AN INTIMATE afternoon of original music and storytelling will be held at The Island Centre in St Ives this September.

Songbird Anna presents her acclaimed show, Bloodlines and Ballads, at this year's St Ives September Festival on Friday, September 18 at 5pm.

Bloodlines and Ballads is a captivating blend of original folk-inspired songs, storytelling and the distinctive sound of the autoharp. Through music and narrative, Songbird Anna explores family history, coastal communities, heritage and the forgotten stories that connect us across generations.

Songbird Anna is the performing name of Cheshire-born singer-songwriter Anna Fern, whose contemporary folk songs are inspired by real lives, ancestry and social history.

Her performances combine warm vocals with the beautiful, atmospheric tones of the autoharp, creating a unique and engaging live experience. The show features songs inspired by maritime communities, miners, Irish heritage and ordinary lives from the past.

Highlights include We'll Remember Them, inspired by the victims of the 1859 Royal Charter shipwreck off Anglesey, Sail on James, inspired by Anna's third great-grandfather, a 19th-century mariner from North Devon, and Ramsgate Beach, inspired by a 1924 seaside postcard celebrating the nostalgia of traditional British seaside holidays.

The songs of Bloodlines and Ballads have been described as "heartfelt and carefully crafted" and has been praised for "the balance between the personal and the universal", exploring "belonging, love, loss, resilience and the traces people leave behind."

Now based on Anglesey, Anna has become a popular performer at festivals, heritage events and community venues, where audiences are drawn into stories of place, memory and belonging through her original songwriting.

To book tickets, visit: www.tickettailor.com/events/songbirdanna/2210960