Hugh Lupton is a British storyteller, one of the most prominent figures in the tradition of oral storytelling.
Early life and career
Lupton was born in 1952, the eldest child of Francis G. H. Lupton and Mary Gee/Lupton.[1] He is the great nephew of Arthur Ransome (1884-1967) whom, as a boy, he often visited. Lupton can recall hearing his great uncle's classic children's stories set in Norfolk and the Lake District. "He (Ransome) was very old by then, in his dotage, but I remember him and stories were very important as I grew up." Lupton was born in Cambridgeshire, where there was much family heritage, and educated at the King's College School, Cambridge. He studied to become a teacher in Norwich. As of 2013 he was based at Spratt's Green near Aylsham.[2][3][4][5]
Lupton co-founded the Company of Storytellers (with Ben Haggarty [de] and Sally Pomme Clayton) in 1985,[6][7] and for a while ran a branch of The Crick Crack Club in Norfolk. Lupton tells a wide variety of stories, including epics such as Iliad and Odyssey, but also collections of shorter stories such as I become part of it (tales from the pre-world) and folktales such as The Three Snake Leaves (tales from the Grimm Forest).
Children's books
Freaky Tales from Far and Wide (1999)
Norfolk Songline: Walking the Peddars Way (2000)
The Songs of Birds: Poems and Stories from Many Cultures (2000)
Tales of Wisdom and Wonder (2000), ill. Niamh Sharkey
Pirican Pic and Pirican Mor (2003)
The Gingerbread Man (2003)
The Story Tree: Tales to Read Aloud (2005), ill. Sophie Fatus
Riddle Me this: Riddles and Stories to Sharpen Your Wits (2007), ill. Sophie Fatus
Tales of Mystery and Magic (2010), ill. Agnese Baruzzi
la voz de los sueñosy otros cuentos(2003)
With Daniel Morden
Lupton and the Welsh storyteller Daniel Morden have written several volumes retelling ancient Greek stories.
The Adventures of Odysseus (2006), illustrated by Christina Balit
The Adventures of Achilles (2012), ill. Carole Hénaff
Theseus and the Minotaur (2013), ill. Hénaff
Orpheus and Eurydice (2013), ill. Hénaff
Demeter and Persephone (2013), ill. Hénaff
Greek Myths: Three Heroic Tales (2017), ill. Carole Hénaff
Awards
Lupton won the "Hodja Cup" (named for the Mulla Nasreddin: "The truth is something I have never spoken.") at The Crick Crack Club's renowned Grand Lying Contest[8] in 2010.
References
^"Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 2 November 2014.