farhadian – Farsi
Sara (9) – Italian
Torgrim Mellum Stene – Norwegian
Lightness Isojick – Iraqw
Lightness Isojick and her eleven-year-old daughter Rosemary – English and Iraqw
Farah Saeed – Urdu
Fahima Begum – Bengali
Zahid – Baluchi
Sejuti – Portuguese
Lisa Schneidau – English
Nicholas Pawlowski – English
Simona Stambazzi – Italian
Sowmya Rajan Srinivasan – Tamil
Shilpa Story Rack – Hindi
Poonam S Joshy – Hindi
Rukhsana Rukhsana Parveen Haque – Assamese
Tracy Chipman – English
Anagha Prasad – Kannada
Sree Karuna – Telugu
Min Wild – Afrikaans
Mariela Mondaca – Spanish
Deepa Ahuja Ramani – Sindhi
Lavanya Prasad – dialect of Tamil (sung)
Neena Girish – Malayalam
Dayang Kasimeh – Bahasa Melayu
Dayang Kasimeh – English
Kenza Omayr – Arabic
Larisa Chernova – Ukrainian
10-year-old learners of English in Greece – English
Anuschka De Coster – Dutch
Vera Cabrera Duarte – Portuguese
Ina Dafinescu – Romanian
Xie Rong – English
Shikha Gurung – Nepali
Polina Tšerkassova – Estonian
Xie Rong – Mandarin Chinese
Polina Tserkassova – Russian
Gina Ben David – Hebrew
Riikke Palonen – Finnish
Krysztof Daletski – Esperanto
Vivika and Eirini – English and Greek
Xie Rong – English and Mandarin Chinese and All of Us in Many Languages and Voices
Kimwei McCarthy, Ami Lee and Emily Grossman – English
Heloisa Chen – Mandarin Chinese
Gerhard Erasmus – Afrikaans/ Sondra and Ivory – Taiwanese (also called Min Nan Yu or Hokkien)/ Emily and Marco – Mandarin Chinese
If I Must Die – Dr Refaat Alareer
If I must die,
you must live
to tell my story
to sell my things
to buy a piece of cloth
and some strings,
(make it white with a long tail)
so that a child, somewhere in Gaza
while looking heaven in the eye
awaiting his dad who left in a blaze –
and bid no one farewell
not even to his flesh
not even to himself –
sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up
above
and thinks for a moment an angel is there
bringing back love
If I must die
let it bring hope
let it be a tale.
David’s global storytelling project with RAMM, Exeter’s museum, is Around the World in 88 Tales https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvtZwXey1PYKW2YH_C9Hso3W9arBgELJ6
David’s main interests are in student creativity and celebrating cultural diversity through story telling and drama – explore David’s YouTube Channel.
David is a member of the Society for Storytelling.
David Heathfield 