Be Brave! (with host Simon Brooks)

Janice Del Negro


Janice M. Del Negro, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois.

Del Negro has been a featured storyteller at the National Storytelling Festival, the Bay Area Storytelling Festival, the Illinois Storytelling Festival, the Fox Valley Folk Festival, and many others. She has conducted workshops on various aspects of storytelling and narrative for librarians, teachers, parents, storytellers, and other educators in a variety of settings, including the National Storytelling Network Annual Conference, the Illinois School Library Media conference, the University of Illinois, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of San Diego. Her most recent recording, Fortune’s Daughters: Ghost Tales and Folktales, was released in October, 2010.

Kim Weitkamp

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.

Simon Brooks

Simon Brooks, Storyteller

Simon Brooks is an award-winning British storyteller who now lives in New London, New Hampshire, New England, New World!  He also uses his voice to bring a depth to folk and fairy tales, making them seem all the bit more real. He is also a storyteller, writer, and educator who dabbles in photography.

Order his book Under The Oaken Bough from your nearest brick and mortar bookstore, and listen to his podcast Conversations with Storytellersto hear what it is like to work as a performance storyteller, from some living legends!

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The Faerie Bride (with host Isabelle Hauser)

Simon Brooks

Simon Brooks

Simon Brooks, Storyteller

Simon Brooks is an award-winning British storyteller who now lives in New London, New Hampshire, New England, New World!  He also uses his voice to bring a depth to folk and fairy tales, making them seem all the bit more real. He is also a storyteller, writer, and educator who dabbles in photography.

Order his book Under The Oaken Bough from your nearest brick and mortar bookstore, and listen to his podcast Conversations with Storytellersto hear what it is like to work as a performance storyteller, from some living legends!

Host – Isabelle Hauser

You have heard these stories before, just not like this!Join Isabelle Hauser as she explores mysterious shops in Zug while sharing stories, with Ed Stivender telling "Red Ridding Hood Improv" and Priscilla Howe telling "The Small Tooth Dog".

A fairy tale believer since the beginning of her time, Isabelle Hauser discovered the path of storytelling training with professional storyteller Liz Weir in Northern Ireland. When Isabelle is not telling tales or playing the harp on various stages in Switzerland and abroad, you can find her talking to the swans on the shore of her hometown lake, looking for four leaf clover, or chasing rainbows in the surrounding forests. As a storyteller and harpist, she wants to create a space for her audience to see that reality, too. Or to just provide them with a break from everyday life! Whisking people of all ages and origins to long ago and far away with music and story is her greatest passion in life.

Music by Podington Bear

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The Magical Ocean

Laura Simms

Laura Simms is an award winning performer, writer, and educator advocating storytelling as compassionate action for personal and community transformation. She performs worldwide combining ancient myth and true life story for adult and family audiences.  She is the Artistic Director of the Hans Christian Andersen Storytelling Center in NY and the founder of The Center for Engaged Storytelling (new).   She has been  a Senior Research Fellow for the International Peace institute at Rutgers University Newark under the auspices of UNESCO.  As a spokesperson for storytelling she presents keynotes and workshops in conferences, villages, schools, universities and community events. She is a member of the Therapeutic Arts Alliance of Manhattan, and a senior teacher of Shambhala Buddhist meditation.  Laura received the Brimstone Award for Engaged Storytelling, CHOICE award for best story collection and Sesame Street’s SUNNY DAYS award for work with children worldwide. In 2011 she recieved a Life Time Achievement Award from the National Storytelling Netwrok.  She is co-faculty with Terry Tempest Williams’ at University of Utah, consults with ETSU’s CANCER STORIES project, and is spoken word consultant for Foundations, NGOS working in post disaster and conflicts. She recently appeared at the Newark Peace Summit and the Conference on World Peace and Values in Monterrey, Mexico. Her Most recent book is OUR SECRET TERRITORY: The Essence of Storytelling (Sentient Publications, June 2011).  She is completing a new work:  THE SANCTUARY OF A STORY (TBA).  Laura is the mother of best selling author Ishmael Beah.

Jenni Cargill-Strong 

Jenni Cargill-Strong is an enchanting award-winning Australian storyteller and Owner Operator of ‘The Story Tree Company’ and ‘Stories on Foot: Tales of Byron Bay and the Rainbow Region‘. Jenni has twenty-eight years experience as a professional storyteller, four award-winning story albums, seventeen years experience teaching storytelling and several years experience teaching online. She is Australian, and lives with her two nearly grown children in the seaside town of Ballina on the east coast, just south of Byron Bay. Discover testimonials and details of preschool and school shows on Jenni’s Performance page, see a gallery of images or watch videos.

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Off the Path (with host Simon Brooks)

Paul Strickland

Paul Strickland

Paul Strickland’s collections of stories have won “Best of Fest” honors on more that 16 different occasions at Fringe Theatre Festivals across the U.S. and Canada. He was an Exchange Place Teller at the National Storytelling Festival in 2018 and in November of 2018 he made his NYC stage debut Off-Broadway at the SoHo Playhouse with his shadow and flashlight ghost story play “13 Dead Dreams of “Eugene.”  He is a featured teller at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival in September of 2020, and will be a featured teller at several fests, including the Cave Run Storytelling Festival, in 2022. Paul has well over 7 hours of unique family friendly stories in his repertoire. Always adapting to whatever audience is in front of him, Paul has told stories in every imaginable environment, from comedy clubs to elementary and middle schools, corporate events and even two prisons – where he was NOT an inmate at the time. Selections from his comedy performance “Levels of Difficulty” can be heard every day on SiriusXM radio.

Joanne Piazzi

Joanne Piazzi

Joanne Piazzi has been telling stories professionally since 1996. She has an MA in the Creative Arts in Education from Lesley University. Joanne is a member of the Seacoast Storytellers (NH) and LANES. The material she uses in her performances is often original, sometimes traditional, and always fun. She is available to perform anywhere that someone wants to hear a good story. Joanne also leads workshops for educators and children. Creating stories for special occasions is a specialty.


Simon Brooks

Simon Brooks, Storyteller

Simon Brooks is an award-winning British storyteller who now lives in New London, New Hampshire, New England, New World!  He also uses his voice to bring a depth to folk and fairy tales, making them seem all the bit more real. He is also a storyteller, writer, and educator who dabbles in photography.

Order his book Under The Oaken Bough from your nearest brick and mortar bookstore, and listen to his podcast Conversations with Storytellersto hear what it is like to work as a performance storyteller, from some living legends!

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Is this Yours? (with host Isabelle Hauser)

Liz Weir

Liz Weir is a storyteller and writer from Northern Ireland. She was the first winner of the International Story Bridge Award from the National Storytelling Network, USA, which cited her “exemplary work promoting the art of storytelling”.

Liz Weir has told her stories to people of all ages on five continents. She has performed in pubs and prisons and hospital rooms. She worked on stages in the mighty Vanderbilt Hall of New York’s Grand Central Station and in the Royal Albert Hall.

Liz Weir has worked for people with very different cultural backgrounds – for children from Israel and Palestine, at universities in Germany and Wales, on TV between South-Africa and Canada. And she appeared at major events, such as the National Storytelling Festival in Tennessee and the Australian National Storytelling Festival.

Her voice can be heard on CDs like “The Wailing Of The Wind”, together with the Mavron String Quartet. Liz Weir has also written more than 20 books. For instance ‘When Dad Was Away’, which is a picture-book about a child whose father is in jail. Or ‘Tales of the Road’, a children’s book about Irish Traveller life.

Priscilla Howe

“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.”

Join Priscilla Howe for online story time or join her Patreon to get stories directly from her!!

Host – Isabelle Hauser

You have heard these stories before, just not like this!Join Isabelle Hauser as she explores mysterious shops in Zug while sharing stories, with Ed Stivender telling "Red Ridding Hood Improv" and Priscilla Howe telling "The Small Tooth Dog".

A fairy tale believer since the beginning of her time, Isabelle Hauser discovered the path of storytelling training with professional storyteller Liz Weir in Northern Ireland. When Isabelle is not telling tales or playing the harp on various stages in Switzerland and abroad, you can find her talking to the swans on the shore of her hometown lake, looking for four leaf clover, or chasing rainbows in the surrounding forests. As a storyteller and harpist, she wants to create a space for her audience to see that reality, too. Or to just provide them with a break from everyday life! Whisking people of all ages and origins to long ago and far away with music and story is her greatest passion in life.

Music by Podington Bear

Did you know the Story Story Podcast was featured Feedspots Top 30 Fairy Tale Podcasts? There are a lot of great podcasts on this list and we are thrilled to be included!

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The Eyes Have It!

Adam Booth

Adam Booth’s original stories blend traditional mountain folklore, music, and an awareness of contemporary Appalachia. He has been featured at the International Storytelling Center, the National Storytelling Festival, the Appalachian Studies Association Conference, the National Storytelling Conference, the National Academy of Medicine, and has been a Spoken Word Resident at the Banff Centre (Alberta). He is a member of the Recording Academy and recordings have received two Parents’ Choice Silver Honors and four Storytelling World Awards and Honors. He is a four-time champion of the West Virginia Liars’ Contest.

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Swinging Adventures (with host Simon Brooks)

Jenni Cargill-Strong 

Jenni Cargill-Strong is an enchanting award-winning Australian storyteller and Owner Operator of ‘The Story Tree Company’ and ‘Stories on Foot: Tales of Byron Bay and the Rainbow Region‘. Jenni has twenty-eight years experience as a professional storyteller, four award-winning story albums, seventeen years experience teaching storytelling and several years experience teaching online. She is Australian, and lives with her two nearly grown children in the seaside town of Ballina on the east coast, just south of Byron Bay. Discover testimonials and details of preschool and school shows on Jenni’s Performance page, see a gallery of images or watch videos.

Simon Brooks

Simon Brooks, Storyteller

Simon Brooks is an award-winning British storyteller who now lives in New London, New Hampshire, New England, New World!  He also uses his voice to bring a depth to folk and fairy tales, making them seem all the bit more real. He is also a storyteller, writer, and educator who dabbles in photography.

Order his book Under The Oaken Bough from your nearest brick and mortar bookstore, and listen to his podcast Conversations with Storytellersto hear what it is like to work as a performance storyteller, from some living legends!

Continue Reading

Gold

Ed Stivender

Since 1977, when he left his day job as a high school teacher in Connecticut and turned to storytelling full-time, Ed has fabulated his way around the globe –appearing in schools, churches, coffeehouses and theaters, as well as at major storytelling festivals.  He has been a featured performer at the National Storytelling Festival, the Cape Clear Island International Storytelling Festival in Ireland, Graz Festival, Austria and our own Philadelphia Folk Festival. In reviews of his work, Ed Stivender has been called “the Robin Williams of storytelling” by the Miami Herald  and “a Catholic Garrison Keillor” by Kirkus Review.

Heather Forest

Heather Forest’s unique minstrel style of storytelling blends original music, folk guitar, poetry, prose and the sung and spoken word. She has toured her repertoire of world folktales for the past thirty years to theatres, major storytelling festivals, and conferences throughout the United States and abroad. 

Her many performance credits include The Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., The National Storytelling Festival, TN, The Museum of Modern Art, NY, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Scotland, Tales of Graz Festival, Austria, and the Glistening Waters Storytelling Festival, New Zealand. She has been a featured teller at major storytelling festivals throughout the United States, a keynote speaker at the National Storytelling Congress (USA), and has taught storytelling and communication arts seminars as a guest lecturer at universities and at the National Storytelling Institute (USA) in Jonesborough, Tennessee.

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Together (with host Simon Brooks)

Julie Moss, Simon Brooks, Weaver Girl and Buffalo Boy

Julie Moss

As a professional storyteller, Julie presents storytelling performances for all ages and group sizes. She offers workshops for educators and their students.

Julie works with groups of students to help them tell stories of their own. She can be hired as an artist-in-residence.

One of her newest workshops is “Storytelling as a Pathway to Writing,” which teaches educators how to use storytelling to enhance their students’ writing, as well as giving teachers a break from grading so many writing projects.  This workshop can be adapted for students, as well as for writers.

Julie is able to help educators in the field of Early Childhood Education utilize storytelling in their classrooms through a workshop on “Storytelling in Early Childhood Education.” Julie’s story repertoire includes folktales from around the world, family and personal stories, and literary tales.

She is traveled to China and gathered stories , which you can hear on this episode.

Simon Brooks

Simon Brooks, Storyteller

Simon Brooks is an award-winning British storyteller who now lives in New London, New Hampshire, New England, New World!  He also uses his voice to bring a depth to folk and fairy tales, making them seem all the bit more real. He is also a storyteller, writer, and educator who dabbles in photography.

Order his book Under The Oaken Bough from your nearest brick and mortar bookstore, and listen to his podcast Conversations with Storytellersto hear what it is like to work as a performance storyteller, from some living legends!

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Summer Gifts (All Hosts)

Simon Brooks

Simon Brooks, Storyteller

Simon Brooks is an award-winning British storyteller who now lives in New London, New Hampshire, New England, New World!  He also uses his voice to bring a depth to folk and fairy tales, making them seem all the bit more real. He is also a storyteller, writer, and educator who dabbles in photography.

Order his book Under The Oaken Bough from your nearest brick and mortar bookstore, and listen to his podcast Conversations with Storytellersto hear what it is like to work as a performance storyteller, from some living legends!

Rachel Ann Harding

Traditional Storyteller and Musician, Rachel Ann Harding is passionate about telling the most beautiful folk, myth, and traditional tales.

Rachel Ann weaves story and song together to create unique and entertaining storytelling events, keynotes and workshops that display the relevance of storytelling in our lives. She believes that fairytales are not just for children and mesmerizes audiences with old tales woven into new adventures. As the producer of the Story Story Podcast she brings traditional stories to people around the world who also are in love with fairytales.

Rachel Ann Harding began singing and playing a variety of instruments in her early twenties, crafting lyrics laced with tenderness and humor. She blends harmonies on the ukulele and looper to create melodies that connect to the heart and the ear. Her music has been called, “delightful, folksy, avant garde.”

Isabelle Hauser

A fairy tale believer since the beginning of her time, Isabelle Hauser discovered the path of storytelling training with professional storyteller Liz Weir in Northern Ireland. When Isabelle is not telling tales or playing the harp on various stages in Switzerland and abroad, you can find her talking to the swans on the shore of her hometown lake, looking for four leaf clover, or chasing rainbows in the surrounding forests. As a storyteller and harpist, she wants to create a space for her audience to see that reality, too. Or to just provide them with a break from everyday life! Whisking people of all ages and origins to long ago and far away with music and story is her greatest passion in life.

Music by Podington Bear

Did you know the Story Story Podcast was featured Feedspots Top 30 Fairy Tale Podcasts? There are a lot of great podcasts on this list and we are thrilled to be included!

Continue Reading