Mara Menzies is an award-winning performance storyteller and author.
Her storytelling production ‘Blood and Gold’ explores the legacy of colonialism and slavery through myth, legend and fantasy. It won the coveted Stage award at the Edinburgh Fringe 2022 for Acting Excellence, and Mara’s novel of the same name won the Scottish Saltire Society Book of Fiction award 2022. Mara is passionate about the power and value of stories. She is a keynote speaker, she leads workshops, and is one of a handful of storytellers in the world who crafts and performs bespoke stories for global organisations. Mara draws on her rich dual Kenyan and Scottish cultural heritage to create stories that explore our deepest fears, joys, loves, jealousies, passions and mysteries. She has been invited to perform in over 30 countries around the world.
WRITING
Mara is an award-winning author with her debut novel ‘Blood and Gold’ winning Saltire Society’s Book of Fiction 2022. Her stories have been featured on BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio 4 including ‘The Poet and the Echo’. She has written private commissions for the University of Edinburgh, the Mastercard Foundation, performed for She writes for MOSAIC and is currently working on her next novel.
STORYTELLING CURATOR of PANGA YA SAIDI / Chief Dreamer
Inspired by how Scotland uses its stories, Mara is the founder of ‘Msitu wa Ndoto’ (Forest of Dreams), a social enterprise committed to the pursuit of stories as ways to foster a more equitable, imaginative, thoughtful and compassionate society, that can recognise and engage with the abundance that surrounds them. Through Msitu wa Ndoto, Mara became the Chief Dreamer for Panga ya Saidi (Saidi’s Cave), the site of Africa’s oldest human burial site that has been left in guardianship by Saidi’s descendants. In 2017, archaeologists unearthed Mbitsi, a young child who is believed to be over 78,000 years old. The ritual and positioning of Mbitsi, indicated burial, raising questions as to the ancient spirituality of our ancestors of that period. Mara is working with the cave, the surrounds and the community, to create a centre for learning about the geology, ancestral worship, spirituality, customs and practices of the Mijikenda people.
KWA MARA (Eco Retreat)
Passionate about nature and culture. Imbued with a love of the ocean and the forest, she decided to fulfill her dream of building a treehouse. Employing artists and dreamers, and using local materials wherever possible, they imagined and crafted one of the most unusual and beautiful rustic homes on the Kenyan coast. With an ever-changing view and spectacular scenery around, the now four properties, constitute an extraordinarily special place. All are constructed with earth, wood and coconut thatch and are 100% off grid with solar energy and rain water. The sounds of the call to prayer, the squawking ibis, and the nightly chattering of our regular bush baby visitors mean it is not quiet, but these are sounds that are good for the soul.
