“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.”
Described as “prominent amongst Scotland’s emerging storytellers”, “enigmatic with a raw sense of humour”, and “an excellent storyteller”, Dougie loves connecting with people, place and imagination through the ever evolving world of folk tales.
His recent “sold out” show at Edinburgh Fringe Festival received 4 star reviews as he shared gnarly old tales from Scotland in “Witches, Wee Folk and Watery Beasties”.
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!
Denise Bennett tells stories, sings and plays the harp for audiences of pre-schoolers to centenarians.
One of the residents where Denise is part-time chaplain, used to wink and say, “storytelling huh? that’s what my mama called lying…” and Denise did win the coveted Golden Shovel for winning first place in Virginia’s Mountain Mac Liar’s Contest in 2015.
Other recent achievements include being a featured teller at the Stone Soup Storytelling Festival, as well as America’s Best Storytellers Festival, and a finalist for Timp Tells New Voices at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival in Orem Utah 2016. In November 2017, Denise will be a featured teller at the first ever Chincoteague Storytelling Festival on Virginia’s beautiful Eastern Shore.
Sean Buvala has been engaged with storytelling and communication since 1986. He started his work by accidentally using active storytelling to convert a classroom of slightly (but comically) homicidal 8th-grade teenagers from angry kids to storytelling practitioners themselves. From then on, both the kids and Sean were sold on the influence of a great story. An author, speaker, trainer and performance artist, Sean describes the collection of stories in his head as “life and legend” representing the mix of stories from his experiences, myth and legend from many cultures, sacred stories and observations of shared life events. He lives in the desert southwest of the Phoenix, Arizona area. Learn more at seantells.com
Laura is a storyteller, writer, dream reader, and teacher with a wide variety of artistic and social interests. She loves the juxtaposition of images and words to shake loose creative energy. She works to make her neighborhood safe for pollinators, she photographs the beautiful world she lives in, and tell stories to children and adults. She also edits and publishes non-fiction and poetry, and she offers Juxtaprise Writing Classes and dream interpretation (one-on-one and groups).
As a storyteller, my goal is to connect people with wisdom through the ancient art of story. I tell traditional tales (fairy tales, folk tales, myths, legends, etc.) as well as true stories from my own life. I love insights and lessons best when they’re wrapped in funny or poignant stories. I began my storytelling journey in Champaign-Urbana and have continued it in Minneapolis, where I perform at curated and open mic shows for both adults and children throughout the Twin Cities.
Caleb Winebrenner
” Caleb Winebrenner is a storyteller, poet, clown, and educator whose mission in life is to guide our discovery of our lost humanness. From clowning in West Virginia to storytelling in Brazil to a poetry classroom in Phoenix, Arizona, he’s deeply interested in how we can be our wisest and kindest selves through story, poetry, and playful conversation. He delights in the amount of knowledge and wisdom in a room when people gather, and he crafts his events enable that. He holds a BA in Linguistics, an MA in Educational Theatre, and a certificate in Transformative Language Arts. The son of innkeepers, hospitality and community are central to what he does.”
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.
The stories Richard Martin tells are the folk tales which have been told for hundreds, indeed thousands, of years. With over 300 stories in his repertoire, they reflect the full range of human experience: the comic, the bawdy, the profound, the divine. Far from being for little children (although he does tell for children, too), these powerful and deep tales offer unforgettable listening for adults. If you like theatre, you’ll definitely love storytelling. It combines the intensity of a play by a solo performer with the intimacy of a one-to-one conversation. Richard tells stories throughout Europe and as far away as India, Singapore, Hong Kong and America – in theatres, universities, schools, for corporate events or private parties. He usually tells in English, although having lived in Germany since 1976, he is sometimes asked to tell in German.
Laura Packer has been telling stories her whole life – her mother reports she was born talking. The daughter of a children’s librarian and a writer, it seems inevitable that she become a storyteller and writer herself, since her childhood was steeped in narrative. By second grade, Laura was telling stories to her classmates, creating her own magazines and writing letters to the editor of her hometown newspaper; her deep love of fairytales and mythology eventually led her to obtain a degree in Folklore and Mythology from Boston University. Imagine her surprise when she discovered, upon graduating, that there isn’t a crying need for folklorists!
Undaunted by the lack of job openings for folklorists, Laura has built a career helping people and organizations find their own story, performing original and traditional tales around the world, and creating written narrative that draws the reader into new possibilities.
