Narratives of Nature: The Power of Story and Myth

Stories shape how we see the world—and nature is no exception. This event brings together professional storytellers Clare Murphy and Marcus Fagon (Myths with Marcus), alongside University of Bath researcher Stephanie Merchant, to explore how myth and narrative can deepen our connection to the natural world. The discussion will consider storytelling both as a tool within research and as a powerful influence in everyday life.

Meet the Panel

Marcus Fagon

Marcus creates spaces for people to connect deeply with imagination, ancestry, and Soul through performance storytelling. Marcus is of dual heritage—Black Afro-Caribbean and White European—he shares myths and folktales from both lineages. 
 
The stories are never told by rote; each telling is a unique rediscovery, guided by imagination, lived experience, and the energies present in the room. His intention is to cultivate a co-created space, animated by ancestral images, participant reflections, and felt emotions—a dialogue between the ancestors, the participants, and, when the moment is right, Soul.

Stephanie Merchant

Dr Stephanie Merchant is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Health at the University of Bath. Her work explores how gender, nature and physical activity shape lived experiences of health, wellbeing and embodiment. Working across the social sciences of sport, leisure and environment, she is particularly attentive to the sensorial, relational and more than human dimensions of movement practices such as running, swimming and outdoor recreation. 
 
Her scholarship draws on theorists whose ideas unfold through layered storytelling and textured prose, most notably Donna Haraway. Influenced by this tradition, she treats writing not simply as a means of representation but as a methodological practice in its own right. Through narrative, vignette and experimental forms, she seeks to unsettle conventional distinctions between story and data, memory and fact, and analysis and experience. Her work foregrounds the generative possibilities of writing as both inquiry and dissemination, opening space for more embodied and publicly engaged forms of scholarship.

Clare Murphy

Clare is an oral storyteller and has been telling stories on stages, in universities, castles, roundtowers and all sorts of places since 2006. 
 
Clare's storytelling performances include ancient myth, folklore, quantum physics, history and modern stories in productions that tour worldwide. Her latest show, The Spanking Goddess and Other Discarded Tales is based on the forgotten stories of wild women in history, and is currently touring.

Requested to speak at Embassies, Universities and international gatherings, Clare gives speeches that explore wonder and how story transforms people and culture. 
She trains limbless veterans, firefighters, NASA scientists, schoolchildren, NHS workers, Forest School leaders and the All-Blacks coaches. Clare swiftly injects resilience and curiosity into each environment. She also runs Salons connecting arts, medicine, sport, education, climate activists and parents in a collaborative inquiry space. Clare's work, both performance and teaching, is centered around using Story to re-humanize humans for almost 20 years.

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Host or Publisher University of Bath