Rona Barbour was born one of eight children, to registered blind parents in Glasgow, Scotland. Although some people assume this must have been a difficult time, it was far from it, and was in fact a gift. Storytelling was a major part of her upbringing as she comes from a long line of storytellers. From the age of five, her task was to keep her younger brother occupied by telling him stories. Her older siblings had always told her tales and her father’s stories, often told in the dark, were truly inspiring. In 1996 she and her husband adopted the two youngest of their five children and she offered her services as a storyteller in local schools. She then gave up a successful but pressured career to become a full-time storyteller. She is a consultant in education with NIACE and for ten years has tutored the tutors in schools and universities across the UK and beyond on the benefits of using storytelling as a teaching tool. This has taken her all over the world – as far afield as Russia and the USA. She has also performed at international festivals – most recently in Jakarta and Marrakech.