Biography
Frances Roberts-Reilly is of mixed-heritage Welsh Gypsy-English, a descendant of Abram Wood, the notable family of Romany musicians and storytellers.
She has entertained audiences on CBC radio, at Guelph’s Bookshelf and Enabling Garden, the Celtic Roots Festival in Goderich, Baden Storytellers Guild and Latitudes International Storytellers festival. She has also performed for seniors in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Storytelling performances
Frances performs with her harp, the gypsy stories bought by her Romany family to 
Wales. Magical tales rich with the mystery of the Welsh landscape, gypsy stories hail from another time and place.
Many follow a well-trodden path that seems eternally familiar, all the usual patterns and echoes of enthralling fairytales can be heard in them.
And yet, the gypsy’s own story of journeying from the known into the unknown world infuses their stories with strange moments that have traveled with them all the way from India to Europe and now to Canada.
Spoken word performances
Frances is also a published and acclaimed poet. She performs spoken word with harp. A set of 5 poems – Places of the Heart – complete with musical interludes, which takes the audience on a musical journe .
Audio clip
Listen to a clip from Ancestors Story as told on CBC Radio’s First Person Singular.
Frances Roberts Reilly 