It’s March, a.k.a Women’s History Month. And around these parts, that also means it’s time for the 2022 Women’s Storytelling Festival!
Over the next few days we’ll be introducing you the tellers who are set to join us for this third annual extravaganza. Let’s meet our first batch now, as they tell us how they came to storytelling, how it came to them, how they fell in love with it, and/or how they use it.
Margaret Burk – Oak Park, Illinois
I have found that in writing and telling personal stories, I plumb the gold of my life experiences. I think this is an important work as we age – to find the golden threads of our life’s journey.
Lyn Ford – Columbus, Ohio
I learned the art and craft of storytelling from elders in my family. I’m proud to carry on their traditions in my own way. Their storytelling has given me a foundation in my Affrilachian heritage, creative tools in communication, and an appreciation of the importance of really hearing others.
Heather Forest – Huntington Station, New York
I fell in love with old folk ballads as a young teenager learning to play guitar. The songs I played were narratives that told tales of high adventure, quests, pirates, king and queens. As an adult I tried my hand at writing my own narrative songs based on zen koans, Sufi stories and wisdom tales. I have been composing storysongs ever since and have also branched off to share personal stories as well.
Bonnie Gardner – Vienna, Virginia
I fell in love with storytelling in my car! I have a long commute, and the day I discovered storytelling podcasts, my time in traffic went from irritated to thrilled, amused, touched. Once I started going to live shows, there was no going back.
Miriam Nadel – Vienna, Virginia
I stumbled upon a full-day storytelling program with workshops and performances at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles around 1990. Not long before that, I had taken a women’s writing class called “Our Stories, Ourselves” and had written primarily by talking to myself. Learning about storytelling crystalized what I was trying to do.
Denise Keyes Page – Madison, Connecticut
My mother imparted every lesson she felt was crucial in life management by telling a story about herself. And often she left it there. I still remember her story of stealing a cherry from an open air market when she was about five years old. And a policeman wagged his finger at her just as she was about to pop it in her mouth. We unpacked that story many different times, many different ways throughout her lifetime and I marvel at the different gems it provided each time. A simple story.
Read more about all of the 2022 festival storytellers here. And make sure you GET YOUR TICKETS HERE to see where these fabulous storytellers are taking their stories next!
