Mike O'Connor OBE is a long-time resident of St Ervan in his adopted home of Cornwall. In his younger days a pilot, sailor, and mountaineer, he is now known as a musician, musicologist, composer, oral storyteller, folklorist, and author. Mike is truly a renaissance man and tradition-bearer.
A bard of Gorsedh Kernow, his bardic name is ‘Crowder’ – Fiddle Player. Lauded in many fields, he is known for his work on the traditional music and original songs in TV's 'Poldark'. He has found and transcribed many manuscripts of Cornish music, and for his research and writing he was awarded the Henwood medal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall.
Mike has worked as a professional storyteller for over thirty years, learning especially from Duncan Williamson and Taffy Thomas, and working as a resident storyteller for the Forestry Commission. He has a huge repertoire of fireside tales and his longer tales, often performed with Barbara Griggs on harp have included Tristan and Iseult and the Odyssey. Their performance of ‘Return to Lyonesse’ won a British Award for Storytelling Excellence, storytelling’s BAFTA. He has performed at Storytelling Clubs and Festivals throughout the land.
At the Gorsedh Kernow Holyer an Gof publishers’ awards many of Mike’s books have been shortlisted, and ‘Above the Tin Stream’ (co-written with Barbara Griggs), ‘Seal Song’ and ‘Firecrow’ all won their classes. ‘The Children of Arganteilin’, a history of the harp in Cornwall, co-written with Barbara Griggs, is a pioneering work of musical scholarship. His very successful Cornish Folktales, Cornish Folktales for Children, Isles of Scilly Folktales, and Fools and Wise Men are beautifully crafted and impeccably researched re-tellings of traditional folktales. Mike’s History of Storytelling in Cornwall is a pioneering but accessible work, published by History Press.
