Articles, Magazine, Newsletters

One of the most striking statistics to emerge from the COVID crisis was recently published in a study led by Susan Hillis, an epidemiologist at the Center for Disease Control in the journal Pediatrics. It estimates that “For every four COVID-19 deaths, one child was left behind without a mother, father and/or a grandparent who […]

By Jessica Robinson, Better Said Than Done As the number of new covid cases start to go down in many areas of the country, more and more events are going hybrid. As a show producer – I produce Better Said Than Done out of Fairfax, VA – and a video producer – I run a […]

By Danni Altman-Newell, Director of Operations Juneteenth recognizes the effective end of slavery in the United States. As the President signs the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act today, NSN is proud to show its respect for and honor the resilience of the Black community by including Juneteenth as an official company holiday to provide a […]

Teaching Us Wonder: Turkey embarks on cultural mission to preserve its folktales “The oral folktales of the Anatolian plateau are a remarkable blend of storytelling motifs and traditions…” Now, an academic project is collecting and indexing stories for future generations. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/jan/08/turkey-embarks-on-cultural-mission-to-preserve-its-fairytales?fbclid=IwAR0WU9zDRwRnLnitOUpFUBx-qs8O_MNfN-ZV9jZ5OdNJGhXn7RPZgXQw2f8

The Story of Storytelling – What the hidden relationships of ancient folktales reveal about their evolution—and our own “Once recorded, a story has the potential to live longer and spread farther than any other creature…Stories that earn the widest audiences over the longest stretches of time are exceedingly likely to continue surviving in one form […]

Seanchaí: The storytelling keepers of Ireland’s rich folklore heritage “In ancient Celtic society, bards held a position of esteem, second only to kings. Their stories and songs “were often the only historical record.” Through the years Bards evolved into seanchaís’ or storytellers who carried those stories from town to town, bringing the stories from ancient […]

Middle Ages Merlin manuscript found in Bristol University library “Seven hand-written fragments were found by the University of Bristol’s special collections librarian. Specialists analysing the pieces said they contained “subtle but significant” differences from the traditional story.” https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-47062919

How Stories Connect And Persuade Us: Unleashing the Brain Power of Narrative “When you listen to a story, whatever your age, you’re transported mentally to another time and place.” Research has shown that while listening to a has proven that A growing body of brain science offers even more insight into what’s behind these experiences.” […]

How Indigenous Oral Tradition Is Guiding Archaeology and Uncovering Climate History in Alaska In south-central Alaska a chief named Łtaxda’x (EL-tax-da) once owned “a dish hewn from the horn of a giant moose.” When he died, his brothers fought over this ceremonial platter of the Raven clan. As the legend continues, one of the brothers […]

African-American folklore inspires meeting of the minds Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. and Maria Tatar, Harvard scholars have co-authored “The Annotated African American Folktales,” that “illuminates and celebrates a narrative spirit both intimate and expansive…” The Harvard Gazette offers this wonderful article, a conversation with Gates and Tatar as they explain how storytelling motifs are […]

Native American Artist Rico Worl Designs U.S. Postage Stamp Rico Lanáat’ Worl, Alaskan artist, is the first member of the Tlingit tribe to design a U.S. postal stamp. Raven Story depicting raven stealing the stars. “I wanted to illustrate a moment of drama in a traditional Tlingit story.” He hopes it will inspire others to […]

At the National Storytelling Network, our mission is to advance all forms of storytelling within the community through promotion, advocacy, and education.   STORY NOW! Interview Series Story Now! Now from the boardroom to the classroom, and the page to the stage, personal stories and folktales are catalysts for change in every aspect of our […]

Newark, Del. (January 11, 2021) — Erin O’Neil, owner of Fishtail Publishing LLC and author of Gui Ren: Extraordinary Stories of Ordinary People is one of 30 literacy leaders named to the International Literacy Association’s (ILA) 2021 30 Under 30 list. The global list celebrates rising innovators, disruptors and visionaries in the literacy field. The […]

At the National Storytelling Network, our mission is to advance all forms of storytelling within the community through promotion, advocacy, and education.   STORY NOW! Interview Series Story Now! Now from the boardroom to the classroom, and the page to the stage, personal stories and folktales are catalysts for change in every aspect of our […]

At the National Storytelling Network, our mission is to advance all forms of storytelling within the community through promotion, advocacy, and education.   STORY NOW! Interview Series Story Now! Now from the boardroom to the classroom, and the page to the stage, personal stories and folktales are catalysts for change in every aspect of our […]

At the National Storytelling Network, our mission is to advance all forms of storytelling within the community through promotion, advocacy, and education.   STORY NOW! Interview Series The theme of our 2019 annual conference was Story Now! Now! From the boardroom to the classroom, and the page to the stage, personal stories and folktales are […]

Creating Original Ghost Stories with Cynthia Rintye How did I come to teach a workshop on ghost stories? Well, I certainly had no intention of becoming an expert on spooky tales or paranormal experiences. Then again, I had no intention of becoming the Queen of England, a professional Segway rider, or a teenage zombie trainer.  […]

HALLOWEEN GALA: The Adult Shows Some Reflections from JEFF GERE NSN Gala Planning Committee Alton Chung said it best: “I’m tired of going to spooky shows that are not spooky.” So here are the most twisted, supernatural, and disturbing tales we could fine. Lovers of horror, you will be pleased. Your guide on this journey […]

HALLOWEEN GALA: The KIDS Shows Some Reflections from JEFF GERE NSN Gala Planning Committee KIDS SHOWS in the AFTERNOONS The committee agreed: start with preschool chills, and grow more scary and tense for the older kids. Oh yes, get more spooky, but be fun. I think we’ve succeeded with some really great performances here. So […]

The HOUR of REVELATION is HERE! The Programming Committee is thrilled to announce NSN’s 2020 Halloween Gala Tellers! Oct 30: MISCHIEF NIGHT Haunted Story Slam (6pm Central US Time) YOU! Prepare your best 5-min true personal “Haunted” story & throw your name in the hat! Storied Costume Contest (8pm Central US Time) YOU! (Again!) Don […]

At the National Storytelling Network, our mission is to advance all forms of storytelling within the community through promotion, advocacy, and education. STORY NOW! Interview Series The theme of our 2019 annual conference was Story Now! Now! From the boardroom to the classroom, and the page to the stage, personal stories and folktales are catalysts […]

At the National Storytelling Network, our mission is to advance all forms of storytelling within the community through promotion, advocacy, and education. STORY NOW! Interview Series The theme of our 2019 annual conference was Story Now! Now! From the boardroom to the classroom, and the page to the stage, personal stories and folktales are catalysts […]

At the National Storytelling Network, our mission is to advance all forms of storytelling within the community through promotion, advocacy, and education. STORY NOW! Interview Series The theme of our 2019 annual conference was Story Now! Now! From the boardroom to the classroom, and the page to the stage, personal stories and folktales are catalysts […]

At the National Storytelling Network, our mission is to advance all forms of storytelling within the community through promotion, advocacy, and education. STORY NOW! Interview Series The theme of our 2019 annual conference was Story Now! Now! From the boardroom to the classroom, and the page to the stage, personal stories and folktales are catalysts […]

At the National Storytelling Network, our mission is to advance all forms of storytelling within the community through promotion, advocacy, and education. STORY NOW! Interview Series The theme of our 2019 annual conference was Story Now! Now! From the boardroom to the classroom, and the page to the stage, personal stories and folktales are catalysts […]

Guthrie Theater   May 7, 2020  A Message From Artistic Director Joseph Haj While this video is about theater, its message also applies to storytelling. This heartfelt video is about the future of theater and why nothing can replace the centuries-old tradition of gathering together.

At the National Storytelling Network, our mission is to advance all forms of storytelling within the community through promotion, advocacy, and education. STORY NOW! Interview Series The theme of our 2019 annual conference was Story Now! Now! From the boardroom to the classroom, and the page to the stage, personal stories and folktales are catalysts […]

The National Storytelling Network is launching a Kids YouTube Channel! With an interest in driving support for the Storyteller Relief Fund (now available for designated donations at storynet.org/donate), and in partnership with the Youth, Educators, & Storytellers Alliance SIG, NSN is collaborating with storytellers from all over the world to provide young learners with access […]

As we sit locked in our homes because of the invisible invasion known as a virus, I value the time to be reflective, to steal away from a tv series, but what I really appreciate are the stories from the storytellers. Although I am sometimes fearful of “the new normal,” I know in every scenario […]

At the National Storytelling Network, our mission is to advance all forms of storytelling within the community through promotion, advocacy, and education. STORY NOW! Interview Series The theme of our 2019 annual conference was Story Now! Now! From the boardroom to the classroom, and the page to the stage, personal stories and folktales are catalysts […]

CBC.CA   March 29, 2020 Stories let us share information in a way that creates an emotional connection. They help us to understand that information and each other, and it makes the information memorable. Because stories create an emotional connection, we can gain a deeper understanding of other people’s experiences. That not only helps us to […]

It is close to 7:00 P.M, the library closes in two hours.  People come in from the cold, some faces are familiar, there is older Flora and her daughter who consistently arrive before anyone else.  Strangers find a seat in the back only to hear “the best seats are up front.” The new bright purple […]

At the National Storytelling Network, our mission is to advance all forms of storytelling within the community through promotion, advocacy, and education. STORY NOW! Interview Series The theme of our 2019 annual conference was Story Now! Now! From the boardroom to the classroom, and the page to the stage, personal stories and folktales are catalysts […]

BBC.com   May 3, 2018 Today, the average adult is still thought to spend at least 6% of the waking day engrossed in fictional stories on our various screens. From an evolutionary point of view, that would be an awful lot of time and energy to expend on pure escapism, but psychologists and literary theorists have […]

By Kevin Cordi Challenges to Those Who Respond with Story – A Call Out to Storytellers One must continually reflect when they chose to take on the ‘mantle of storyteller’ or decide to use stories in their work and daily life. For over 25 years, I work to honor this mantle. This includes not only […]

At the National Storytelling Network, our mission is to advance all forms of storytelling within the community through promotion, advocacy, and education. STORY NOW! Interview Series The theme of our 2019 annual conference was Story Now! Now! From the boardroom to the classroom, and the page to the stage, personal stories and folktales are catalysts […]

CBS 21  December 14, 2019 Lancaster City was named the 6th “Welcoming City” in the U.S. this past September. As part of the Pennsylvania Refugee Resettlement program, 401 asylum seekers now call Lancaster home. And while Lancaster has many Amish families who have lived there for many generations, there’s not a lot of mixing between […]

ABC News   December 28, 2019 To foster communication between generations and enhance social participation on the part of the elderly, The Korean Studies Institute started the storytelling granny program in 2009 to train female senior citizens to tell old tales to kindergartners. “I tell over 30 stories to children in a year. I hope they […]

At the National Storytelling Network, our mission is to advance all forms of storytelling within the community through promotion, advocacy, and education. STORY NOW! Interview Series The theme of our 2019 annual conference was Story Now! Now! From the boardroom to the classroom, and the page to the stage, personal stories and folktales are catalysts […]

ABC News | December 28, 2019 By Hakyung Kate Lee The country has launched a program to nurture female seniors as storytellers. SEOUL, South Korea — Park Jeonghee, 64, donned a traditional Korean dress embroidered with tiny flowers and sat down in front of a class of preschoolers. Children gathered around her, their eyes twinkling […]

We are delighted to announce that two storytellers will receive the 2020 J.J. Reneaux Emerging Artist Award. As you may know, the Emerging Artist Award is presented every other year to a storyteller of major and unique performing talent who has not yet received wide public recognition. It is not, however, primarily an achievement award: […]

Harvard Business Review | October 16, 2018 by Jessica Zitter, MD, MPH I recently stood in front of a group of emergency room residents at my hospital and asked an unusual question. “Has any of you ever judged your attending physician for not trying hard enough to save a patient’s life?” Then I looked around […]

Marketplace | October 21, 2019 by Bennett Purser and Kai Ryssdal College degrees in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) are seen as lucrative, reliable path to a career. But an uptick in STEM majors since the financial crisis means English majors are down 25.5%, which appears to be worrying some economic leaders. That’s because […]

The Atlantic   December 2019 by Lin-Manuel Miranda “ll art is political. In tense, fractious times—like our current moment—all art is political. But even during those times when politics and the future of our country itself are not the source of constant worry and anxiety, art is still political. Art lives in the world, and we […]

At the National Storytelling Network, our mission is to advance all forms of storytelling within the community through promotion, advocacy and education. New Interview Series…STORY NOW! The theme of our 2019 annual conference was Story Now! Now! From the boardroom to the classroom, and the page to the stage, personal stories and folktales are catalysts […]

By Kevin Cordi Pleasant Journeys: Tales and Travel of who Lives Story October 24, 2019 It was 1992, I was honored to teach storytelling full time in California, according to NSN serving as “the first full-time high school storytelling teacher in the country.” However, at the time, even now, little curriculum was available on teaching […]

Addiction Professional   September 9, 2019 Matt Conway and T.J. Murphy started RecoverYdia (a hybrid of “recovery” and “media”) as “our response to a suffering world.” They want to counteract the loneliness that has enveloped a technology-connected world by using that world to share moments of personal triumph. Murphy says he and Conway have set out to […]

Portland Press Herald, Maine    September 8, 2019 As an immigrant from Brazil and a US citizen for 18 years, storyteller and mime Antonia Rocha hopes to show people there’s nothing to fear. Rocha treats his stories as bridges of understanding, and tells school kids he works with, “When you encounter something different – an […]

Forbes   September 8, 2019 First, acknowledge your audience’s point of view. People aren’t ready to hear anything disagreeable until they feel heard by having their ideas repeated back to them. Second, ask your audience to take you through the process of how they came to their point of view. This will probably reveal things they […]

At the National Storytelling Network, our mission is to advance all forms of storytelling within the community through promotion, advocacy and education. New Interview Series…STORY NOW! The theme of our 2019 annual conference was Story Now! Now! From the boardroom to the classroom, and the page to the stage, personal stories and folktales are catalysts […]

WDET Detroit’s NPR Station  Sept. 4, 2019 The storytelling podcast was part of the student’s three week leadership exchange program and gives an insight into the students’ world. Twenty one Iraqi college students came to Wayne State for three weeks over the summer to learn about American culture and democracy. They were here as part of […]

White Bear Press, White Bear, MN  Sept. 4, 2019 For the third year, the Many Faces – Many Stories collaboration returns to build community through storytelling. After exploring the history of the many groups of people who have called the White Bear Lake area home during the previous academic year, this year’s events will invite people […]

ScienceAlert.com  August 25, 2019 A team of consumer psychology researchers at Northwestern University have been investigating whether stories help convince people of facts, or have the opposite effect. Three experiments suggest that storytelling makes the ‘weaker’ facts easier to swallow and the strongest arguments significantly harder. In other words, storytelling might actually dilute strong facts while […]

Forbes   August 25, 2019 Humans are hardwired for narrative. We think in story, talk in story and connect with others through the power of story. Storytelling is at the heart of a novel program that’s expanding across VA medical facilities across the country. The “My Life, My Story” program uses patient narratives to build a stronger connection […]

The Chronicle   August 9, 2019   Recently the N.C. Association of Black Storytellers event at the National Black Theatre Festival delighted their audience, from the  young children to the older adults. The North Carolina Association of Black Storytellers, Inc., (NCABS) a part of the National Black Storytellers Association, has the goal of keeping alive the […]

CNBC  January 29, 2019 World-renowned primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall said: “So often, I see activists and they come face-to-face with a CEO or somebody — and they immediately become very aggressive (with phrases like): ‘Do you realize what you’re doing to the planet?’ (or) ‘Do you realize what you’re doing to my future?’” “So, […]

Jamaica Plain Gazette  July 12, 2019 Some of storyteller Diane Edgecomb’s most popular events are her Summer solstice events with Margot Chamberlain, a Celtic harpist, at Arnold Arboretum. These events are limited to around 30 people maximum, she said. However, at this past weekend’s event, the 18th, she said they were sold out “well in […]

Hemophilia New Today   June 21, 2019 A group of teens from a local bleeding disorders organization, HACA, (Hemophilia Association of the Capital Area, greater Washington, D.C.) , have stories to share as advocates for themselves or their siblings who have hemophilia. They worked with the StoryCorps app to bring their stories to life. StoryCorps gave them a […]

UToday, University of Calgary   June 24, 2019 In the Blackfoot tradition, stories are shared as a way to document history and to teach important life lessons. Siksika Elder and Horn Society member Natóóhkitopi Fred Breaker tells us, “Our culture is centred around an oral tradition, and our people learn orally, through storytelling. The stories were […]

The Journal   June 24, 2019 At  International Society for Technology in Education ISTE 2019 this week in Philadelphia, ed tech company Classcraft is launching a new “Story Mode” series, which uses storytelling to help teachers engage and motivate students. The series of ready-made stories begins with Classcraft: Season 1, a year-long adventure story that explores themes of self-discovery […]

BusinessWorld  July 3, 2019 With the unprecedented increase in the amount of data that businesses create, the potential value from data also increases. However, we can only realize the value of data when the insights we derive move people into action. The question is: How exactly can we do that? To move people into action, […]

Vox  June 20, 2015 Diana Orbelo, a speech-language pathologist at the Mayo Clinic who helps people with voice problems, offers much advice for those with problem voices and for those who are over-using their voices. Other experts offer videos which demonstrate exercises all storytellers can benefit from — exercises which “rebalance and recoordinate the vocal mechanism” […]

Uplift  March 21st, 2019 This article sites many ways in which storytelling can improve your mental health: Storytelling and our sense of self Telling happy stories improves your well being Creating stories and then acting them out helps children understand themselves storytelling is at the heart of health care examples of the healing power or […]

Times Union, Albany, NY   May 24, 2019 Since 2006, Children at the Well (C@W  http://www.childrenatthewell.org ) has brought teens from the Capital Region of New York State together to share their stories. Now the group has published a book so other educators and organizations can incorporate storytelling into their worlds using the C@W method. “Our […]

The Guardian May 19, 2017 Storytelling must be taught – it is more than simply an art – it is a crucial skill for life and commerce. People say children are natural storytellers, but this is not at all true, any more than it is of adults. Or rather, they are not naturally good storytellers. […]

The Stage London, UK   February 27, 2019 Researcher Andreas Schleicher, who is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading educational thinkers, said that too narrow a curriculum could also make young people less prepared for the demands of the future. He said British schools largely regard skills as inferior to knowledge, and can be […]

Lancashire Post   February 25, 2019 A spokesman for the We Share the Same Moon event said: “Join Storyteller Cassandra Wye and Astronomer Megan Argo on an amazing science and storytelling adventure – to the Moon and back. “It celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the Lunar Landing through Science and Story. “The event will start with […]

The New York Times   May 15, 2019 by N. Scott Momaday “In my tenure as a professor of English and American literature, it has been my good fortune to teach courses in Native American oral tradition. There is a formula in that tradition that goes: “In the beginning was the word, and it was spoken​. […]

NSN is proud to annually recognize individuals and organizations for their outstanding contributions to storytelling. Since their inception in 1995, the ORACLE Awards have been presented by the National Storytelling Network to those who have excelled in their art or made significant contributions to storytelling, NSN or its members. The ORACLE Awards will be presented […]

The Sydney Morning Herald    April 10, 2019 When Danielle Stewart attended the funerals of her grandparents she learnt many facts about their lives that were previously unknown to her. It got her thinking about the importance of storytelling, especially for the families of the elderly. In 2016 she started a company, My Word, whose […]

News at IU Bloomington      April 9, 2019 Taking advantage of his passion for art, Indiana University biologist Jake McKinlay is taking a creative approach to his advanced undergraduate course on microbial physiology and biochemistry this semester. “Humans are really wired to learn by storytelling,” McKinlay said. “Other people have done research on this, so I […]

The Christian Century  April 9, 2019 Rebecca Anderson, a Disciples of Christ pastor, got an idea after attending a packing Moth event: ‘Do we not have a true story to tell in community?’” The former stand-up comic did her booming preacher impression when describing that epiphany. The insight eventually led to Anderson joining with her […]

Smithsonian Magazine    November 2018 A Polish young woman, Renia Spiegel started her diary on Jan. 31, 1939 when she was 18 years old: “… Today, my dear diary, is the beginning of our deep friendship.” Left to right: Renia in Przemysl, 1930; Renia in 1936; Renia with her best friend, Nora, in Przemysl in […]

March 30, 2019  Wall Street Journal Storytelling is supposed to be bonding. But you need to get good at storytelling for the bonding to take place. Here are some tips to be a better storyteller: Have a point Open hot. Flesh out your characters. Build tension. Don’t exaggerate. Disclose somethings about yourself. If you’re telling […]

March 28, 2019  The Westminster Window, Englewood, Colorado Northglenn High School’s STEM program is looking for 14 volunteers from the community who have a knack for storytelling and the time to listen to a group of 10th graders’ tales. STEM Coordinator Leslie Foster said the volunteers will come into the school to help judge podcasts […]

March 26, 2019   The Gonzaga Bulletin On March 25, Gonzaga University Story Slam presented six stories under the theme ‘loose change’ to a packed audience in Wolff Auditorium. The student speakers offered snippets of privilege, depression, danger and even a moment to reflect on bigger issues. Past storyteller GU senior, Ethan Kane from the ‘swoon’ […]

March 24, 2019   Forbes Often job interviewees focus on their credentials and competence. An interviewer spending a day interviewing candidates for a job might end up feeling she ,hadn’t had the chance to actually meet any of them. A story illustrating their character makes candidates memorable. Some tips about creating job interview stories: Don’t overshare – […]

March 13, 2019  NPR Back in the 1960s, a Harvard graduate student made a landmark discovery about the nature of human anger. At age 34, Jean Briggs traveled above the Arctic Circle and lived out on the tundra for 17 months. Briggs persuaded an Inuit family to “adopt” her and “try to keep her alive,” […]

Westword | March 25, 2019 | by Kyle Harris What’s the story behind the Office of Storytelling? On March 21, Mayor Michael Hancock launched Denver’s Office of Storytelling, headed by the city’s new Chief Storyteller, who just happens to be a former Hancock aide. The move comes in the middle of election season, when a […]

By Kevin Cordi How Storytellers Serve as Actors and what we can learn from each Other (part I) Storytellers are the first actors. Before there were set designs, lighting plots, or directors, storytellers were telling stories. Skillfully positioned words handled by a crafty raconteur steered the audience’s attention. An African Griot might use stories to […]

MINNPost  February 21, 2019 In Southeast Asian Americans’ schools, the stories they heard from their parents and grandparents growing up were almost never noted in their history textbooks. The experiences of Southeast Asian communities are often forgotten,  particularly the history of the Vietnam War. “It seemed like, growing up, all of these stories that I heard […]

Texas Public Radio  February 25, 2019 TPR is joining with StoryCorps to bring together folks on opposite sides of the political aisle to have a conversation to learn more about each other, and our hopes for the future. StoryCorps founder Dave Isay says, “Our dream, which is lofty, is to try and convince the country that […]

Harper’s Magazine   February 25, 2019 Anthropologist Jamie Tehrani wondered whether he could sort out the genealogy of all the “Little Red Riding Hood” variants—Aarne–Thompson–Uther type 333—with something similar to modern phylogenetics, the DNA-informed statistical method biologists use to construct evolutionary trees of living things. Replacing genes with essential narrative elements, such as type of protagonist […]

The News Courier October 27, 2018 Hands sweaty, shifting back and forth between nervous feet, Jessa Usery, a sixth-grader at Elkmont High School, looked out from the stage at the Athens Storytelling Festival into a sea of young faces. She drew a deep breath, leaned into the microphone and began to spin a tale that […]

By Kevin Cordi The Value of Breathing: How little we do and how important it is After returning from Japan in 2001 I examined life through a calmer window. It was there people were rushing to meet taxis, running to their jobs, and hurrying to meet life’s demands. However, although they were rushing, there was […]

KQED News  October 3, 2016 School 21, a public school in London has made “oracy” a primary focus of everything they do. From the earliest grades on up teachers support students to find their voice, express differing opinions politely, and challenge one another’s thinking. These are skills called for in the Common Core. Another key element of […]

The Guardian, New York, NY   May 19, 2017 By Tim Lott   Writing stories is a craft that is crucial for life. And if the government insists, you can test it, measure it and use it in commerce, too A report in the Times has quoted a secondary school teacher who complained that their year […]

By Patricia Coffie What does membership provide? Payback on what you invest. When members cease to invest time and talent as well as money, organizations die. I am currently a member of a family group, two historical societies, a storytellers’ guild, a regional storytelling organization (five states and the others too), a national storytelling organization, […]

By Kevin Cordi When we consider story making, storytelling expands. As Storytellers, we need to explore Story Making as much as Storytelling.  Too often we privilege the telling as the most important value.  We spend time working on our performances when we need to look more at how we make the stories we make ready for performance. We […]

The Michigan Daily, Ann Arbor, MI    November 11, 2018   The Washtenaw Housing Alliance and Shelter Association of Washtenaw County hosted the second-ever Voices of Homelessness event Friday evening in Ypsilanti, inviting community members to share their experiences with homelessness through art and storytelling. The speak-out was intended to spread awareness about homelessness and connect displaced people to […]

Stamford Advocate, Stamford, CT    November 13, 2018   Podcaster Dayna Lindo wants to change the narrative of her community, Bridgeport, CT. “The podcast is dedicated to telling the untold stories of Bridgeport and humanizing our collective experience,” Lindo said. “My goal is to increase Bridgeport citizens’ pride in themselves and our city by changing […]

WUNC 91.5      December 28, 2018   The Ft. Bragg Stories series is a collaboration between the Fayetteville Observer and WUNC’s American Homefront Project to commemorate a century of history at Fort Bragg through personal narratives. You can hear all stories (around 30) in the series here. This article highlights the story of Jay Huwieler, a […]

Deccan Chronicle,  Secunderabad, India     December 25, 2018 Stories Worth Sharing is an initiative which strives to revive the art of storytelling. Himanshu Poswal and Mohit Munjal, two engineering graduates from Delhi, are the founders. When travelling, they witnessed a group of people who put the phones away and were sharing stories. They realized they should […]

FUKUSHIMA JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCE 2018 Volume 64 Issue 3 Pages 125-132 Effects of storytelling on the childhood brain: near-infrared spectroscopic comparison with the effects of picture-book reading Miyuki Yabe, Sachie Oshima, Satoshi Eifuku, Masato Taira, Kazuto Kobayashi, Hirooki Yabe, Sin-ichi Niwa   In children, storytelling provides many psychological and educational benefits, such as enhanced imagination to help visualize spoken words, […]

Side Effect: Public Health Personal Stories    January 9, 2019 Addiction affects millions of Americans. At a live storytelling event held Aug. 14, 2018, Indiana community members who struggle with addiction shared their stories of life in recovery. Stories shared included: a “moment of clarity” that lead to their sobriety a non-typical story of someone […]

By Kevin Cordi The fire of story can be and should be everywhere As a storyteller for over 25 years, I hear that storytelling is changing. I agree, it is changing, but with this change, it is implied or even directly said that sitting at a warm campfire is no longer the place that story […]

euroNEWS Reuters (Nairobi, Kenya)     December 17, 2018 “To have that storyteller in front of you with an audience being able to interact is something very precious that we are in danger of losing,” said Maimouna Jallow, who organised the one-day Re-Imagined Storytelling Festival in Kenya’s capital. Although written history has existed for centuries in […]

The Conversation (Boston, MA)   December 21, 2018 Research has shown that using fear to promote behavioral change can be counterproductive. However, stories with positive role models, focusing on the positive outcomes of solutions, are much more likely to inspire action to solve problems. While this article refers to fictional stories, the same ideas can be using in […]

Ahval (Turkey)   December 16, 2018 A generation ago, when electricity came to Kurdish villages in Turkey,  storytelling by local bards gradually ended. However, two and a half years ago, in Diyarbakır, the Amîdart Kültür Sanat Bileşkesi (Amîdart Intersection of Culture and Art) was founded. Amîdart’s slogan is “no place but everywhere.” They  tell stories as well […]

By Danni Altman-Newell, Marketing & Membership Manager Happy Holidays! Another year is rushing to a close and it seems like everyone around me is marveling at how fast the year went! 2018 proved to be another year packed with changes and transitions. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Change provides an opportunity to stay relevant […]

The Epoch Times   October 26, 2018 By Jim Weiss   “I’d like to introduce you to two friends of mine. Their names are Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.” That’s how I feel when I begin to tell a story. I consider these characters friends of mine, and I take great pleasure in introducing them to […]

The Chronicle   November 9, 2018 By Rini Jeffers VERMILION — Since the beginning of mankind, the art of storytelling has been a tradition, a socialization, a teaching tool, entertainment and a means of keeping history alive. But it is an art that seems to be slipping away, says professional storyteller Donna Kuczynski. An Amherst resident […]

The Parthenon   October 18, 2018 By Douglas Harding World-renowned storyteller, musician and West Virginia native Adam Booth participated in a Yeager Symposium and open dialogue with Marshall University students and Huntington residents Wednesday, Oct.17 at the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center Playhouse. Booth discussed Appalachian dialects and accents and how they can enhance storytelling. An […]

Isthmus   October 18, 2018 By Catherine Capellaro Nestor Gomez says he is the last person you’d expect to see sharing personal stories in front of a large crowd. “I used to stutter badly,” says Gomez, one of 10 storytellers who will perform at the annual Moth GrandSLAM Championship on Oct. 19 at the Barrymore Theatre. “My mother […]

Traverse City Record Eagle   October 12, 2018 By Brooke Kansier TRAVERSE CITY — A few minutes idling in the driveway end Matthew Soderquist’s daily commute. They’re the most gripping part of his week. The Vanderbilt resident and avid listener of “The Moth,” a storytelling radio program, can’t get enough of a good tale. It’s what drew […]

Storytelling Residencies Enhance Literacy Connecticut non-profit places storytellers in schools to offer interactive instruction methods that are increasingly critical for today’s young learners. By Ann Shapiro and Susie Scheyder Educators are often frustrated with the unhealthy focus on screens that constantly demand our students’ attention, while arguably shrinking their ability to pay it meaningfully elsewhere. […]

EverythingBrevard.com   October 12, 2018 By Lee Nessel Storytelling is powerful. It is among our earliest forms of communication, the original encyclopedia and the first form of school. To this day, it’s how we share history, exchange ideas and stimulate our imagination. Storytelling has evolved, yet stayed the same. Surely you’ve heard about the importance of storytelling […]

The Dickinsonian   October 11, 2018 By Cristian Tineo Dickinson and Carlisle community members danced in a circle to the beat of a drum at the behest of Pulitzer Prize-winning author N. Scott Momaday, who gave a talk on campus about the importance of oral tradition. Momaday‘s talk on Saturday, Oct. 6 explored themes of imagination and […]

The Mining Journal   October 10, 2018 By Corey Kelly MARQUETTE — Pete Griffin, the Storytelling Ranger, spoke in front of a warm fire to a crowd in the Heritage Room of the Peter White Public Library Monday evening. Griffin told stories about the natural world, and the human one, by incorporating his experiences of growing up […]

The Taos News   October 11, 2018 By Tempo staff The way a story is told makes all the difference. It can simply entertain or help put a toddler to sleep, but when a story grabs you and pulls you into its world, engrossed in all its drama, comedy or pathos, it’s a story well- told. Stories […]

WTOP   October 10, 2018 By Rachel Nania WASHINGTON — There is no denying that cutting-edge equipment and pharmaceutical breakthroughs can help save lives — but so can a doctor trained in storytelling. Dr. Rita Charon is a Harvard-trained internist who practices general medicine. She is also a literary scholar who earned her Ph.D. studying the works […]

Telesurtv.net   October 9, 2018 Spoken word narrators from eight different countries will gather in Lima, capital of Peru, in the VII International Meeting of Oral Storytellers “Blessed be the word”, informed EFE referencing the North American Peruvian Cultural Institute (ICPNA), organizer of the. “Blessed be the word” will go from the 13th to the 20th of […]

Saratoga.com Saratoga Springs, NY October 30, 2018 This month’s immigrant storytellers share one thing in common: they’re all women. Coming from different areas of the globe, with widely divergent traditions and expectations, they have all made a new life in the United States. The personal stories they’ll share tonight will reflect on how being a woman shaped […]

WHNT NEWS 19 Athens, AL October 22, 2018   The 12th annual Athens, AL Storytelling Festival will have five days of events starting on Tuesday, Oct. 23.  It will include the 6th Annual Dan Williams Local Tellers Competition, two days of activities for students in the Tennessee Valley, plus 25 programs with five nationally renowned storytellers.

CBS News   April 23, 2018 By JEREMY BRADLEY Slow down. Talk. Listen. In a world of partisan politics and viral videos these concepts can feel like relics of a bygone era. But something’s happening in Vermont. In the hip art houses of Burlington, at serene coffee shops outside Montpelier and in cozy wooden theaters of rural […]

Port Clinton News Herald  September 10, 2018 MARBLEHEAD – The story of four aging farm animals who run away to become musicians came to life on Saturday when children got to play the parts of the animals —a rooster, cat, dog and donkey — in an interactive storytelling presentation of “The Bremen Town Musicians” at […]

Times of India   October 7, 2018 Written by Ketaki Desai Priti Mutha was already struggling with post-partum depression when her father passed away unexpectedly. Her mind was full of thoughts she wanted to share but she had no one to talk to about. That’s when she came across The Narrative, a live and personal storytelling show based […]

The Meaford Independent   October 3, 2018 Written by Bill Monahan On November 3, the Meaford Culture Foundation will be presenting “an authentic entertainment experience ranging from the heartwarming to the hilarious,” with the Georgian Bay Story Slam Grand Finale. It represents the culmination of a series of Story Slams that have been held in small venues around […]

Park Rapids Enterprise   September 26, 2018 Sue Searing of Minneapolis won the Great American Story Saturday night after regaling the audience with her two original stories. The theme for the third annual contest was “connecting through storytelling.” The live performance was held at Calvary Lutheran Church. Since moving to Minnesota three years ago, Searing has appeared […]

New Hampshire Public Radio  September 28, 2018 A live storytelling event called “Suitcase Stories,”organized by the International Institute of New England, which resettles refugees in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, will have seven NH refugees telling their own stories. One of them, Ageth Okeny, who fled Sudan with her kids to a refugee camp in Egypt before coming […]

The Orcadian  September 29, 2018 The Scottish Book Trust is launching a Digital Storyteller in Residence program at Orkney Library & Archive in September 2018. People in Orkney will tell their personal stories as they develop important digital skills.   Mark Jenkins, one of the digital storyteller for Orkney, said: “We are delighted to be working […]

The Sentinel   September 25, 2018   HANFORD — Bringing stories to life was what some volunteers and children did at the Children’s Storybook Garden Saturday. The Storybook Garden hosted its first-ever Storytelling Festival where children had the opportunity to listen and interact with several storytellers for a few hours at the garden. The Storybook Garden is […]

Birmingham Magazine   September 19, 2018 An arc light bulb works when an arc of electricity jumps from one element to another. The little lightning bolt that results from the “jumping between” creates the light. For the past eight years, live storytelling organization Arc Stories has been working in the same way. “The magic that happens in […]

By Kevin Cordi Let the play resume Have you considered how valuable play is in working with stories? After doing a workshop in Maryland on play and stories, they wanted to continue the good work they started. I wrote these steps so they could consider their work. I share these with you. The best work […]

Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette  September 7, 2018 18 local residents will be part of the first Human Library event in Northwest Arkansas, based on programs run twenty years ago in Denmark. Organizer Katherine Ganoung says that the Human Library is a chance to bring “storytelling power back to those who lived out their story every day […]

Forbes September 7, 2018 Inspiring leaders, like Howard Schultz, are great storytellers. This is his signature story.   On a business trip in Milan in 1983 for the recently created Starbucks corporation, “I went past one coffee bar after another and was captivated,” he recalled last month in Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper. “The symphony of flavor, the romance […]

Miami Herald     August 31, 2018 Summary Few things bond a family more than shared tales and experiences. Not only is storytelling fun — who doesn’t love hearing about the good-natured scrapes a parent got into when they were their age or what life was like in the “olden” days for grandma — but the […]

By Kevin Cordi What does ownership mean? Does it mean to truly relinquish responsibility? As an adult it is important to remember that allowing a child to “own” their work is not forgetting the importance of coaching or directing the work. Instead, it is a way to collectively work together with the child to achieve […]

August 16, 2018 WBUR, Boston’s NPR news station, has received a $30,000 Henry Luce Foundation grant to support Circle Round, a storytelling podcast for children ages 4 to 10. The funds will support the creation of multiple episodes of the podcast’s second season. “Across centuries and geographic boundaries, traditions of storytelling have created connection, preserved history and […]

Chicago, IL  August 3, 2018 Mayra Hernandez (Center-Left) and Gina Ramirez (Center-Right) tell personal stories about the Back of the Yards neighborhood | Manny Ramos/Sun-Times | Manny Ramos/Sun-Times Mayra Hernandez glowed with pleasure when she remembered flying a plastic grocery bag kite from her bedroom window as a little girl. “I would throw it out the […]

Houston, TX  August 2, 2018 The ACLU and Texas Southern University (TSU) are joining together to tackle criminal justice reform by fostering storytellers — a first of its kind storytelling bureau in the U.S.A. The program will train students who have been impacted by the criminal justice system how to tell their stories in public forums such as the state […]

The Times of India     August 12, 2018 Summary At a small eatery in the city, a niche group has gathered to hear stories. A dastango is spinning yarn with subjects as ddiverse as love, philosophy, wars, deceit or just fantasy. This is the world of Dastangoi — the art of storytelling which was popular in […]

By Kevin Cordi Book Review: Trail Guide for a Crooked Heart: Stories and Reflections for Life’s Journey A student follows a wise philosopher for years. He wants to know all that he knows. He wants to understand how this philosopher is able to assemble complete strangers together. He desires to know how he can help […]

The Guardian     July 19, 2018 Summary How should scientists communicate their discoveries? By using stories, so says Nature magazine and  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences as well as other articles.

TEDGlobal 2009     July, 2009 Summary People and cultures are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.

Business2Community     July 19, 2018 Summary Everyone loves stories. A good story has the power to compel others, to inspire people, even to shape the world. They can comfort, connect, transform, destroy or even heal. Everyone has a story to tell, but not everyone can tell it well. There is a science to it, though, […]

Bhopal, Utter Pradesh, Northern India,     July 9, 2018 Summary Bhopal Pride at Baithak – The Art House created a safe space for people to express themselves re. their sex, gender sexuality and the difference between them. A participant Chandni said, “Defining humans is the worst thing we can do. Let’s not look at anyone with the […]

WSYR-TV, Syracuse, NY,     July 7, 2018 Summary For the first time, the New York State Fair will have a two-day storytelling event, on Friday and Saturday, August 31 and September 1. Friday night’s event will be a competition called The Great New York State Story Slam, in which 10 people will be chosen randomly.  They will […]

Tahlequah Daily Press,     June 30, 2018 Summary Cherokee Nation Cultural Tourism is offering free, family-friendly storytelling events on Wednesdays at 10 a.m. in July. Stories on the Square attendees get free admission to the Cherokee National Supreme Court Museum, Cherokee National Prison Museum, John Ross Museum and Sequoyah’s Cabin Museum after the program. Click […]

Moab Sun News,     June 28, 2018 Summary Five local storytellers share diverse performances at Moab Valley Multicultural Center’s (MVMC) brand-new event “Dialogues of Diversity: Multicultural Stories of Strength.” Each will share their stories of ‘being new’ — coming to Moab or the United States from a foreign country. “I hope that their stories offer […]

Gainesville Scene,     June 4, 2018 Summary There are three storytelling organizations in Gainesville which produce monthly personal storytelling events: Self Narrate, the Conch and Guts & Glory While people often assume these groups are in competition with each other, Self Narrate’s director Brandon Telg said: “We all want to see each other succeed, and we all believe in what each […]

By Kevin Cordi Ten Ways Storytellers Can Help Each Other Create a legacy for tomorrow. People are hungry for stories. It is part of our very being. Storytelling is a form of history, of immortality too. It goes from one generation to another.                                                                         ——Studs Terkel How Do Storytellers Help Novice Storytellers Learn the Craft? […]

Medscape,     June 3, 2018 Summary The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) had a new session at its annual meeting this year: ASCO Voices. The goal of this storytelling event, was to remind the oncologists of their deep human selves, something that the other data driven sessions wouldn’t be doing. Four stories were selected from […]

The Sunday Post      May 29, 2018 Summary In order to keep Scots folk and fairy tales alive, Scottish Storytelling Centre director Donald Smith has published a book Wee Folk Tales In Scots, Luath Press.   When asked what inspired him to write this book, Smith replied, “I have been very lucky to hear Scotland’s […]

Forbes, May 29,2017 Summary It is important for individuals and organizations to synchronize these three key elements–internally and externally: what they say, what they do, and what is truly in their hearts. Esther Choy says, “I believe ‘heart’ is an expression of the leaders’ deepest motivation–the core that’s driving everything else. It flows from the company’s mission and vision […]

BBC News      May 21, 2018 Summary For the third year, BBC is asking people with disabilities to submit their personal stories for possible telling at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Those selected will work with a top comedy script producer, then perform their story at the Festival. The topic this year is “Going Out”. […]

Tehachapi News      May 6, 2018 Summary There are only two fluent Nuwä (Kawaiisu or Paiute)  speakers left on Earth:  Luther Girado and his sister Lucille Girado Hicks.  the Girados are the last people who will ever be raised in an Indian household were Nuwä is the only language spoken. They grew up in Walker Basin […]

Penn Today      May 7, 2018 Summary Seven medical school in Philadelphia are participating in a story slam in an effort to create open dialogue among doctors, nurses, and medical students who often struggle to express their feelings. “In the medical literature these days, there’s a lot about physicians and med students being burned out, […]

On Being      May 14, 2018 Summary   Generational storytelling is survival. It is a preservation of history and a dire act as we witness erasure in textbooks and watch our history recounted by those who tell our stories but have never lived in our skin or embodied the blood of our stories.

The Meridian Star       February 20, 2018 By Robbie Ward Summary Laughter, smiles, gestures and other connections sparked during a storytelling program Tuesday will likely result in more of the same. Much of the storytelling came from Wisconsin storyteller, author and musician Stuart Stotts, also a certified teaching artist with the John F. […]

WLRN       April 25, 2018 Summary South Florida — The Public Storyteller is a radio show sharing  true stories of life in South Florida as well as featuring  performances by professional storytellers. It airs Sundays, 4 pm EST on www.wirn.org or 91.3 FM and 91.5 FM in South Florida. The hosts are Caren S. […]

The New York Times       April 16, 2018 Summary NEW YORK, NY — An introduction on how to tell your first, and then subsequent, stories. “The best way to reach all people is to go to a personal story,” said Brenda Wong Aoki, an acclaimed playwright, storyteller and performer. “Everybody is a human being and everybody […]

KTVA.com The Voice of Alaska    April 9, 2018 Summary ANCHORAGE, AK — Since 2014, more than 1,500 students at high schools in Anchorage and Unalakleet have learned to tell their personal stories as part of Story Works Alaska.     “The students get to work on and share these stories,” Bartlett High School English teacher […]

Al-Fanar Media   April 8, 2018 Summary LONDON — Since 2013, Spanish artist and filmmaker Juan delGado has been collecting and publishing the personal stories of Syrian people, both those still in Syria as well as those who have fled. The goal of the project—whose Arabic name, Qisetna, means “our stories”—is to create a record of the experiences of […]

CBC News   March 30, 2018 Summary   Since 2008, Vancouver Public Library has had an Indigenous storyteller in residence who uses storytelling to bridge the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. This year, T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss, an artist and ethno-botanist, who studies plants and their traditional uses, has been selected. Wyss plans to research her own family’s heritage as […]

  Below are articles written by members of the storytelling community. Postcard Marketing  By Stephen Hollen A lot can be said on a two sided postcard. I use postcards in place of brochures much of the time. Brochures in smaller quantities run about $1.00 on vistaprint. Postcards about 7 cents. This is a no brainer. […]

PRO SIG Preconference, NSN 2013 Conference, Richmond, VA July 2013              by Kate Dudding   Summary Description of the process and success in creating a venue for storytelling to adults; expanding listener base; and sharing lessons learned during fourteen seasons of a dinner storytelling series: “Story Sundays at the Glen Sanders […]

The NSN Producers & Organizers SIG Pre-Conference Workshop July 2007               By Nancy Donoval and Loren Nieme   As a preparation for Theater and Storytelling collaborations, here is a set of questions and considerations that are worth asking before undertaking a collaboration.   What is the project?   O     […]

September 2011              by Kate Dudding   Five years ago, something exciting happened in our community. (No, that’s not the royal we – I have a producing partner, Alden (Joe) Doolittle. We specialize in producing storytelling events for adults. Together we’ve produced over 90 storytelling dinner programs and over 10 Tellabrations.) […]

Worcester Polytechnic Institute   March 23, 2018 Summary Dear World visited Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) this week. At WPI, approximately 180 students, faculty, and staff participated in personal story workshops, first solo writing, then pairing together to distill each story into a few significant words. Those words were then written on the person’s skin. Then a portrait […]

Stanford Medicine  April 20, 2017 Summary Data Needs Narrative: Communicating Science to the Public Science is complex. And like many professionals in fields with their own terms unknown to the general public, medical researchers often have difficulty explaining their research to the public. However, stories can animate data. Dhruv Khullar, a resident in internal medicine […]

My Statesman   March 17, 2018 Summary Using storytelling to help heal racial discord, the Truth and Reconciliation Oral History Project invites Austin residents of color to share their personal experiences of racial discrimination in a safe place. A goal is to elicit compassion via these stories. State Rep. Jarvis Johnson, D-Houston, shares his experience at […]

This list was created by Marilyn McPhie . She will include it as part of her upcoming workshop in San Diego in April on “How to Do a TED Talk.” This workshop is  based on her many experiences: giving a TEDx talk, presenting at a TEDx Salon, being part of a TEDx organizing committee, and attending more […]

Boston Globe Magazine   March 7, 2018 Summary   Cheryl Hamilton, co-director of Massmouth and director of partner engagement at the International Institute of New England, a refugee resettlement agency, launched Suitcase Stories, a traveling live performance series and social media campaign, in March 2017. Her goal is to offer opposing information about immigrants and refugees, […]

Boston Globe Magazine   March 7, 2018 Summary Nine monthly storytelling events in the greater Boston area plus the new PBS World Channel / Massmouth TV production “Stories from the Stage” are highlighted in this article. Some of these shows sell out. Massmouth co-founder Norah Dooley explains this popularity: People come because “story is an essential […]

Oprah.com   February 2018 Summary Sharing a personal story is similar to a group therapy session. The teller is reducing her psychological burden AND the listeners can have a physically healing experience. According to Nancy Morgan, writing clinician and director emeritus of the arts and humanities program at the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, D.C., […]

British Science Association  March 1, 2018 Summary Written by Dr. Pippa Malmgren, manufacturer of AI-led aerial robotics at her firm H Robotics and former Presidential Advisor to President George W. Bush, and Jessica Fox, Artist-in-residence at the UK Centre for Synthetic Mammalian Biology and former Storyteller at NASA.   A problem exists: scientists generally don’t […]

The State Journal-Register  February 25, 2018 Summary Last year, Erica Smith, executive director at Helping Hands of Springfield homeless shelter and an actress in local community theater, created a storytelling group in Springfield, IL. She stated her initial goals: “I would like to have regular performances with high quality stories and involve as many people […]

Golden Valley resident draws international attention to the art of storytelling World Storytelling Day is March 20 By Megan Thorstad | New Hope Golden Valley Sun Post Summary: Golden Valley resident, Vietnam War veteran and retired teacher Larry Johnson has long been inspired by the art of oral storytelling. From his early years as a […]

The Harvard Gazette  February 5, 2018 Summary “The Annotated African American Folktales,” is a collaboration between Harvard scholars Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. and Maria Tatar. Published by the Norton imprint Liveright in November, the book was recently honored with an NAACP Image Award for outstanding literary achievement. The authors were interviewed together, discussing their collaboration as well […]

TEDxWilmingtonSalon  December 2017 Summary When Israeli-born Noa Baum moved to the U.S. and unexpectedly formed a friendship with a Palestinian woman, she realized the importance of listening to the story of the “other” – even if that other is the enemy. She discovered that storytelling transforms perceptions, and from that epiphany Noa shares how she […]

University of Wisconsin–Madison News  January 19, 2018 Summary: In research supported by the National Cancer Institute, researchers measured the effect of a storytelling interview plus online resources on more than 40 people diagnosed with stage 3 or 4 cancer. The interview covered topics including important accomplishments and difficulties overcome, the effects of their cancer on them […]

The News-Herald  January 18, 2018 Summary Atria Newel Creek, asenior residential community in Mentor, OH, recently hosted Better Together, which was the first in a series of events to celebrate the importance of storytelling. The series is based on Atria StoryWise, a collection of topics and cues created to rekindle memories and help people connect more deeply. “Storytelling is a […]

 Detroit Free Press   August 13, 2017 Summary Appointed earlier in 2017 by Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, former journalist Aaron Foley is Detroit’s first chief storyteller. He has edited a new book,  The Detroit Neighborhood Guidebook, a collection of poems, essays and a short story written by past and present Detroiters. Its goal is to introduce readers to many neighborhoods in […]

TheConversation.com  Jan. 15, 2018 Summary: Similar to many Indigenous groups worldwide, the James Bay Cree of northern Québec have a unexpectedly high rate of diabetes. Their method of their solution was taken from their culture: A Talking Circle in print. Cree health representatives choose people with diabetes whose stories they thought important. Then they hired […]

Juneau Empire  December 10, 2017 Summary:   Now in their seventh season, Mudrooms is Juneau’s monthly community storytelling event. Each event has a different theme. On Dec. 12, the theme is “Square peg in a round hole.” As with every event, there will be seven storytellers telling seven stories at seven minutes each. Cost is $7. […]

Sports Illustrated  December 1, 2017 Summary: Last spring, the new Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott started a new tradition: ending many team meeting with a player telling a personal story about his upbringing, his motivation, his influences, what’s most important to him. The first player to tell his story, veteran tackle Jordan Mills said, “It’s […]

International Journal of Development and Sustainability, Vol. 2 No. 2, pp. 521-529.   2012 Summary: Godwin Makaudze, a professor in the Department of African Languages and Literature, Great Zimbabwe University, examines two folktales and concludes that folktales “continue to be a very meaningful and quite serious way of exposing, explaining and shaping reality.” He makes several recommendations, including: making folklore […]

Chicago Tribune,   December 24, 2017 Summary: Story Squad, a storytelling program of the YMCA of Metro Chicago’s Youth Safety and Violence Prevention (YSVP) initiative, empowers youth to channel their experiences through personal stories that are shared within their community and throughout the world. After a public showcase with about 100 friends and family members of program […]

Nature Communications,   December 2, 2017 Summary:   This is an anthropological study of the impact of storytelling on the Agta, a Filipino hunter-gatherer population. Their stories contain themes promoting cooperation, sex equality and egalitarianism — common to other foraging societies. When there are good storytellers, cooperation increases.

Bereavement Care Journal, Volume 36, 2017 – Issue 3,   November 2, 2017 Summary: To Absent Friends (TAF) is an annual Scotland-wide participative festival of storytelling and remembrance. Its purpose is to reduce the social isolation of bereaved people, At TAF, people can remember,  tell stories,  celebrate and  reminisce about people they love who have died. TAF may be […]

U.S. News, October 2, 2017   Summary: Steven Schlozman, M.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, a child psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital, and the associate director of the Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital, believes that passing storytelling on to children is critical to their well-being. He […]

The Star.com (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), June 2, 2017 Summary: Dan Yashinsky has been the storyteller-in-residence at Baycrest Health Sciences for three years. He says, “I feel that ‘storycare’ should be an essential part of health care. Storycare means creating times and places in the hospital for people to tell, hear, imagine, and remember stories.” He […]

The London Free Press (London, UK), November 3, 2016 Summary: The London Fringe’s Story Telling Festival debuts this Thursday through Saturday and includes: Author/filmmaker/recording artist Ivan Coyote Traditional storytellers Diane Halpin and Ellen Secci An Indigenous Walk in downtown London led by Jaime Koebel a free Children’s Storytelling Mob London Fringe producer Kathy Navackas said […]

Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL), October 25, 2016 Summary: As part of CEO Oscar Munoz’s revamping of United Airlines, a new position has been created and filled: Chief Storyteller Dana Brooks Reinglass. Jim Olsen, United’s senior vice president of corporate communications, explained: “The idea is using stories to give employees and customers a window seat to how we’re doing […]

The Chronicle – the online student newspaper at Harvard-Westlake School, Los Angeles, May 27, 2016 Summary: Los Angeles, CA — Students from the HW Go! Vietnam trip exhibited their film and photography projects at Harvard-Westlake School on May 18. A total of 10 photographic pieces and nine student films were displayed. The subject of the projects, […]

Shreveport Times (part of the USA Today Network), December 19, 2017 By Henrietta Wildsmith When Amy Lynn Treme stepped out on stage to tell her story at a recent All Y’all Live event, she was nervous. She felt her thoughts were all over the place. She told about her job at a pet shop in Bossier […]

The Oklahoman (NewsOK.com), December 17, 2017 By Mary Mélon | The Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools Summary: Every student deserves to feel like a hero. That was the message for 177 graduating teachers at the University of Central Oklahoma, along with various education and community leaders at last week’s annual luncheon, Honoring a Noble […]

BookWire http://www.bookwire.com/ The BookWire is an online magazine devoted entirely to books, with events listings, links to electronic books, and reviews of new books. Mistory – Michigan Storytelling Events Event Schedule posts “MI Story”: Michigan’s monthly calendar of public storytelling events. Storyteller.net http://www.storyteller.net/ This site offers such features as Story of the Week and the […]

August House Publishing http://www.augusthouse.com High Windy Audio http://www.highwindy.com High Windy Audio is a production company with many storytelling and folksong audiotapes for sale. Libraries Unlimited http://www.lu.com This is the home page for Libraries Unlimited, a publisher of reference and textbook materials. Shoe String Press www.shoestringpress.com The Shoe String Press is a small, independent family-owned company […]

USA TODAY (McLean, VA), May 25, 2016 Summary: On Tuesday, Megan Finnerty walked across a stage at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum to pick up an award for the storytelling program she helped found at the Arizona Republic four years ago. The Arizona Storytellers Project won the first place award for “Best Use of an […]

Storytellers Project wins top honors at INMA World Congress USA TODAY (McLean, VA) , May 25, 2016 Summary: On Tuesday, Megan Finnerty walked across a stage at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum to pick up an award for the storytelling program she helped found at the Arizona Republic four years ago. The Arizona Storytellers Project […]

Examiner.com (Denver, CO), February 3, 2016   Summary: The Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling on 898 St Nicholas Avenue at 155th Street, New York, NY, is part of a development built by Broadway Housing Communities designed to leverage the synergies of housing, education and art to improve outcomes for undeserved children, adults […]

TED Conferences (New York, NY), February, 2016   Summary: During an official TED conference, neuroscientist Uri Hasson, Princeton University, researches the basis of human communication, and experiments from his lab reveal that even across different languages, our brains show similar activity, or become “aligned,” when we hear the same idea or story. This amazing neural […]

TED Conferences (New York, NY), February, 2016 Summary: During an official TED conference, neuroscientist Uri Hasson, Princeton University, researches the basis of human communication, and experiments from his lab reveal that even across different languages, our brains show similar activity, or become “aligned,” when we hear the same idea or story. This amazing neural mechanism […]

This Is Your Brain On Communication TED Conferences (New York, NY), February, 2016 Summary: During an official TED conference, neuroscientist Uri Hasson, Princeton University, researches the basis of human communication, and experiments from his lab reveal that even across different languages, our brains show similar activity, or become “aligned,” when we hear the same idea […]

Penn State Beaver (Monaca, PA), January 27, 2016 Summary: Penn State Beaver is launching the university-wide storytelling project called We Listen. We Listen creates intentional spaces for members of the Penn State community to share their stories of lived experiences and listen to the experiences of others. The stories are then recorded, collected and shared. […]

Penn State Beaver (Monaca, PA) , January 27, 2016 Summary: Penn State Beaver is launching the university-wide storytelling project called We Listen. We Listen creates intentional spaces for members of the Penn State community to share their stories of lived experiences and listen to the experiences of others. The stories are then recorded, collected and […]

KJZZ.ORG (Tempe, AZ), December 22, 2015 Summary: As Christmas approaches many Valley seniors find themselves alone and detached, but at one local high school students are pairing up with seniors to tell their stories and link the generations in a unique learning experience. A group of 15 students were paired with senior companions as part […]

KJZZ.ORG (Tempe, AZ), December 22, 2015 Summary: As Christmas approaches many Valley seniors find themselves alone and detached, but at one local high school students are pairing up with seniors to tell their stories and link the generations in a unique learning experience. A group of 15 students were paired with senior companions as part […]

The New York Times (New York, NY), November 1, 2015 Summary: Among parents of the under-5 set, spots for story time have become as coveted as seats for a hot Broadway show like “Hamilton.” Lines stretch down the block at some branches, with tickets given out on a first-come-first-served basis because there is not enough […]

The Edinburgh Reporter (Edinburgh, Scotland), October 10, 2015   Summary: The stranger is often a revealer of truth; his arrival casts a stone into the water, shakes us out of our complacency. But who is the stranger? What separates him from us – what makes him ‘strange’? The theme of the 2015 Scottish International Storytelling […]

Why Data Storytelling Is So Important The Wall Street Journal (New York, NY), October 9, 2015 Summary: Tom Davenport, the President’s Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College, a Fellow of the MIT Center for Digital Business and independent senior advisor to Deloitte Analytics, discusses why storytelling with data is critical to […]

Poynter Institute (St. Petersburg, FL), September 15, 2015 Summary: Next week at the Online News Association’s annual conference, a group of journalists from nine Gannett newspapers will spend a few hours learning how to workshop a story before trying a bit of live storytelling. Their coach? Someone who has worked through the process with hundreds […]

Atlanta Daily World (Atlanta, Georgia) , September 8, 2015 Summary: One Macomb and Welcoming Michigan will partner with The Secret Society Of Twisted Storytellers (TSSOTS) to tackle race and cultural diversity through the art and craft of storytelling. TSSOTS is a winner of the Detroit Knight Arts Challenge, which funds projects that engage and enrich […]

Sierra Lodestar (San Andreas, CA), August 14, 2015   Summary: So truth be told, adults love stories as much as children. That’s the reasoning behind the program “For Adult Ears Only,” an event that’s in its 13th year. Every year in March, Tuolumne County residents can enjoy adult-themed stories. Now, please don’t read this to […]

The New York Times (New York, NY), August 5, 2015 Summary: HIROSHIMA, Japan — Hiromi Hasai was being trained to make machine gun bullets when the flash from the atomic bomb that destroyed his city lit up the already bright morning sky. Just 14, he had been pulled from school a week before to help […]

The New York Times (New York, NY), August 5, 2015 Summary: HIROSHIMA, Japan — Hiromi Hasai was being trained to make machine gun bullets when the flash from the atomic bomb that destroyed his city lit up the already bright morning sky. Just 14, he had been pulled from school a week before to help […]

The New York Times (New York, NY) , August 5, 2015 Summary: HIROSHIMA, Japan — Hiromi Hasai was being trained to make machine gun bullets when the flash from the atomic bomb that destroyed his city lit up the already bright morning sky. Just 14, he had been pulled from school a week before to […]

The Enquirer (Cincinnati, Ohio), July 8, 2015 Summary: The Enquirer’s Wednesday night storytelling event was dedicated to the love of the game. The 350 or so attendees filled The Phoenix in Downtown. For lovers of the game, it is not merely about balls and strikes but about how we relate to others. “Everyone who loves […]

Why positive storytelling matters to transportation GreaterGreaterWashington.org (Washington, DC), June 23, 2015 Summary: Better streets, transit lines, and bike lanes are wonderful things. But for communities hoping to kick the car habit, good marketing and public relations matter just as much as the infrastructure itself. At StreetsCamp, Mobility Lab’s Paul Mackie taught us why marketing […]

Why Positive Storytelling Matters To Transportation GreaterGreaterWashington.org (Washington, DC), June 23, 2015 Summary: Better streets, transit lines, and bike lanes are wonderful things. But for communities hoping to kick the car habit, good marketing and public relations matter just as much as the infrastructure itself. At StreetsCamp, Mobility Lab’s Paul Mackie taught us why marketing […]

11 Ways Remarkable Storytellers Create New Worlds Time Magazine (New York, NY), June 10, 2015 Summary: The better at storytelling someone is, the more that readers and listeners are transported to a whole new world. According to studies conducted on this transportation phenomenon, great stories alter beliefs, result in the loss of access to real-world […]

Institute for Healthcare Improvement: Open School (Cambridge, MA), April 30, 2015   Summary: One of the things that we do a lot of in the area of patient- and family-centered care and in changing culture is storytelling. Stories really help us to connect to the process — the processes that we’re involved in day to […]

Scope – Stranford Medicine (Stanford, CA), April 24, 2015 Summary: Stanford’s Abraham Verghese, MD, greeted hundreds of journalists at the Association of Health Care Journalists 2015 conference with a talk centered on the power of stories and of medicine. There are many types of stories that need to be told, Verghese encouraged his audience. Tell […]

The resurgence of the storyteller The Hindu Business Line (Chennai, India), March 12, 2015 Summary: It’s beyond doubt that storytelling has immense power as a tool to make people believe in an idea. For different kinds of professionals (educators, human resource managers, marketers, etc.) different reasons are fuelling the storyteller phenomenon. Specifically, in the case […]

Stories Triggered The Measles Outbreak, And Storytelling Can Stop It Forbes (Jersey City, NJ), February 3, 2015 Summary: Olivia was 7 years old when she caught the measles. She seemed to be recovering when the disease took a turn. She felt sleepy. Her fingers and her mind weren’t working together. The measles had triggered encephalitis, […]

Forbes (Jersey City, NJ), February 3, 2015   Summary: Olivia was 7 years old when she caught the measles. She seemed to be recovering when the disease took a turn. She felt sleepy. Her fingers and her mind weren’t working together. The measles had triggered encephalitis, an acute inflammation of the brain. “In an hour […]

Showcasing Your Strategy Through Storytelling Probono Australia (Melbourne, VIC, Australia), January 22, 2015 Summary: The social sector ‘strategy’ is now receiving a makeover, thanks to storytelling techniques that are transforming routine reports,such as strategic plans, into compelling content. Here are some top tips for Not for Profits: 1. Publish on Digital Platforms Each year, more […]

SF Weekly (San Francisco, CA), January 21, 2015 Summary: Every month in the Mission, there’s a line around a corner of Mariposa Street as couples, triads, and local celebrities huddle in the fog awaiting admittance to the Verdi Club. The little-known haunt, which feels like a hip Elk’s Lodge, is where Bawdy Storytelling has been […]

Storytelling Your Way to a Better Job or a Stronger Start-Up New York Times Magazine (New York, NY), December 12, 2014 Summary: The age-old art of storytelling — something humans have done since they could first communicate – has become this year’s buzzword. In these days, you need to be compelling, unforgettable, funny and smart. […]

Dubbo Photo News (Dubbo NSW, Australia), November 22, 2014   Summary: The performance of contemporary Aboriginal stories on the stages of regional theatres and performance spaces is not yet part of mainstream cultural programming. Yet, the expression of Aboriginal culture through storytelling has a history that far outdates Western culture, which makes its absence from […]

Why Your Brain Loves Good Storytelling Harvard Business Review (Cambridge, MA), October 28, 2014 Summary: Paul J. Zak said, “A decade ago, my lab discovered that a neurochemical called oxytocin is a key ‘it’s safe to approach others’ signal in the brain. Oxytocin is produced when we are trusted or shown a kindness, and it […]

Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation (New York, NY), October 1, 2014 Summary We are pleased to introduce you to Ms. Velma Mukoro, 24, of Nairobi, Kenya, and her award-winning story presented at the International Day of Peace this year. Our thanks go to the International Storytelling Center Executive Director, Kiran Singh Sirah and Ms. Mukoro for […]

Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation (New York, NY) , October 1, 2014 Summary: We are pleased to introduce you to Ms. Velma Mukoro, 24, of Nairobi, Kenya, and her award-winning story presented at the International Day of Peace this year. Our thanks go to the International Storytelling Center Executive Director, Kiran Singh Sirah and Ms. Mukoro […]

National Endowment for the Arts: Art Works Blog (Washington, DC), September 30, 2014 Summary: “When we bring people together to share stories, we create community. And that’s what happens at festivals, and that’s what I’m really interested in. It’s not the idea that when you come to a festival you listen to culture or that […]

The Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ), July 1, 2014 Summary: Emcee Megan Finnerty says, “In 2011, the Arizona Republic newspaper launched this series because we believe the stories we tell define us. They make us who we are as individuals and as a community. In telling, we affirm the lessons we’ve learned. In listening, we deepen […]

Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX), June 17, 2014   Summary: Eight people will be performing at the special Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) Late Night edition of the storytelling series “Oral Fixation (An Obsession With True Life Tales).” The show is sold out, but Stewart expects some seats to become available that evening. Videos of […]

Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX) , June 17, 2014 Summary: Eight people will be performing at the special Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) Late Night edition of the storytelling series “Oral Fixation (An Obsession With True Life Tales).” The show is sold out, but Stewart expects some seats to become available that evening. Videos of […]

New York Times Magazine (New York, NY), May 4, 2014 Summary: Fieldston and University Heights are in the same borough but worlds apart. How much understanding between their students can a well-told story bring? University Heights High School is on St. Anns Avenue in the South Bronx, which is part of the poorest congressional district […]

New York Times Magazine (New York, NY) , May 4, 2014 Summary: Fieldston and University Heights are in the same borough but worlds apart. How much understanding between their students can a well-told story bring? University Heights High School is on St. Anns Avenue in the South Bronx, which is part of the poorest congressional […]

Scientists Study Why Stories Exist Wall Street Journal (New York, NY), April 4, 2014 Summary: We human beings spend hours each day telling and hearing stories. We always have. Why? At a fascinating workshop at Stanford last month called “The Science of Stories” scientists and scholars talked about why reading Harlequin romances may make you […]

Wall Street Journal (New York, NY), April 4, 2014 Summary: We human beings spend hours each day telling and hearing stories. We always have. Why? At a fascinating workshop at Stanford last month called “The Science of Stories” scientists and scholars talked about why reading Harlequin romances may make you more empathetic, about how ten-year-olds […]

Wall Street Journal (New York, NY) , April 4, 2014 Summary: We human beings spend hours each day telling and hearing stories. We always have. Why? At a fascinating workshop at Stanford last month called “The Science of Stories” scientists and scholars talked about why reading Harlequin romances may make you more empathetic, about how […]

Haaretz (Tel Aviv, Israel) , March 5, 2014 Summary: Even in the easygoing, laid-back environment of modern-day Los Angeles, bringing Muslims and Jews together to talk about the Arab-Israeli conflict is viewed as playing with fire. For decades, “the Muslim-Jewish dialogue that existed in L.A. only took place at the leadership level, among a handful […]

The Vashon Loop (Vashon, WA), February 3, 2014 Summary: Vashon Wilderness Program will host its 7th annual Coyote Tales Storytelling Festival on Saturday, February 1 at the Open Space for Arts and Community on Vashon Island. Starting at 4pm, storytellers Allison Cox, Merna Hecht, Steffon Moody and Gene Tagaban will delight all with an imaginative […]

Tap the Power of Storytelling Forbes (Jersey City, NJ), January 4, 2014 Summary: By Rodger Dean Duncan No doubt about it, the best speakers are good storytellers. The best writers are good storytellers. The best leaders are good storytellers. The best teachers and trainers and coaches are good storytellers. It might even be argued that […]

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC), December 10, 2013 Summary: Laura Hope-Gill’s fascination with story and healing began when she was diagnosed with late-onset deafness. She felt that the language her doctor used in delivering her diagnosis had nothing to do with her or her story. “The way it was presented to me, my hearing life was […]

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC), December 10, 2013 Summary: Laura Hope-Gill’s fascination with story and healing began when she was diagnosed with late-onset deafness. She felt that the language her doctor used in delivering her diagnosis had nothing to do with her or her story. “The way it was presented to me, my hearing life was […]

The Atlantic (Washington, DC), December 2013 Summary: Most parents know about the benefits of reading stories from books with their young children. Yet what most parents don’t know is that everyday family stories confer many of the same benefits of reading–and even some new ones. Over the last 25 years, a small canon of research […]

The Atlantic (Washington, DC), December 2013   Summary: Most parents know about the benefits of reading stories from books with their young children. Yet what most parents don’t know is that everyday family stories confer many of the same benefits of reading–and even some new ones. Over the last 25 years, a small canon of […]

Tuscaloosa News (Tuscaloosa, AL), November 14, 2013 Summary: Tin Can Tales, a new series of intimate storytelling events featuring community members including University of Alabama students, faculty members, writers and others, begins at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Bama Theatre’s Greensboro Room. Each tale-teller will share experiences in first-person narrative, with each installment of the […]

Tuscaloosa News (Tuscaloosa, AL) , November 14, 2013 Summary: Tin Can Tales, a new series of intimate storytelling events featuring community members including University of Alabama students, faculty members, writers and others, begins at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Bama Theatre’s Greensboro Room. Each tale-teller will share experiences in first-person narrative, with each installment of […]

To Persuade People, Tell Them a Story Wall Street Journal (New York, NY), November 9, 2013 Summary: Paul Smith had 20 minutes to sell the CEO of Procter & Gamble, and his team of managers, on new market-research techniques for which Mr. Smith’s department wanted funding. As associate director of P&G ‘s market research, Mr. […]

Bristol Post (Bristol, UK), October 24, 2013 Summary: Visitors can enjoy tall tales of salty sailors at the SS Great Britain’s Crew Capers Family Storytelling event. Inspired by true events, the ship’s resident storyteller, Sarah Mooney, will bring the sailors’ stories to life with her gruesome embellishments and fabulous flourishes on October 29 and 31. […]

Orillia Today (Orillia, Ontario, Canada), October 24, 2013 Summary: One year after Orillia’s inaugural ‘Canadian Storytelling Night’ drew an audience of about 50 people to a downtown space for an evening of tales and songs, organizers are preparing a follow-up with a twist. “The idea is to create an annual event that can give storytellers […]

The Denver Post (Denver, CO), October 5, 2013 Summary: There were no placards or megaphones at this civil and human-rights workshop, just people telling the stories that galvanized their passion for justice. “In working together and knowing each other’s stories, that’s how we can effect change,” said Gabriela Flora, Project Voice regional organizer at the […]

The Denver Post (Denver, CO), October 5, 2013 Summary: There were no placards or megaphones at this civil and human-rights workshop, just people telling the stories that galvanized their passion for justice. “In working together and knowing each other’s stories, that’s how we can effect change,” said Gabriela Flora, Project Voice regional organizer at the Denver […]

The Denver Post (Denver, CO) , October 5, 2013 Summary: There were no placards or megaphones at this civil and human-rights workshop, just people telling the stories that galvanized their passion for justice. “In working together and knowing each other’s stories, that’s how we can effect change,” said Gabriela Flora, Project Voice regional organizer at […]

Indian Country Today Media Network.com, September 30, 2013 Summary: Only four out of 100 residents of Montana’s Blackfeet Nation feel safe, according to Wendy Bremner, a victim’s specialist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Children on this 3,000-square-mile reservation near the United States-Canada border experience adverse events at more than three times the national average, […]

Indian Country Today Media Network.com, September 30, 2013 Summary: Only four out of 100 residents of Montana’s Blackfeet Nation feel safe, according to Wendy Bremner, a victim’s specialist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Children on this 3,000-square-mile reservation near the United States-Canada border experience adverse events at more than three times the national average, […]

Business2Community.com, August 21, 2013 Summary: Relying on numbers at the expense of human judgment and experience, no matter how reassuringly extensive the latter, can lead to poor decision making that has far-reaching consequences (see our recent post on the limitations of “big data”). This was underlined by the Berwick Report on patient safety in the […]

Twin Cities Daily Planet (Minneapolis, MN) , August 15, 2013 Summary: This fall, there will be a series of informal storytelling sessions happening in Seward based around themes such as cooking, gardening, and identity. The sessions, organized by the Seward Neighborhood Group and the Twin Cities Media Alliance in partnership with Common Bond and Spokes […]

Enumclaw Courier-Herald (Enumclaw, WA), August 3, 2013   Summary: The TB Voices Project for King County seeks people to share their experiences about tuberculosis (TB), whether it affected themselves or someone else in their lives. The project runs until October 2013. The purpose of the TB Voices Project is to allow individuals from all generations […]

Businesses Can Connect Through Storytelling The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, UT), July 29, 2013 Summary: Ty Bennett, the author of “The Power of Storytelling,” says stories are a big way to connect with audiences and customers. Storytelling works in a business presentation because stories make every presentation more engaging, dynamic, compelling and memorable. […]

The Hindu (Chennai, India), July 6, 2013 Summary: Indians are big on stories. This is a land of myths and mythologies; of tales with pious men and brave gods; of stories with carefully masked do’s and don’ts; of tickling anecdotes and gruesome monsters. We have always loved a good story, and we’ve always had storytellers. […]

A Twist in the Tale The Hindu (Chennai, India), July 6, 2013 Summary: Indians are big on stories. This is a land of myths and mythologies; of tales with pious men and brave gods; of stories with carefully masked do’s and don’ts; of tickling anecdotes and gruesome monsters. We have always loved a good story, […]

The Hindu (Chennai, India), July 6, 2013 Summary: Indians are big on stories. This is a land of myths and mythologies; of tales with pious men and brave gods; of stories with carefully masked do’s and don’ts; of tickling anecdotes and gruesome monsters. We have always loved a good story, and we’ve always had storytellers. […]

The Hindu (Chennai, India), July 6, 2013 Summary: Indians are big on stories. This is a land of myths and mythologies; of tales with pious men and brave gods; of stories with carefully masked do’s and don’ts; of tickling anecdotes and gruesome monsters. We have always loved a good story, and we’ve always had storytellers. […]

by Katie Green. Once in a while, when someone leams that I tell stories in prison, they say “What?Are you crazy?” or they quip, “Well, at least you have a captive audience there!” Like many storytellers, most of my work is in schools, but taking storytelling into prison is one of the most rewarding things […]

by Gene and Peggy Helmick-Richardson. Why do we present volunteer storytelling programs at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center and women’s shelter? That answer is both easy and complex; circles, circles within circles, circles above, circles below, circles overlapping. We try to do our storytelling programs in circles as much as possible. This cannot always […]

by Loren Niemi. “It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.” Herman Melville Telling your own story helps illuminate the universal in the specific. It lets you own your experience, emotions, pain and hope. Telling the story of the “Other” is an act of compassion that lets you recognize their humanity […]

Maureen Evans. The parable of the Prodigal Son, from the Gospel of Luke 15:11-32, resonates with me as an apt and adaptable story about the complexity of forgiveness. The word “prodigal” means wasteful, especially with money. Rembrandt’s painting “The Return of the Prodigal Son,” hanging in The Hermitage, has a strong place in my heart. […]

by Aanand Chabukswar. Background The World Centre for Creative Learning Foundation (WCCLF), a group of teachers-artists within India, introduces art forms for healing and growth into various settings. Before the project “CHI” —energy!— (Creative Healing Interventions) began in 2001, no known programs of creative therapies existed in 365 drug and alcohol abuse prevention and rehabilitation […]

by Michael Cotter. A few years back, I was fortunate to join in as the storyteller for an experiential workshop involving a film crew, health professionals, musicians and twenty-two terminally ill people of various ages. This collaboration resulted in a powerful film, “The Healing Power of Stories, ” that documents one of the most memorable […]

by Vanita Moore. About ten years ago when I wrote this story, I never dreamed I’d find myself back in Indiana, working beside my husband in his family’s funeral home or using a story to help a grieving widow. But one day, as we sat in her farmhouse living room and talked about how hard […]

By Peggy Helmick-Richardson. For it was a saying among them that a man is not really dead until he is forgotten. —“Cow-Tail Switch” from A Treasury of African Folklore, Harold Courlander. Born in 1924, Hilda Stern Cohen was raised in the tiny German village of Nieder Ohmen. When Hitler came to power, Hilda and her […]

by Lewis Mehl-Medrona. The power of story emerged in the pages of the New York Times on May 12, 2002, in an article by Natalie Angier about Michael Gearin-Tosh, a professor of English literature at Oxford University. We read the spirited account of his diagnosis of multiple myeloma, a virulent cancer of the bone marrow. […]

by Suzi Wolf. look for me in the shadows for there is where I will be telling the stories of the ancient ones whispering tales to the people look for me in the shadows my face illuminated by the clan’s fire or a storytelling candle my shape moving among the people look for me in […]

by Diane Wyzga. They said I was mentally disturbed. They said I posed a threat. They asked the security guards to call the police and have me removed from the premises. Once, when the Spanish had taken over an Aztec city they refused to let in anyone who was dressed in traditional Aztec clothes. A […]

by Joel ben Izzy. Reviewed by Lani Peterson. Sought out by banks, law firms and organizations to teach storytelling technique, Joel ben Izzy is quickly becoming one of the most visible players in the storytelling field. Not bad for a storyteller who only six years ago had no voice. Literally. His story is thoughtfully unraveled […]

Smoky Mountain News (Waynesville, NC), June 12, 2013 Summary: “I remember thinking what a shame it was that the old-timers and former Civilian Conservation Corps members were disappearing,” Beth Bramhall, a seasonal education ranger with Great Smoky Mountains National Park said. “The time to talk with these folks is now, while they’re still around to […]

Smoky Mountain News (Waynesville, NC), June 12, 2013   Summary: “I remember thinking what a shame it was that the old-timers and former Civilian Conservation Corps members were disappearing,” Beth Bramhall, a seasonal education ranger with Great Smoky Mountains National Park said. “The time to talk with these folks is now, while they’re still around […]

Smoky Mountain News (Waynesville, NC), June 12, 2013 Summary: “I remember thinking what a shame it was that the old-timers and former Civilian Conservation Corps members were disappearing,” Beth Bramhall, a seasonal education ranger with Great Smoky Mountains National Park said. “The time to talk with these folks is now, while they’re still around to […]

Idaho Statesman (Boise, ID), June 11, 2013 Summary: Marilyn Shuler, 73, told the story of her life Monday to a NPR recording team that travels the country, allowing people to create a lasting record of the events of their lives. The StoryCorps mobile recording unit, set up in an Airstream trailer, will sit outside of […]

Idaho Statesman (Boise, ID) , June 11, 2013 Summary: Marilyn Shuler, 73, told the story of her life Monday to a NPR recording team that travels the country, allowing people to create a lasting record of the events of their lives. The StoryCorps mobile recording unit, set up in an Airstream trailer, will sit outside […]

Idaho Statesman (Boise, ID) , June 11, 2013 Summary: Marilyn Shuler, 73, told the story of her life Monday to a NPR recording team that travels the country, allowing people to create a lasting record of the events of their lives. The StoryCorps mobile recording unit, set up in an Airstream trailer, will sit outside […]

Idaho Statesman (Boise, ID), June 11, 2013 Summary: Marilyn Shuler, 73, told the story of her life Monday to a NPR recording team that travels the country, allowing people to create a lasting record of the events of their lives. The StoryCorps mobile recording unit, set up in an Airstream trailer, will sit outside of […]

by Laura Simms. Gaindeh Project is an umbrella organization for a variety of programs that benefit youth in crisis throughout the world. Its ultimate aim is to create model projects which use storytelling in innovative ways for use internationally, as well as in the United States. Our premise is that basic goodness is inherent and […]

by Fran Stallings ©1988. Entranced by Stories “Entranced . . . complete absorption . . . captivate . . . total attention . . . completely enthralled . . . mesmerizing . . . hypnotic . . . ” We hear such descriptions of storytelling events so often that we hardly notice the words. The […]

by Allison Cox © 2000. Because of my firm conviction that stories convey important information to others in ways that few other forms of communication can accomplish, I use storytelling in my work as a Public Health Educator. The tradition of storytelling is ageless and known to most cultures as an experience vital to the […]

By William Noonan Ph.D. The metaphors of folktales help cancer patients in their therapy. Unlikely heroes and heroines lie in hospital beds. Living with cancer is hardly a fairy tale existence, yet the life portrayed in fairy tales metaphorically describes the inner journey traveled from illness to healing. The rich resources of these tales present […]

by Lorna Czarnota. There are two ways to approach the challenges we face in life’s journey. We can run into them head-on and try to move them out of way or push them before us or we can learn to dance with them. When we dance with the challenges, we can look into their eyes, […]

by Shelia Darr. I have a story. Actually only the beginning of a story, so far, but this story could be the mother and grandmother and great-grandmother to hundreds, perhaps thousands of other stories; stories of life changing adventure and healing for college students from the U.S. and for the people of Belize. Here’s how […]

By Caren S. Neile (response to September 11). I founded the Storytelling for Social Action Discussion Focus Group and agreed to serve on the HSA Board in order to promote awareness, conversation and action on the role of story in social issues concerning the public and the planet. Seen in this light, the terrorist attacks […]

By Laura Simms (response to September 11). Early morning of September 11th before the planes hit the World Trade Center, I was awakened by a dream. I saw the door of my loft, which in reality is a dark blue painted metal Manhattan door, now turned into a window with frilly white curtains looking out […]

By Lorne Browne. (response to September 11) First the Canadian favorites – Bob Homme (the Friendly Giant) and then Ernie Coombs (Mr. Dressup) died. Then Fred Rogers retired from his Neighborhood. Three gentle television storytellers for children now gone, their places filled with frenetic, over-produced kids’ shows. I found myself longing for the more innocent, […]

By William Noonan Ph.D. Once upon a time, an evil sorcerer stole a magic crystal orb, a troll-like imp turned himself into a poisonous fruit tree, and a giant abducted a princess and hid her in his Castle of No Return. These are images from folk tales that you would expect to find in Grimm’s […]

By Meg Gilman. I develop storytelling programs for people with ABI (acquired brain injury) and for clinicians who work in that field. While there are common problems and struggles for people with ABI, the unique nature of the brain and it’s response to trauma begs that anyone telling stories to survivors, for any purpose, be […]

By Allison Cox © 2001. Each month I tell stories to the teens in the Remann Hall Juvenile Detention Center as part of my health education work for the local Health Department where I am employed. Our goal is to prevent of violence and substance abuse. We have found that stories offer these youth a […]

By Deborah Freedman. Images are powerful medicine. There are internal images that develop out of thought, experience and imagination, and grow into stories of information, narrative and fairytale, touching the mind, the heart and the soul. There are two words that seem appropriate to our awakening as listeners – integration and transformation. The format I […]

By Lorna Czarnota. I mentioned in an earlier post that I have used story in my own therapy. I truthfully had a story moment that I think changed my life. Someone asked if I would share my experience. I’d love to hear of others’ experiences in how story may have helped them at a personal […]

By Andre B. Heuer and Charlotte Phillips. This two-part article is a description of a two day training session conducted by Dr. Andre B. Heuer and attended by Charlotte Phillips at St. John’s Medical Center in Springfield, Missouri. Dr. Heuer first gives an overview of the sessions and Ms. Phillips shares her personal experience. Andre […]

by Laura Simms. “In the human body is hidden a certain metaphysical substance which… needs no medicine because it is itself the incorruptible medicine. The philosophers, through some divine inspiration, recognized the strength and heavenly virtue of this substance and how to free it from its fetters, not through…physical medicine, but by a similar medicine […]

WHYY News (Philadelphlia, PA), May 15, 2013 Summary: Geriatrician Jason Karlawish says stories have a unique power to motivate. A study in Alabama found that patients with high blood pressure were more likely to manage their illness after hearing other people recount success at getting their own diet and stress under control. “Compared to just […]

WHYY News (Philadelphia, PA), May 15, 2013 Summary: Geriatrician Jason Karlawish says stories have a unique power to motivate. A study in Alabama found that patients with high blood pressure were more likely to manage their illness after hearing other people recount success at getting their own diet and stress under control. “Compared to just […]

Arts Education Partnership (Washington, D.C.), April 2013 Summary: This is a .pdf research bulletin from the Arts Education Partnership (AEP) which can be downloaded for free from this web site. Every young person in America deserves a complete and competitive education that includes the arts. America’s global stature, culture of innovation, and entrepreneurial spirit depend […]

The New York Times (New York, NY), March 15, 2013 Summary: The single most important thing you can do for your family may be the simplest of all: develop a strong family narrative. I first heard this idea from Marshall Duke, a colorful psychologist at Emory University. In the mid-1990s, Dr. Duke was asked to […]

The New York Times (New York, NY) , March 15, 2013   Summary: The single most important thing you can do for your family may be the simplest of all: develop a strong family narrative. I first heard this idea from Marshall Duke, a colorful psychologist at Emory University. In the mid-1990s, Dr. Duke was […]

The New York Times (New York, NY), March 15, 2013 Summary: The single most important thing you can do for your family may be the simplest of all: develop a strong family narrative. I first heard this idea from Marshall Duke, a colorful psychologist at Emory University. In the mid-1990s, Dr. Duke was asked to […]

A Different Kind of (Business) Storytelling Savannah Now (Savannah, GA), February 19, 2013 Summary: Storytelling is a wonderful part of our city. From unique storytelling events, like this past weekend’s book festival that hosted renowned authors reading their own works, to the almost common sound of a period actor waxing to tourists in a downtown […]

The Hindu (Chennai, India), February 14, 2013 Summary: Storytellers, professionals and performing artistes gathered at a village near Thanjavur to listen to traditional tales as part of the Chennai Storytelling Festival. There is no dearth of traditional stories in our country. But with the electronic media overtaking our lives and changing societal mores, the oral […]

Entrepreneurs Who Master Storytelling Win More Forbes (New York, NY), January 25, 2013 Summary: The entrepreneur’s challenge is to effectively communicate their value proposition, not only to customers, but also to vendors, partners, investors, and their own team. Especially for technical founders, this is normally all about presenting impressive facts. But in reality facts only […]

The Laurinburg Exchange (Laurinburg, NC), January 22, 2013 Summary: Laurinburg is earning a name for itself as a haven for fib-tellers. That is to say, after hosting the sixth annual Bold-Faced Liars’ Showdown, the Storytelling and Arts Center of the Southeast has put Laurinburg on the map as a place for storytelling. “Between this and […]

The Heart of Storytelling: The American Red Cross Lets Real People Tell Their Stories Co.Create, Fast Company (New York, NY), December 18, 2012 Summary: With its new Storytellers campaign, The American Red Cross gives a voice–and a camera–to the people who have been helped by the organization. A New Yorker whose home was ravaged by […]

Co.Create, Fast Company (New York, NY), December 18, 2012 Summary: With its new Storytellers campaign, The American Red Cross gives a voice–and a camera–to the people who have been helped by the organization. A New Yorker whose home was ravaged by Hurricane Sandy, a Michigan teenager whose Red Cross CPR training helped him save a […]

Co.Create, Fast Company (New York, NY), December 18, 2012 Summary: With its new Storytellers campaign, The American Red Cross gives a voice–and a camera–to the people who have been helped by the organization. A New Yorker whose home was ravaged by Hurricane Sandy, a Michigan teenager whose Red Cross CPR training helped him save a […]

Borneo Post Online (Kota Kinabalu, Borneo) , December 4, 2012 Summary: The few adults in the room couldn’t imagine themselves scaling mountains with their hands or flapping like peacocks alongside their young companions during yesterday’s storytelling session, but that was the effect Cassandra Wye had on her audience. Before long, the storyteller from United Kingdom […]

Borneo Post Online (Kota Kinabalu, Borneo), December 4, 2012 Summary: The few adults in the room couldn’t imagine themselves scaling mountains with their hands or flapping like peacocks alongside their young companions during yesterday’s storytelling session, but that was the effect Cassandra Wye had on her audience. Before long, the storyteller from United Kingdom had […]

The Daily Astorian (Portland, OR), November 9, 2012 Summary: When Back Fence PDX hosted its first live storytelling shows in 2008, the idea of standing up in front of your friends and neighbors to tell your most intimate and personal stories was a novelty to most Portlanders. “When we started, we got numerous emails from […]

londonist.com (London, UK), November 1, 2012 Summary: The Second Annual London Storytelling Festival is back next week, with a fantastic combination of comedians, poets and spoken word performers. John-Luke Roberts will tell his tale of a haunted sock, Rachel Rose Reid is digging underneath Hans Christian Andersen for the love stories we don’t quite hear, […]

Forbes (New York, NY) , October 15, 2012 Summary: At Prospect Sierra, a Changemaker School, storytelling is a tool for inclusion and a way to foster a great culture for learning. Britt Anderson and her colleagues at Prospect Sierra (PS) created This PS Life, a storytelling project for students, teachers, and staff at the San […]

Forbes (New York, NY), October 15, 2012 Summary: At Prospect Sierra, a Changemaker School, storytelling is a tool for inclusion and a way to foster a great culture for learning. Britt Anderson and her colleagues at Prospect Sierra (PS) created This PS Life, a storytelling project for students, teachers, and staff at the San Francisco […]

PBS NEWSHOUR (Washington D.C.), October 5, 2012 Summary: The popularity of radio shows like PRI’s “This American Life” and groups like The Moth has put the art of a good yarn on the map for a wide, national audience. In urban centers like New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., it’s just as easy to find […]

Yahoo.com, September 27, 2012 Summary: After someone snapped a photo of her and posted it on online, Balpreet Kaur was ridiculed for following the tenets of her Sikh faith. The photo was taken apparently without Kaur’s knowledge while she was waiting in line at the Ohio State University Library. In the photo, Kaur’s hair is […]

Yahoo.com , September 27, 2012 Summary: After someone snapped a photo of her and posted it on online, Balpreet Kaur was ridiculed for following the tenets of her Sikh faith. The photo was taken apparently without Kaur’s knowledge while she was waiting in line at the Ohio State University Library. In the photo, Kaur’s hair […]

NewCity Stage (Chicago, IL) , August 2, 2012 Summary: For Susan O’Halloran, professional storyteller and Chicago native, storytelling and racial justice have always been intertwined. O’Halloran grew up on the South Side in a time when public consensus still considered segregation a good thing. Her worldview, though, was crucially shaped by an early involvement with […]

NewCity Stage (Chicago, IL), August 2, 2012 Summary: For Susan O’Halloran, professional storyteller and Chicago native, storytelling and racial justice have always been intertwined. O’Halloran grew up on the South Side in a time when public consensus still considered segregation a good thing. Her worldview, though, was crucially shaped by an early involvement with the […]

The New York Times, Global Edition (New York, NY), July 24, 2012 Summary: In the 1800s, crowds regularly gathered on the steps of the Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi to enthusiastically watch a “dastango,” or storyteller, narrate tales of fantasy without props, music or theatrical action. The magic that held the audience was created […]

The New York Times, Global Edition (New York, NY), July 24, 2012 Summary: In the 1800s, crowds regularly gathered on the steps of the Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi to enthusiastically watch a “dastango,” or storyteller, narrate tales of fantasy without props, music or theatrical action. The magic that held the audience was created […]

Huffington Post (New York, NY) , July 18, 2012 By John McCormick Summary: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, minorities represent almost one half of America’s population under the age of 5. This statistic portends a more ethnically diverse America, with new and growing populations playing more significant economic, social and political roles. Perhaps it’s […]

Huffington Post (New York, NY), July 18, 2012 By John McCormick   Summary: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, minorities represent almost one half of America’s population under the age of 5. This statistic portends a more ethnically diverse America, with new and growing populations playing more significant economic, social and political roles. Perhaps it’s […]

TheAge.com.au (Melbourne, Australia), July 16, 2012   Summary: Just before the bell sounds for morning recess — when attention spans traditionally wane — students have crowded around the feet of their resident storyteller at Coolaroo South Primary School to begin a ritual that has been embraced by generations. A light strum of the mbira, a […]

SFGate (San Francisco, CA), July 11, 2012   Summary: Every month for the past 10 years, people from all walks of life have converged to tell true, personal stories as part of the Porchlight series. No matter how funny or shocking or unbelievable, the storytellers reveal the commonalities that pervade the human experience. Founders and […]

Press-Citizen (Iowa City, IA), July 11, 2012 By Carol Scott-Conner, a professor of surgery at University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, author of the book of short stories titled A Few Small Moments. Summary: Every year, we teach new medical students how to take a medical history. An adequate medical history succinctly summarizes the […]

MLIVE.com (Lansing, MI), July 11, 2012 Summary: Storytellers will come from the Midwest and the South to Flint share their tales, and Genesee County children will have a chance to do the same. The Flint Public Library’s 32nd Annual The Michigan Storytellers Festival is on Friday, July 20 7 a.m. till 10 p.m., and Saturday, […]

Press-Citizen (Iowa City, IA), July 11, 2012 By Carol Scott-Conner, a professor of surgery at University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, author of the book of short stories titled A Few Small Moments.   Summary: Every year, we teach new medical students how to take a medical history. An adequate medical history succinctly summarizes […]

Tips for Lawyers on Persuading Through Storytelling Law.com (New York, NY), July 10, 2012 Summary: Most lawyers could do with an intensive remedial course in “Once upon a time.” The longer they have practiced law, the more they probably need it. A lawyer’s job is to persuade, which is not possible without some type of […]

EdinburghGuide.com (Edinburgh, Scotland, UK), July 4, 2012 Summary: Scotland is a year-round festival nation, with exciting programmes of world-class events, festivals and cultures for all to enjoy. Through the Year of Creative Scotland, and evoking the remit of new collaborative group TRACS, the Scottish Storytelling Centre has expanded their July programme to present three weeks […]

The Yorker (Vanbrugh College, York, UK), June 28, 2012 Summary: Last weekend, the York Castle Museum played host to the York University Storytelling Festival. Eighteen English and Education students tucked away in a leafy glade in the gardens, armed with tales of murder and mystery and dinosaurs who learned to care, surrounded by groups of […]

Not Just for Bedtime, Marketers Corner the Market on Storytelling Forbes (New York, NY), June 27, 2012 Summary: While emerging forms of communications in marketing are often based on the latest technologies, it’s ironic that the hottest trend in marketing today just might be the ancient art of storytelling. Marketing guru Seth Godin equates storytelling […]

Journalism.co.uk (Brighton, East Sussex, UK), May 31, 2012 Summary: “We are in a golden age of storytelling” was the message shared by the New York Times’s assistant managing editor Jim Roberts early on in a session at the News World Summit today named ‘Obituary: The death of the traditional news story”. For Roberts, this “death” […]

Seven Tips in Digital Storytelling From the New York Times and CNN Journalism.co.uk (Brighton, East Sussex, UK), May 31, 2012 Summary: “We are in a golden age of storytelling” was the message shared by the New York Times’s assistant managing editor Jim Roberts early on in a session at the News World Summit today named […]

This Day Live (Lagos, Nigeria), May 27, 2012 Summary: Many attempts had been made to bring back storytelling on the electronic media. They do not necessarily encourage creativity. How then can the Nigerian or the African folktales become marketable brands? The answer is through creativity. Of course, not all cartoon heroes are moral characters. Some […]

Flavorwire (New York, NY), May 11, 2012   Summary: The Moth founder George Dawes Green says that the key to a really great story is vulnerability. “Great storytellers really never tell about triumphs — they always focus on weakness and loss, and their own humanity, their own clownishness.” “Getting other people to be quiet — […]

Nine Steps to All the Power You’ll Ever Need Forbes (New York, NY), April 15, 2012 Summary: by August Turak Authentic power arises from compelling communication. Every great leader is a powerful communicator. It worked for Steve Jobs. Here’s how to make it work for you. The primary job of leadership is to “communicate a […]

Guardian Weekly (London, UK) , April 10, 2012 By David Heathfield Summary: Ten years ago I went from being a full-time English language teacher to becoming a professional storyteller and part-time teacher. Helping teachers to become classroom storytellers is a significant part of my work. Recently a teaching colleague had a go at telling a […]

Guardian Weekly (London, UK), April 10, 2012   Summary: by David Heathfield Ten years ago I went from being a full-time English language teacher to becoming a professional storyteller and part-time teacher. Helping teachers to become classroom storytellers is a significant part of my work. Recently a teaching colleague had a go at telling a […]

New York Times (New York, NY), April 4, 2012 Summary: When she was 18, Ophira Eisenberg drunkenly cheated on her boyfriend with a guy she barely knew. This led to panic, lies, confrontation and, inevitably, a breakup. It could easily be an operatic teenage drama, but Ms. Eisenberg, now in her 30s, told this story […]

Garner News (Wake and Johnston County, NC), March 20, 2012 Summary: On March 10, North Garner Middle School and the Garner Educational Foundation (GEF) teamed together for the ninth annual Garner Storytelling Festival. The festival hosted professional speakers including Willa Brigham, an Emmy award winner, Timmy and Susana Abell, John Golden and Cyndi Bailey Morgan. […]

Garner News (Wake and Johnston County, NC), March 20, 2012 Summary: On March 10, North Garner Middle School and the Garner Educational Foundation (GEF) teamed together for the ninth annual Garner Storytelling Festival. The festival hosted professional speakers including Willa Brigham, an Emmy award winner, Timmy and Susana Abell, John Golden and Cyndi Bailey Morgan. […]

The Gulf Today (Sharjah, United Arab Emirates), March 18, 2012 Summary: Committed to sharing the delight of traditional Arabic art forms with new generations of children and young people, the Abu Dhabi Festival’s Community Programme is hosting a range of workshops and performances focused on storytelling. Reviving the art of storytelling, as well as traditional […]

The Spectator (Seattle University, Seattle, WA), February 22, 2012 Summary: Last week was the second annual Domestic Violence Awareness Week at Seattle University. In spreading awareness on survival and healing, several speakers, including the Thrivers Action Group, or TAG, came to share their stories and spread social awareness. According to TAG member Trese Todd, domestic […]

Variety (Los Angeles, CA) , February 13, 2012 Summary: USA Network has gone well beyond public service announcements with its Characters Unite initiative, which aims to promote tolerance and acceptance of people from diverse backgrounds. This year’s campaign has incorporated a national storytelling tour featuring notable figures, including some USA stars, sharing stories of their […]

New York Times (New York, NY), January 31, 2012   Summary: By ANDREW C. REVKIN I’ve often argued that the world would be better off if people, from an early age, absorbed science not as a set of facts (sadly the state of science education today), but as a story — full of vexing questions, […]

University of California, San Francisco News (San Francisco, CA), January 24, 2012 Summary: Two doctors who have learned the art of telling stories are convinced that it has become indispensable to top-notch medical care. “A slow cultural shift over the past 20 years led by television — from “St. Elsewhere” to “ER” — has been […]

Birmingham Mail (Birmingham, UK) , January 16, 2012 Summary: Katrice Horsley, aged 47 and from Kings Heath, had speech therapy lessons as a child. She is now a professional storyteller, with a repertoire of more than 350 stories from around the world. “I went from a childhood of being isolated because of a lack of […]

Birmingham Mail (Birmingham, UK), January 16, 2012   Summary: Katrice Horsley, aged 47 and from Kings Heath, had speech therapy lessons as a child. She is now a professional storyteller, with a repertoire of more than 350 stories from around the world. “I went from a childhood of being isolated because of a lack of […]

The Free Press (Mankato, MN), January 8, 2012   Summary: The Blue Earth County Historical Society is presenting 12 monthly events aimed at helping southern Minnesota learn about Dakota culture. “Am I doing OK?” asked Joe Whitehawk, a Dakota, speaking to an almost exclusively white audience at the first event. Dave Larsen, a Dakota, said […]

The Free Press (Mankato, MN) , January 8, 2012 Summary: The Blue Earth County Historical Society is presenting 12 monthly events aimed at helping southern Minnesota learn about Dakota culture. “Am I doing OK?” asked Joe Whitehawk, a Dakota, speaking to an almost exclusively white audience at the first event. Dave Larsen, a Dakota, said […]

The Free Press (Mankato, MN), January 8, 2012 Summary: The Blue Earth County Historical Society is presenting 12 monthly events aimed at helping southern Minnesota learn about Dakota culture. “Am I doing OK?” asked Joe Whitehawk, a Dakota, speaking to an almost exclusively white audience at the first event. Dave Larsen, a Dakota, said he, […]

The Victoria Times Colonist (Victoria, BC, Canada) , November 12, 2011 Summary: Before books, or even reading, should come the story, says Inuit storyteller and children’s author Michael Kusugak. It should be told in person, with lots of repetition, facial expressions and feedback from listeners, he says. “You can take these stories and write them […]

Metroland (Albany, NY) , September 8, 2011 Summary: The mention of teen and tween YouTube videos likely conjures thoughts of hairbrush karaoke or daredevil stunts. It probably doesn’t evoke visions of a poised, charismatic young woman unfurling an evocative creation myth for a rapt audience composed of all ages, races and faiths. And yet, it’s […]

The Observer (London, UK), August 7, 2011 Summary: As the tools available to publishers grow more sophisticated, it’s up to us to experiment and see what sticks. Linear stories still dominate the printed page, our TVs, our radios, our games consoles and the theatre. Yet the process of telling a story doesn’t have to be […]

CNN Belief (Atlanta, GA), August 7, 2011 Summary: By Edward Grinnan, Special to CNN One spring day 25 years ago, I found myself perched on the 21st floor windowsill of a Denmark hotel room, holding what I thought would be my last alcoholic drink. I planned to give it up in a big way. For […]

Storytelling to Help Your Career CNN (Atlanta, GA), June 29, 2011 Summary: “It occurred to me that everybody in business shares one universal problem: To succeed, you have to persuade others to support your vision, dream or cause,” Peter Guber, author of Tell To Win: Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story, […]

Japanese Times (Tokyo, Japan), May 14, 2011 Summary: A ‘Rakugo’ master is performing classic comedy tales along northeast coast in an effort to bring some cheer to evacuees. The traditional Japanese storyteller kneels in front of a room full of families that have lost everything — their loved ones, their homes, their entire town — […]

Psychology Today (New York, NY) , January 16, 2011 Summary: Stories are authentic human experiences. Stories leap frog the technology and bring us to the core of experience, as any good storyteller (transmedia or otherwise) knows. Our brains still respond to content by looking for the story to make sense out of the experience. No […]

The Psychological Power of Storytelling Psychology Today (New York, NY), January 16, 2011 Summary: Stories are authentic human experiences. Stories leap frog the technology and bring us to the core of experience, as any good storyteller (transmedia or otherwise) knows. Our brains still respond to content by looking for the story to make sense out […]

2010 National Storytelling Conference July 29-August 1, 2010 Warner Center Marriott – Los Angeles (Woodland Hills), California There was a pre-conference session of particular interest to PRO SIG members: Thursday, July 29, 9:00 am-12 noon PRO-SIG members shared the lessons learned at the October 2009 “Next Audiences Conference” on the state of the art for […]

by Ruth Stotter Member, Producers & Organizers SIG Having experienced the pleasure, despair and surprise from the experience of renting a half-dozen theatres and sponsoring dozens of storytelling evenings, here are some of my suggestions for those planning to produce storytelling events. 1) Instead of a set fee, offer a percentage of the take at […]

Sheraton Plaza Hotel St. Louis, Missouri July 12, 2007 Ronald J. Turner Executive Vice President Emeritus University of Missouri   Thank you for that generous introduction and thanks to the organizers of this important conference.  It is truly good to be here with all of you as we continue the journey of growth and […]

by Members of the Producers & Organizers SIG Here’s a question that appeared on the PRO SIG listserv. Our Tellabration Problem We have our tellers audition their stories, and plan the timing of our program accordingly. But last year, two of the stories really grew between the audition and Tellabration. Plus an emcee took lots […]

By Mary Grace Ketner ( ) I tend to separate the two: emceeing, introductions. The emceeing has to do with the overall program and the audience, welcoming, making the program flow, cleansing the palate between each teller, building anticipation for the next story, bringing closure. The introductory “speech” for each teller is a separate project […]

by Nan Kammann-Judd Member, Producers & Organizers SIG The storytelling community is one of the warmest, most talented, compassionate, and usually very professional groups of people. What separates the “professional” storyteller from other storytellers who are invited to participate in festivals, workshops, performances, and conferences? From the producer’s perspective, here are some suggestions for the […]

by Kate Dudding () At the National Storytelling Network’s 2003 Conference in Chicago, I moderated a panel discussion on this topic. Other panel members were Gerald Fierst, Ellen Munds and Robert Revere. Based on the panelists’ presentations and information shared by attendees, there seems to be three things in common with all successful storytelling events […]

by Andrew Mungo This article was originally published in The Museletter, newsletter of the League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling (LANES), Vol. 16, No. 1, August 2003At my theater, I’ve been featuring storytellers as “short subjects” before the movie on occasion for about a year now. It’s a mostly popular program and my […]

Producer: Gregory Leifel () I run a tri-monthly program for my local Arts Council, in Barrington Illinois. We feature poets, storytellers, musicians, comedians, and other types of performance artists in an evening performance held in an art gallery in a bistro setting (the Pints in the title stand for the drinks — beer and wine […]

Producer: Priscilla Howe () I have been producing house concerts for adults for approximately 3 years. I was frustrated with trying to produce concerts of my own work for adults, so I decided to offer house concerts to friends and family. The host invites the guests, provides refreshments and passes the hat. I don’t have […]

Producer: Scheherazade’s Legacy, the partnership of Cynthia Changaris () and Mary Hamilton () Purpose: To provide an opportunity for storytellers of all experience levels to gather as peers and work on their storytelling art. While most participants choose to work on the development of specific stories, participants have also worked on workshop revisions, promotional pieces, […]

Producer: Bev Twillmann (, www.interpretivevoices.com) (This is once the site has been selected and permission gotten from presenting agency) Decide immediately if this is a free and open to the public event (preferred). State the goal of the event.  Just why do you want to have it and who is it going to benefit? If […]

Producer: Bev Twillmann (, www.interpretivevoices.com) Finding the Correct Site Convincing the Park (Whether National, State or Local) WHO to contact Examine your desire closely as to why you want to begin an event.  Try and connect with a reason for the Park (you are thinking about as a site) to have this event. Example: Haunting […]

From the sound of Mark Fletcher’s bagpipes, leading the children to the festival grounds on a misty Friday morning, to the last shivery ghost tale told by Mary-Eileen McClear on Saturday night, the first annual St. Marys Storytelling Festival carried an aura of magic.  The magic had begun with an idea in the spring of […]

by Kate Dudding (Member, Producers & Organizers SIG) and Carolyn Martino Since 1985, “Girls Night Out” has been a tradition each March in Providence, Rhode Island. It was started, and continues to be organized, by the women in the Spellbinders Storytelling Collective to celebrate Women’s History Month with stories and songs by, for and about […]

By Ellen H. Munds Member, Producers & Organizers SIG () Originally published in Storytelling Magazine, November/December 2006 At the 2006 business meeting of the Producer’s & Organizer’s SIG during the National Storytelling Conference in Pittsburgh, we decided to use this column as a means to share some successful programs. Here in Indianapolis, Storytelling Arts of […]

March 2007             by Kate Dudding   At the 2006 Sharing the Fire, the storytelling conference presented by the League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling, Jo Radner gave an excellent keynote challenging us to come up with ways to raise storytelling to the same level as music and theatre. Her keynote got me thinking.  […]

By Richard Martin () I’ve done table-hopping a number of times and always found it worked well, particularly when it is a sit-down dinner. In fact, it is one of my suggestions for a gig like a company’s annual dinner party. My reasoning is that, unlike a theatre gig where the audience have consciously chosen […]

NSN Conference, July 13, 2005 Pre-conference for the Producers SIG Notes from discussion on involving Generation X and Y in storytelling, and attracting them to storytelling events. Compiled by Janelle Reardon Member, Producers & Organizers SIG   ELEMENTS TO ADD or CHANGE: Story Slam (like poetry slam) Choose venue where X & Y generations hang […]

Producer: Ellen H. Munds () In order to encourage new listeners to come back to our next storytelling event, I send them a letter, thanking them for coming and telling them about our next event. Below is a copy of such a letter. April 20, 2004 Bill Jones 1234 N Virginia St Indianapolis, IN 46205 […]

by Leanne Johnson Member, Producers & Organizers SIG They began arriving in January. First, a small flurry, then a trickle at month’s end, and a veritable blizzard around the February 15th deadline. Tapes! Tapes! Tapes! Tapes filled with stories, and songs, and memories, and magic – and mistakes. As the chairperson of a concert committee, […]

Addison County Independent (Addison County, VT) , April 22, 2010 Summary: Professor Linus Owens tells a story about his family during a Middlebury Moth storytelling event last Thursday night. Middlebury Moth is inspired by The Moth Radio Hour, a nationally broadcast radio show that features true stories told by real people without scripts. Participants shared […]

Tucson Citizen (Tucson, AZ), March 2, 2010 Summary: Stories can heal, educate, sell, empower, and/or illuminate. They can be told, performed, journaled, blogged, social media’d, and/or written. Here are some on-line locations where you can learn more about storytelling applications. The National Storytelling Network has five special interest groups dealing with healing, producing storytelling events, […]

Lancaster Guardian (Lancaster, UK) , February 11, 2010 Summary: A NEW scheme to bring books to life is being launched in Lancaster next week. The Living Libraries in Lancashire scheme gives visitors to the city’s library the chance to ‘borrow’ living books. The ‘books’ – who are actually volunteers from the district – will give […]

ExpressBuzz (Chenai, India), February 10, 2010 Summary: No one who sat in the intellectual audience at IIT Madras on a Sunday afternoon would’ve imagined that a story of two little goats who lived on two separate hills would do wonders to lift their energy levels. Yet, Jeeva Raghunath, a professional storyteller, addressed a gathering on […]

The Herald of Randolph (Randolph, VT) , February 4, 2010 Summary: What’s more enjoyable than sharing your stories? And what’s a better way to build community than to hear other people’s stories? That’s the idea behind a new series of storytelling programs, called “Talking With,” sponsored by the Randolph Senior Center for the general public. […]

The New York Times (New York, NY), December 29, 2009 Summary: Dr. Rita Charon, professor of clinical medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, is well aware of the power of storytelling. She has a Ph.D. in English — training that changed her medical practice. Through literature, she learned how stories […]

Estes Park Trail Gazette (Estes Park, CO) , December 11, 2009 Summary: “Storytelling is customary in the wintertime,” Red Feather Woman said. “There`s more time. Imagine this is my teepee. You`ve come together as a community to hear stories and songs. We`re all connected, everything — places, animals, people.” Rose Red Elk (Red Feather Woman) […]

The Wall Street Journal (New York, NY), November 14, 2009 Summary: Tripping down memory lane is a healthy and necessary task of growing older—even if only practiced privately, or in the company of an agreeable friend or spouse. The urge to sum up is “part of normal aging,” wrote Gene D. Cohen, a psychiatrist and […]

Spartan Daily (San Jose State Universtiy, CA), September 9, 2009 Summary: Students and members of the community gathered Wednesday night on campus to watch personal stories of triumph as part of the Latino Digital Storytelling Project. One of the stories was that of Maria Perez, an ex-first generation gang member. Her story described life growing […]

Spartan Daily (San Jose State Universtiy, CA) , September 9, 2009 Summary: Students and members of the community gathered Wednesday night on campus to watch personal stories of triumph as part of the Latino Digital Storytelling Project. One of the stories was that of Maria Perez, an ex-first generation gang member. Her story described life […]

by Alan Cock Member, Producers & Organizers SIG Sponsored by the NSN PRO SIG Agenda: Branding Storytelling: What does it all mean? Find out at the PRO SIG Winter Retreat February 15, 16, 17, 2008 Fairfield Inn-Airport 5220 W Southern Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana Discuss branding with Loren Niemi & Cristin Thomas Meet Pauline Moffat of […]

Victoria Advocate (Victoria, Texas) , August 14, 2009 Summary: Kathy Lynn Copeland’s ancestors were Cherokee royalty, and her culture and her faith are something she has made it her life to share. “I feel like all my life it’s led up to this,” she said. “To many people you have two sides. It’s part of who you […]

Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and River Forest (IL) , June 2, 2009 Summary: Multi-cultural exchanges, such as a Kwanzaa celebration from a few years back, are common at Unity Temple. Interfaith dialogue is again on tap for this Saturday. Eboo Patel, founder and executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), recalled that the […]

Arizona State University News (Phoenix, AZ) , May 21, 2009 Summary: Save Our Stories (SOS) is a new Communication Studies degree course in Arizona State University’s New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences. Designed to preserve the stories of a diverse community while teaching students communication skills and research applications, the SOS course is directed […]

Why Right-brainers Will Rule This Century CNN.com (Atlanta, GA), May 7, 2009 Summary: Your left brain is logical, linear, by-the-numbers; the right side is creative, artistic, empathetic. Oprah Winfrey talks with Daniel Pink about his groundbreaking book, “A Whole New Mind”, and explores how right-brain thinkers are wired for 21st-century success. The best part: Anyone […]

Winnipeg Free Press (Winnipeg, Canada) , May 6, 2009 Summary: Yarns, myths, folk tales, legends, fables, historical narratives and just plain stories are being shared today through Saturday at the fourth annual Winnipeg International Storytelling Festival. The free festival is presented by the Arthur V. Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice at St. Paul’s College, […]

Daily Illini (University of Illinois, Champaign, IL), April 7, 2009 Summary: The Champaign-Urbana Storytelling Guild takes storytelling from children’s bedtime fodder to an elaborate art form. The Guild, which was founded in 2001, sponsors local storytelling concerts and events and participates in workshops and benefits. “The whole point of it is to support new tellers […]

Wall Street Journal (New York, NY), March 11, 2009 Summary: As parents cut budgets, many are finding family stories have surprising power to help children through hard times. Storytelling experts say the phenomenon reflects a growing national interest in telling tales, evidenced by a rise in storytelling events and festivals. New research bears out the […]

Newsweek (New York, NY), February 16, 2009 Summary: Ann Banks, editor of First-Person America, an anthology of oral histories collected by the WPA’s Federal Writers’ Project, wrote: I was raised on Depression stories; this was only one of many told around our dinner table. Hearing them again and again, I became fascinated by the role […]

Poynter.org (St. Petersburg, FL), December 29, 2008 Summary: The urge to make and read year-end lists has created this opportunity to look at some interesting multimedia published in 2008. The big kids really knocked it out of the park, especially on political coverage. The New York Times, The Washington Post, MSNBC and USA Today all […]

Scientific American Mind (New York, NY), September, 2008 Summary: Storytelling is a human universal, and common themes appear in tales throughout history and all over the the world. The best stories—those retold through generations and translated into other languages—do more than simply present a believable picture. These tales captivate their audience, whose emotions can be […]

Journal of Evolution and Technology (Hartford, CT), – Vol. 19 Issue 1 – September 2008 – pgs 51-61   Summary: Will the transhuman technologies that our accelerating future promises enable us to increase our empathy to others? Or will their use decrease our ability to understand ‘the other’ that exists outside our own selves, families, […]

ABC Online (Australia), April 17, 2008 Summary: Humans are natural storytellers. We’ve been doing it for 30,000 years. But about 2,500 years ago, thanks to Plato, Socrates and other ancient Greeks, we in the West switched to inquiry, dialogue, argument and reason when we had knowledge to impart. We still do today. We still tell […]

DCist.com (Washington, DC), April 15, 2008 Summary: Ira Glass, creator and host of the weekly public radio story anthology This American Life, led an inspiring two-hour discussion of the techniques of storytelling as practiced by the staff of This American Life, and the reasons stories are so indispensable to our humanity. Glass observed that storytelling […]

DCist.com (Washington, DC), April 15, 2008 Summary: Ira Glass, creator and host of the weekly public radio story anthology This American Life, led an inspiring two-hour discussion of the techniques of storytelling as practiced by the staff of This American Life, and the reasons stories are so indispensable to our humanity. Glass observed that storytelling […]

The Shields Gazette (South Shields, UK) , April 15, 2008 Summary: As part of celebrations to mark World Storytelling Day, youngsters from St Bede’s RC Primary School, in Harold Street, Dunn Street Primary, in Staple Road, and Jarrow Cross CofE Primary, in Borough Road, were invited to Jarrow Library. Library assistant Carol Hall, the storyteller […]

(The Oregonian, Portland, OR), April 6, 2008 Summary: Is it possible that the city we imagine — the city that isn’t, that was, that could be — is more real than the one that actually exists? Do we fashion cities through the stories that we tell, as real as anything that’s already around us? At […]

Daily Herald (Provo, UT), March 26, 2008 Summary: “We can give people facts and statistics all day long. Those are valuable, but to really inspire people to make change, you need the human element,” said Lena Dibble, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Health Promotion in Utah’s Department of Health . The bureau is launching the […]

Daily Trojan (Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA), March 4, 2008 Summary: The Asian Pacific American Student Association invited community members to speak about social justice and their struggles at “Stories from our Community” on Monday night. Daniel Wu, a sophomore majoring in international relations and APASA’s community chair, said […]

The Stanford Daily (Palo Alto, CA), February 15, 2008 Summary: Members of the Stanford Storytelling Project interviewed people in White Plaza about love stories last week. This new initiative began at Stanford University in the fall of 2007. Through a weekly, themed radio show, an audio-video podcast, and live events, they are showcasing some of […]

News Transcript (Freehold, NJ), February 6, 2008 Summary: Storytelling has always played a vital role in a student’s learning process. With today’s technology the art of storytelling has become high-tech and includes audio and visual stimulation. Such is the case in Wendy Buchanan’s fourthgrade class at the Park Avenue Elementary School in Freehold Borough. By […]

San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, CA), January 17, 2008 Summary: Fray was launched in 1996 by Derek Powazek, at a time when most people found the concept of the Internet confusing and e-mail addresses a novelty. He envisioned it as a place where people could share real-life stories – his only rules were that they […]

The Times of India (New Delhi, India) , October 1, 2007 Summary: Sarah Kyankya is a writer- publisher at Fountain Publications, Kampala, Uganda’s largest publishing house. She was asked, “There is an ongoing conflict situation in Uganda. Can storytelling make a difference?” Kyankya replied, “The war has meant that the north of the country is […]

The Appalachian (Appalachian State University, Boone, NC), September 13, 2007 Summary: The Blue Ridge Family Literacy Project, formerly known as the Appalachian Storytelling Project, recognizes the power of personal history and is using it as a tool to do so. Housed in the Reich College of Education, the program is now embarking upon its third […]

Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL), September 6, 2007 Summary: Arif Choudhury is recounting a story from his childhood, a funny tale of what it was like to be the only Bangladeshi child growing up in his leafy neighborhood north of Chicago. Choudhury, age 5, is in a sandbox when a boy suddenly asks him, “Are you […]

Rapid City Journal (Rapid City, SD), July 23, 2007 Summary: A Lakota/Dakota storytelling competition has been added to the 31st annual Lakota Nation Invitational scheduled at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center on Dec. 19-22. “Holding the event during the LNI in December is particularly appropriate because among Indian tribes throughout America, winter is storytelling time,” […]

Innovations Report (Bad Homburg, Germany), June 4, 2007 Summary: Computer scientists at Swansea University are working on a collaborative project that is using new mobile phone technologies to help villagers in India record and share their stories and experiences. The StoryBank project is providing people in the Indian village of Budikote, 100km from Bangalore, with […]

Portland Press Herald (Portland, ME), June 3, 2007 Summary: Indonesia native Ina Demers, who came to the United States in 1974, was one of eight individuals presenting “Journey Stories” as part of the first-ever Bayside International Fair and Market. She described to the crowd the oppression her family faced, being Chinese in Indonesia in the […]

Reuters.uk (UK), May 24, 2007 Summary: Ancient stories first told by the Aztecs and Sumerians are helping businesses and people in the age of the Internet to make sense of modern life. Professional storytellers like Dez Quarrell are using tales culled from cultures around the world to explain the conundrums of modern life for technology […]

Scottish Provincial Press Ltd. (Inverness, Scotland, UK), May 4, 2007 Summary: As part of a digital storytelling initiative, the people of Alness will be given the chance to bring their personal tales to life, creating a short digital story which will be showcased in front of family and friends, before being published on a BBC […]

East Valley City News (Phoenix, AZ) , March 6, 2007 Summary: “Talking about Traditional Stories and Storytelling,” will be the topic at the free Faces of Diversity Brown Bag luncheon series noon to 1 p.m. Friday, March 16, at the Phoenix City Council Chambers, 200 W. Jefferson St. Kathy Collins will share traditional stories from Hawaii: stories […]

New Haven Independent (New Haven, CT), February 27, 2007 Summary: The Jamestown Project at Yale is holding storytelling sessions from now through June that will allow New Haveners to tell their stories, in hopes of building trust and community. Storyteller Catherine Conant created a warm and welcoming circle for those who came to the two-hour […]

CBS News (New York City, NY), December 15, 2006 Summary: Each week we invite someone from outside CBS Public EyE to weigh in with their thoughts about CBS News and the media at large. This week, we turned to Siobhan Darrow, a former CNN correspondent and author of the 2002 book, Flirting with Danger: Confessions […]

The Fiji Times Online (Suva, Fiji), December 3, 2006 Summary: Father Lapsley’s decade-and-a-half-long activism against South African apartheid, both from within and outside that State, could have ended in him living the rest of his life bitter and a victim. In 1990, a letter bomb delivered to him in Harare, Zimbabwe, from the then South […]

City Vision (Western Cape, South Africa), November 9, 2006 Summary: The sixteen ex-combatants and community activists trained by the Direct Action Centre for Peace and Memory (DACPM) in storytelling to become authentic voices in the tourist industry, graduated in Woodstock on Monday. During the course which took nine weeks, the graduates took a part on […]

The Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ), March 19, 2006 Summary: Tim Terry Jr. dragged a white-painted finger from the corner of his eye to his cheek, hair feathers twirling in the breeze, as he told the ancient Pima story of creation. “We don’t have a word for love in our language,” Terry, a 40-year-old Pima, shared […]

The Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ), March 11, 2006 Summary: Ralph Chavarria sat next to his teenage grandson. The 91-year-old leaned on a cane and talked about his experiences as a World War II firefighter and crash-crew worker in the Twentieth Air Force in the Pacific. Ralph and 17-year-old Sean are close in large part through […]

Opinion250 News (Prince George, British Columbia, Canada), March 11, 2006 Summary: Between 1892 and 1969, residential schools operated in Canada through arrangements between the Government of Canada and the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, United and Presbyterian churches. Although the Government was no longer officially involved after 1969, a few schools and hostels continued to operate […]

National Indigenous Times (Australia), March 8, 2006 Summary: The unknown stories of intermarriage, domesticity and the acts of cooperation – and conflict – that form the global frontier experience will be revealed in a ground-breaking conference at the National Museum of Australia in August. Narrating Frontier Families in Australia and North America on 4-5 August […]

The Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ), March 8, 2006 Summary: Crafting a bird’s nest using 2 feet of string is difficult for Alhambra High School student Isaiah Nelson. The Navajo teenager helped bring the winter storytelling and string games last month to his campus in the Phoenix Union High School District. The student-sponsored event was designed […]

The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA), March 7, 2006 Summary: The theme of this year’s Southern California Indian Storytelling Festival is “Bridging the Pacific with Story & Song,” and the event featured young and old storytellers from several tribes, including the Cahuilla, Kumeyaay, Chumash, Yokuts, Serrano, and Ohlone, as well as Owana Salaza, a Hawaiian who is […]

Malaysia Star (Malaysia), January 24, 2006 Summary: And they lived poor ever after… What a hilarious way to end a story! It made the audience at the storytelling showcase –a culmination of months of hard work during the “Happiness is a Choice Programme” – laugh, then sigh. They had to wonder what sentiments lay beneath […]

Union-Tribune (San Diego, CA), January 15, 2006 Summary: Wearing a ceremonial hat from the Ga people of West Africa, storyteller Alyce Smith Cooper captivated a crowd at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day multicultural festival. “There is a mystique that storytellers have, that draw people in,” said Jacki Taylor, coordinator of the festival. “This is […]

Viet Nam News (Hanoi, Vietnam), January 15, 2006 Summary: The people of Tay Nguyen have been reciting epic narratives for generations, but as oral storytelling starts to die out with the village elders, this ancient tradition is slowly starting to dissappear. A VND17 billion (US$1 million) State-funded project is being undertaken by the Folklore Study […]

Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, IN), December 4, 2005 Summary: “Storytelling enlightens our community and makes people aware of our history,” said Deborah Asante, director of the Asante Children’s Theatre and host of Saturday’s 4th annual Haughville Story Fest. Saturday’s storytelling attracted about 100 people and featured three components: a speech from the Rev. Douglas Tate Sr. […]

The Journal News.com (Westchester, NY), July 10, 2005 Summary: In the African tradition, libations were poured to the north, south, east and west to begin the second annual African Diaspora Festival yesterday at the CEJJES Institute. The event, presented by the institute in conjunction with Naomi’s Program of Excellence, celebrated the arts of Africa. “What […]

San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, CA), June 22, 2005 Summary: The Digital Clubhouse Network, founded in Sunnyvale, and the regional California Pioneers of Santa Clara County, are now partners sharing facilities at History Park in San Jose. “To my knowledge, this will be the first partnership of this type in the country among traditional […]

The Battalion – Texas A&M (College Station, TX), June 20, 2005 Summary: Children should be encouraged to accept all aspects of different cultures, and teachers should strive to eliminate bias in education, said reggae musician Alafia Gaidi and Texas A&M history professor Ernest Obadele-Starks. Gaidi and Starks gave presentations Thursday as part of The George […]

Open Democracy (London, UK), June 20, 2005 Summary: Moving Lives is one of PhotoVoices’s most recent programmes. It was screened on 19 June in London at the Celebrating Sanctuary Festival, the annual free festival celebrating the art of London’s refugee communities. PhotoVoices is an international charity based in London. Moving Lives, a photography and digital-storytelling […]

Auburn Citizen (Auburn, NY), June 16, 2005 Summary: The Auburn Human Rights Commission brought the message of Juneteenth Day to a new generation on Wednesday with a celebration featuring storytellers. The commission’s annual commemoration of Juneteenth Day, which marks the day the last slaves were freed in 1865, brought students from area schools to the […]

The Battalion – Texas A&M (College Station, TX), June 15, 2005 Summary: Juneteenth, traditionally celebrated on June 19, recognizes the day the Emancipation Proclamation was first read in Texas, freeing slaves. Alafia Gaidi’s presentation, “Freedom’s Legacy: Africa’s Gifts,” will be a part of the George Bush Presidential Library’s Storytellers Guild and educators’ seminar celebrating Juneteenth. […]

Marina del Rey Argonaut (Marina del Rey, CA), June 17, 2005 Summary: Juneteenth is the unofficial holiday that marks the end of slavery in the United States. More specifically, it stems from the message Union General Gordon Granger relayed to slaves on June 19th, 1865 in Galveston, Texas, that the Civil War had ended and […]

Israel 21C – A Focus Beyond the Conflict (Cupertino, CA), June 5, 2005 Summary: Last week, the project Learning Each Other’s Narrative was awarded the prestigious the inaugural Victor J. Goldberg IIE Prize for Peace in the Middle East, of the Institute of International Education. The organization, “commends your commitment to overcoming the barriers that […]

Wednesday Journal (Oak Park, IL), May 10, 2005 Summary: The issues of “name” and “place” help young students and their parents better understand traditions, histories and cultures that make up their backgrounds and their communities. It helps them appreciate difference and similarities in people. It also helps them understand and appreciate maternal and paternal heritages; […]

AScribe – The Public Interest News Wire (Oakland, CA), May 5, 2005 Summary: An innovative program to help high school students understand and deal effectively with racial issues through stories and storytelling, has received a second grant of $100,000 in support from the Third Millennium Foundation. The Storytelling Project, developed by Barnard College Professor Lee […]

Digital-Lifestyles.Info (London, England, UK), April 26, 2005 Summary: BBCi has launched a programming service for digital satellite viewers showcasing short films made by ordinary folk across the UK. Commissioned by BBC New Media and developed by BBC Nations and Regions, the service – dubbed “Your Stories” – is accessible at any time by pressing the […]

The Seattle Times (Seattle, WA), April 25, 2005 Summary: Meaningful civil disagreement — the kind that fosters understanding, opens minds, locates common ground, undergirds democracy — requires meaningful personal engagement across the divide. “It’s incredibly hard work,” says Bob Perkins, a Seattle carpenter who believes that the country would prosper if more of us took […]

Western Mail (Cardiff, Wales, UK), April 18, 2005 Summary: THE art of the storyteller is set to be reinvigorated with the launch of a new festival in West Wales today. And it is hoped the event will help introduce families who have recently moved to the rural areas of Ceredigion, to the breadth of culture […]

Willits News (Willits, CA), April 08, 2005 Summary: One of the hallmarks of a rural community are the shared stories of place. Which of us doesn’t have a story to tell about the courthouse, the Palace Hotel, the cemetery, Montgomery Wards or our own backyard? It is this notion that led Ukiah Players Theatre (UPT) […]

Willits News (Willits, CA), April 08, 2005 Summary: One of the hallmarks of a rural community are the shared stories of place. Which of us doesn’t have a story to tell about the courthouse, the Palace Hotel, the cemetery, Montgomery Wards or our own backyard? It is this notion that led Ukiah Players Theatre (UPT) […]

Sussex Post (Sussex County, DE), March 31, 2005 Summary: When Native American storyteller Raggatha Rain Calentine is telling a story, people sit and listen. They listen and they watch as the Selbyville resident becomes fully engrossed in her tale, sometimes to the point that she feels she is a part of it. “Sometimes I don’t […]

Computerworld New Zealand (Auckland, New Zealand), March 22, 2005 Summary: For Jason Ohler, professor of educational technology at the University of Alaska, the future is fast approaching and he’s eager to make sure our children are equipped with the tools they need for the cyber age. Children, says Ohler, learn a lot from storytelling, something […]

Holmen Courier (Holmen, WI), March 18, 2005 Summary: there will be some serious storytellers at the Onalaska library Saturday for “Threads Through Time,” the program celebrating women’s history. A trio of members from the Bluff Country Talespinners, an area storyteller’s guild, will take turns telling stories at the Onalaska library from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. […]

Billings Gazette (Billings, MT), March 15, 2005 Summary: Any conversation with Reno Charette can quickly turn into a history lesson, and she’s not talking about Christopher Columbus. Though Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s newly appointed Coordinator of American Indian Affairs holds a master’s degree in history, she wants to tell history the way she sees it – […]

Arab News (Saudi Arabia), February 28, 2005   Summary: Young Arab women are getting a chance to air their views — literally — over the BBC Arabic Service. The “My Life” project by the BBC World Service Trust enables young women in the Arab world to develop their own media portfolios, or audiovisual stories, while […]

The Missoulian (Missoula, MT), January 23, 2005 Summary: Rob Collier’s grandmother was the storyteller in his life. She shared tales every day, at every opportunity. Now Collier is sharing what he learned from her and other members of his Nez Perce Indian tribe. On Saturday, at Travelers’ Rest State Park, he told nine tribal stories, […]

Providence Journal (Providence, RI), January 20, 2005 Summary: The seventh annual Funda Fest: A Celebration of Black Storytelling is under way. It began Tuesday in schools around Rhode Island and continues tomorrow through Sunday with public performances in a variety of venues, from Woonsocket to Providence, and in New Bedford. In all, there will be […]

Waco Tribune Herald (Waco, TX), January 19, 2005 Summary: Sandtown, a place that exists only in the hearts and minds of its former inhabitants and their ancestors, was brought back to life for an evening through the recollections of some 100 people from the defunct neighborhood who gathered Tuesday night for a program by the […]

Palisadian-Post (Pacific Palisades, CA), January 13, 2005 Summary: Tellers and talkers will honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s memory at the Tales By The Sea performance on Saturday, January 15, 7 p.m. at Malibu United Methodist Church, 30128 Morning View Drive. The program will begin with classical improv by juveniles from Camp Kilpatrick probation camp […]