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Leon Conrad
ALLi Author Member
Location: United Kingdom (the)
Genres: General Nonfiction, Academic, Art & Crafts, Philosophy, Narrative Nonfiction, Other, Advice & How To, Other Poetry, Writing & Publishing, History, Children's general
Skills: Performance/Spoken Word, Press/Media Interview, Reading/Literary Event, Self-publishing Workshop/Training, Speaking Engagement/Lecture, Writing Workshop
Leon Conrad is a Story Structure Consultant, Storyteller, and Writer, based in London, UK. His book, 'Story and Structure: A complete guide' won ten awards including the IPNE Nonfiction Book of the Year 2022 and was a finalist in The People's Book Prize. Leon is the Author of the Year Award recipient 2024 (Corporate LiveWire).
Linktree: @leonconradstory (http://linktr.ee/leonconradstory)
He is Founder of The Unknown Storyteller Project (www.leonconrad.com), Founder and Lead Tutor at The Traditional Tutor (www.traditionaltutor.co.uk), Co-Founder and Lead Trainer at The Academy of Oratory (www.academyoforatory.com), and Affiliate at the Next Society Institute (www.nextsocietyinstitute.com). He teaches historic needlework techniques and publishes through his embroidery business, Leon Conrad Designs (www.etsy.com/uk/shop/LeonConradDesigns).
Find out more at www.leonconrad.com.
Leon has run training courses in voice-centred communication skills for business for over 20 years. In 2007, he was poet-in-residence at the first Edinburgh Food Festival and was invited back to be poet-in-residence at the Pleasance Dome the following year. He has written and produced shows combining traditional storytelling and performance poetry which have been performed in Edinburgh and London, the most recent being "Under The Arabian Moon", a retelling of stories from The Arabian Nights at The Roundhouse in 2009.
He is fluent in five languages (English, French, Italian, Russian and Arabic) and trains in all five. He has published several articles in academic journals and trade magazines on the subject of effective communication, and been interviewed on BBC Breakfast television as an expert in the subject. In 2012, he co-hosted 'The Talking Shop', a series of radio shows with Giles Abbott, about different aspects of storytelling.
His approach to education stems from his passion for reviving the integrated approach to teaching the classical liberal arts, particularly the word-based Trivium of logic, grammar and rhetoric, as well as taking a combined historical and modern approach to the number-based Quadrivium. He offers tutoring in this approach to students and was a regular columnist for 'Flight Line Magazine' for speakers of English as a second or other language in Russia and the CIS.
Leon studied voice with The British Voice Association and at Princeton University. He holds a Master's Degree in the History of Design and Material Culture of the Renaissance from the Royal College of Art, and a graduate diploma from the Trinity College of Music in London. He is a City and Guilds Adult and Further Education Qualified Trainer.
From 2013 onwards, Leon regularly explored the links between mathematics, language and logic with polymath Professor George Spencer-Brown, author of Laws of Form. (https://vimeo.com/359954407) Leon was Spencer-Brown's last student.
Leon has given a TEDx talk with marimba player Aristel Skribic about The Magic of Words (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYit3MYAoqM)
Leon studied blackwork embroidery techniques with master embroiderer Jack Robinson; he has taught for various branches of The Embroiderers’ Guild (UK), The Historic Needlework Guild (USA), The Knitting and Stitching Shows and Madeira Embroidery Shows (UK), A Sampler Gathering (USA), Ackworth School Sampler Guild (UK), The V&A Museum, The National Maritime Museum, The National Trust and English Heritage. He was the first person in 400 years to successfully decode Plaited Braid Stitch.
Leon Conrad's books
Master the Art and Craft of Writing: 150+ fun games to liberate creativity
Unlock your creative potential with 150+ inspiring writing games!
Dive into a treasure trove of writing games designed to ignite your creativity and elevate your writing. This book is a comprehensive collection of engaging and effective exercises tailored for writers at all levels. Whether you're a beginner eager to find your voice, a seasoned writer exploring new genres, or a professional honing your craft, you'll discover invaluable techniques that will transform your writing journey.
Simple rules, endless possibilities
Great games have simple rules, allowing you to master, break, and transcend them. This book celebrates the essence of creativity, beginning and ending in the silence where inspiration thrives. In between, it invites you to play—with sounds, words, language, and stories.
What's inside:
For beginners: Find your voice and build confidence with foundational games.
For developing writers: Explore new genres and refine your skills.
For established writers: Hone your craft and push the boundaries of your creativity.
Why you'll love this book:
Engage in activities that spark your imagination.
Improve your writing technique through tried and tested writing games.
Enjoy playing with different approaches to writing.
Add a wealth of fun tools to your writer’s toolbox and make language come alive within you.
Play the game of writing. Play the game of life.
Writing can be fun!
Supercharge your writing skills and power up the way you use words.
Channel your inner muse—one game at a time.
Devised by Leon Conrad, storyteller, tutor, writer and multi-award winning author of Story & Structure: A Complete Guide.
Story and Structure: A complete guide
Winner of the IPNE Book of the Year Award 2022 and IPNE Informational Nonfiction Book Award 2022
Winner: Firebird Award for New Nonfiction; IAN Book of the Year Awards Finalist; Finalist in The People's Book Prize 2022.
This is one of a Special Numbered Edition limited to only 450 copies, each signed by the author.
"a flexible and precise system ... lays bare the absolute essence of all the imaginable story forms. ... It's a powerful tool for storytellers and scholars and will change forever how you view the simple but profound act of saying “Once upon a time.”
Christopher Vogler, author of The Writer's Journey
“A scholarly and intricately detailed analysis of the writing process.”
Joan Singleton, screenwriter/producer
Harness the power of story to access more flow in your life.
Story and Structure tells the untold story of how story works. Using just six primary symbols, it outlines eighteen story structures and shows how they all contain optimal solutions to the different kinds of problems which give rise to each of them.
The book starts where Christopher Booker and Joseph Campbell leave off. It reveals hitherto unfathomed depths to narrative, demonstrates a much wider application of storytelling than is generally perceived and presents story as a dynamic force of life.
Writers, storytellers, creative writing teachers, folklorists, narrative therapists, anthropologists, poets, and readers interested in how story works will all find this book useful and informative.
Rethink your idea of story.
Leon Conrad is author of 'History Riddles', 'Odyssey: Dynamic Learning System' (with David Pinto), and 'Aesop the Storyteller'. He is a storyteller and story structure consultant, based in London, UK.
Aesop the Storyteller: A collection of fables retold in verse
Will the stag escape the hunters? Did the lion eat the mouse? And why exactly did the fox invite the stork round to share a meal?
Find your own answers to these questions as you engage with the stories retold here by Leon Conrad in the rich oral storytelling tradition. The layout of this book is specially designed to encourage reading aloud. The fables are perfectly complemented by Alessandro Scafi’s charming illustrations. Leon’s virtuosic readings of the poems are also available
as an audio book.
So awaken your mind and lend me an ear –
Come, free your senses. I'll take you to where
There's a magical place, filled with creatures with flair –
A country of wolf, sheep, of crow, stork and bear,
Of talking trees, rabbits, the fox in his lair …
The power of these stories will take us right there.
History Riddles
Enjoy stories? Enjoy history? You’ll love this book! How well do you know your history? Pit your wits against this collection of 30 cultural riddles featuring popular historical stories and legends. Engage with these riddles out of sheer fun and curiosity as a reader, or use them when facilitating an /Odyssey Dynamic Learning System/ journey (Liberalis Books, 2015). You’ll find they intrigue, tease, inform, educate, enlighten, and entertain. Still guessing? There are clues to help you. Think you’ve cracked them? Check out the background information for the answers and for suggestions on exploring topics further. How many riddles will you be able to solve?
Odyssey Dynamic Learning System: An Innovative Approach to Inspirational Learning Experiences
Imagine you're in a room, looking at a colourful grid of many different shapes spread out on a wall. There's something intriguing about it - something almost magical. There are triangles, circles, squares, stars. Each has something on it - a word or diagram. There's one shape of each colour ... placed in a strange formation ... what could the underlying pattern be? It's as if each shape is a door or window to another world; the whole display a chocolate box for the mind - a magical carriage to take you on a journey through your imagination. Get ready to embark on your very own Odyssey journey - a unique journey unlike any you've ever gone on before.