Elisa began her storytelling career by working for ten years as a Storyteller in Residence in the Boston Public Schools. There she came to appreciate and tell stories from the many diverse cultures that the children represented. Other early storytelling experiences included collecting stories from Vietnam Veterans and sharing them with high school, college and adults in a program called, The Defoliated Heart. She also led groups of women to share and learn from their stories together. These experiences helped to inspire her belief in the power of stories to heal.
Recently her most popular storytelling programs in the schools are on character education and bullying prevention through story. She received a grant in 2002 to study character education through story from the National Storytelling Network.
She is a currently a board member of The Healing Story Alliance www.healingstory.org and is an active member of The League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling (LANES), and past Board member. You can learn more about LANES and the storytelling conference at www.lanes.org
I am Belgian-British and tell stories in English, Spanish and French wherever the wind takes me; Spain, India, Little Tibet, France, Belgium, etc. My passion is to look into people’s eyes, and travel with them through stories, whether in a prison, a yoga school, a Tibetan monastery in the Himalaya, a theatre, or online with young Palestinian refugees in Gaza. I use a minimum amount of props; mostly none, and sometimes some sounds (flute, kalimba, shakers, etc.)
Storytelling is a form of communication that goes way beyond words; it is a heart to heart interaction, and that is why I love it!
The story on this episode is traditional Sufi story.
- Bansuri Indian flute: Rebecca
- Sound Design: Mark Pedersen.
Guest Host – Simon Brooks
Simon Brooks is an award-winning British storyteller living in America – actually, New London, New Hampshire, New England, New World! He also uses his voice to record audio books. He is also a poet, writer, photographer, and educator.
Order his new book Under The Oaken Bough!
Whether she is performing, teaching, facilitating or consulting, Cindy Rivka Marshall is guided by her value of respect for all.
True Thomas the Storyteller (aka Robert Seutter) has been storytelling for many years. True is an avid proponent of storytelling. He teaches the art, creates events, and has performed in a wide variety of places from campfires to battlefields. His personal storytelling philosophy is that a good storyteller should be able to tell to anyone, anywhere it’s physically possible. Anyone can and should tell stories, and to become a master of the craft can take a lifetime. He’s also a big believer in the spiritual side of storytelling. He believes in the power of stories and that the right story, in the right time and place can change the world.
It was back in 1983 that he graduated from Stanford with a self-designed degree in English, Creative Writing and Storytelling, and set off to travel the world, gathering and telling stories. Since then he has told stories and taught storytelling in some 36 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
“I live in my head. A lot. I make stuff up, I borrow from old tales, I reinterpret new stories. As a storyteller, I’m a tour guide to that space in my brain. I work without a script, without costumes, without props. When I’m doing it right, listeners laugh, smile, sigh and breathe together, connected in the space of stories. I perform at schools, libraries, festivals, special events, and in my own backyard, literally. My mouthy hand puppets come along to shows for young children. I tell more grownup stories to, well, grownups and older kids. We play together. Apart from being the oldest educational method in the world, storytelling is just plain fun.”
Simon Brooks is an award-winning British storyteller living in America – actually, New London, New Hampshire, New England, New World! He also uses his voice to record audio books. He is also a poet, writer, photographer, and educator.
Jenni Cargill-Strong is an award-winning Australian storyteller and Owner Operator of ‘
Spurred on by his performance in a production of the musical play, “Hans Christian Andersen” in 1981, Harvey became a professional singer/storyteller as an addition to his teaching career. He has performed in numerous schools, libraries and festivals throughout Long Island. Harvey retired from teaching in 2006 after 33 years to devote more time to his storytelling passion. In addition to performing, he conducts workshops on storytelling in the classroom and digital storytelling for teachers.
Kim has mastered the craft of blending humor and heartache, seriousness and silliness…all linked together by music. One reviewer stated, “Hard to explain but oh, so easy to enjoy.” She currently has 8 award winning audio collections, the latest one, A Wandering Mind, a much anticipated collection of personal stories and songs that has received rave reviews and airplay on NPR affiliates and Sirius XM. Kim has made numerous television appearances, hosted a successful morning show and has authored numerous articles for periodicals and magazines.
Valentina Ortiz is a storyteller, musician, writer, recording artist, teacher and humanitarian. She considers herself a citizen of the world, as she tells her stories in English, Spanish or French. Valentina is the magic of Mexican traditions, with their music, native languages and stories. She is also the flavors of the Caribbean drums; she is the union of the different cultures from the tropics to the mountains. She speaks words of hope, of song and music, of strong women, of responsibility towards Mother Nature and community. She is well known for promoting collaborative projects that pursue the healing of social issues through storytelling specifically and art in general, as she is the founder and director of the nonprofit association Zazanilli Cuentos.
Rona Leventhal, who hails for Massachusetts, has been sharing her passion for the power of story for twenty-seven years, touching the minds and imaginations of listeners. Her performances – dynamic, evocative, often funny – have taken her from the stages of National Storytelling Network to the National Yiddish Book Center, international venues, festival, conferences, schools and libraries. With roots in education, she calls storytelling “Living Literacy”(c), which develops what she calls “The Imagination Muscle”(c). Rona is a Teller of Tales, a Workshop Leader, Improv Specialist, Coach, Teaching Artist, Consultant and by all accounts, a mensch! Her first CD is “Into the Dark: Stories From the Shadows” (Creepy Stories for Adults and Fearless Teens). Her family CD, “Raps, Rhythms and Rhymes: Stories to Tap, Rap, Shake and Sing” will be out early 2019! Coeditor: Spinning tales, Weaving Hope: Stories of Peace, Justice and the Environment.&media=https://storystorypodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2019-Q1Q2.png){kind=link}
&media=https://storystorypodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Title-Cards-for-Fall-2018.png){kind=link}
