Born in Manchester of Jamaican parentage, Jan Blake has an international reputation for dynamic, witty, exciting storytelling since she first embarked on this phase of her life in 1986. Specialising in stories from Africa and the Caribbean Jan has featured at all the major storytelling festivals in the UK and has performed and run storytelling workshops throughout the world. In Britain Jan has developed close links with theatres such as The Royal National Theatre , The London Philharmonic Orchestra , The National Concert Hall of Ireland, The Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, Battersea Arts Centre, and The Unicorn Theatre for Children .

In 1998 Jan  launched The Akua Storytelling Project, her own Storytelling Company and school for new storytellers in the UK Since 2001 she has been the resident storyteller/consultant at the Royal National Theatre, devising educational projects to run alongside the National Theatre’s annual storytelling festival WORD ALIVE! This involves training people to deliver the scheme of work in schools, as well as performing herself in the festival each year.  She is a regular contributor to Radio 4  on the BBC as a storyteller and commentator on African & Caribbean folklore, and has recently worked with presenter & broadcaster Adrian Chiles, on developing his storytelling skills for his Monday morning programme. She is sometimes an actress and, as Jan Alphonse has worked extensively in both theatre and TV over the past 20 years, working with Victoria Wood, Michelle Collins & Dawn French in BBC television dramas. In November 2004, Jan was privileged to be asked to perform stories in the presence of HRH Prince Charles and The Duchess of Cornwall (then Camilla Parker Bowles).

Jan’s first children’s book “Give Me My Yam” was published by Walker Books  for their  ‘Reading Together’ series during National Book Week April 1998. “Give me my Yam” is now enjoying its 8^th reprint.