The Women’s Storytelling Festival 2024 storytellers are:
Sheila Arnold, Michele Carlo, Rosemary Cipriano, Fanny Crawford, Jane Dorfman, Bonnie Gardner, Claire Hennessy, Megan Hicks, Andrea Kamens, Ronna Levy, Roopa Mohan, Anne Rutherford, Robin Schulte, Laura Simms, Aimee Snow, and Andrea Young!
Carmen Agra Deedy, Edith Gonzalez, Stacy Ann Parish, Penelope Whitney, and Linda Yemoto will be performing in a special virtual only concert, premiering March 14, 2024 and available to everyone who buys a ticket.
Bios of all the storytellers below.
Sheila Arnold
Sheila Arnold has a talent for storytelling, a passion for history, and compassion for people. She provides Storytelling, Historic Character Presentations, Christian Monologues, and Professional Development for schools, festivals, churches, and organizations nationally and internationally.She is co-founder and Artistic Director of Artists Standing Strong Together (ASST) a source of inspiration, strength and action in the storytelling and artists world. Sheila has been honored as a 2021 MacDowell Artist Fellow, a 2020 Mt. Vernon Research Fellow and a 2019 Hewnoaks Artist Colony summer residence Noted Artist. Sheila lives in Hampton, VA near her son,grandsons, and parents.
Michele Carlo
Michele Carlo is a writer, storyteller (and sometime actor) who has told stories across the U.S., including the Clearwater Arts & Music Festival, the Hans Christian Andersen series in Central Park and the MOTH Mainstage in New York; the STF and NSN story conferences; the RISK! and Story Collider live shows and podcasts; on NPR (Latino USA and WNYC radio); and the WGBH-PBS series “Stories from the Stage.” Michele is also the author of the NYC-set memoir “Fish Out of Agua” and has contributed to several literary anthologies. Follow her on Instagram: @michele_asshell, and for bookings and more info: www.michelecarlo.com.
Rosemary Cipriano
Rosemary Cipriano is a writer, award-winning comedian, and non-award winning asthmatic based in NYC. BroadwayWorld called her “a quality comedian on the rise” for her stand-up/storytelling hybrid performances. She is the winner of the Best Stand Up award from the United Solo Theatre Festival for the world premiere of her one-woman comedy show, Even Olympians Have Asthma. Cipriano’s stories and jokes can be found on NYMag’s The Cut, the Risk! Podcast, Funny or Die, and The Haven. You can find her performing in sticky comedy clubs around NYC and oversharing about her life @rosiecip everywhere.
Fanny Crawford
Raised in Philadelphia PA, Fanny Crawford learned family stories, political and cultural history from extended family and friends, moving to Maryland 50 years ago, finding inspiration and community one tale at a time. As a retired educator, she built a repertoire of historical narratives, folk tales from around the world, tall tales and original stories for diverse audiences – all ages and backgrounds. Performances include portrayals of her paternal great-grandfather – son of an escaped, formerly enslaved black man, to narratives from 19th – 20th century NYC from the Jewish side of her family, and traditional and neo-folk tales. Fanny co-hosts internet radio program www.talltales.enlightenradio.org and founded Stories In The Round, coordinating more than 40 performances by regional and nationally renowned storytellers. She is a member of National Association of Black Storytellers, Griots’ Circle of Maryland, WV Storytelling Guild, Antietam Storytelling Guild, and Black Storytellers of Western Maryland.
Carmen Agra Deedy
Carmen Agra Deedy, is an award-winning author of fifteen books for young readers,
including The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet!, Martina the Beautiful Cockroach, Rita and
Ralph’s Rotten Day, and 14 Cows for America, a New York Times Bestseller. Her latest books
are, Wombat Said Come In, released in October 2022, and Carina Felina, released in August
2023.
Her personal stories first appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered. Funny, insightful, and
frequently irreverent, Deedy’s narratives are culled from her childhood as a Cuban refugee in
Decatur, Georgia. She is host of the four-time Emmy-winning children’s program, Love That
Book!
Deedy is also an accomplished lecturer, having been a guest speaker for the Library of Congress,
Columbia University, both the TED and TEDx Conference, and the Kennedy Center, among
other distinguished venues. An editor, and life-long advocate for libraries, she serves on the
Advisory Board of Smithsonian Libraries and Archives.
Jane Dorfman
Jane Dorfman’s stories draw from Celtic, traditional, and mythic sources with a few personal stories thrown in. She’s lately taken up lying and telling as Calamity Jane. She was a featured teller at the Glens of Antrim Festival in Northern Ireland. She’s told at Speak!, Alleghany Highlands Story Fest, the Hans Christian Andersen Statue, the NSN Fringe, Stone Soup, and many local festivals. Jane has two award winning CDs, has taught storytelling at UMD, and is president of Voices-in-the-Glen.
Bonnie Gardner
Bonnie Gardner made her storytelling for the stage debut in 2020. A former journalist who changed careers to work in IT, Bonnie never lost her love for a good story. She has performed frequently with Better Said Than Done and is a Six Feet Apart monthly story slam winner. She was a New Voice at the 2022 Stone Soup Storytelling Festival in South Carolina. She is thrilled to be back performing in the Women’s Storytelling Festival. She is based in Virginia.
Edith Gonzalez
Edith Gonzalez is an Assistant Professor of Archaeology and Critical Museum Studies at the University at Buffalo – SUNY. She studies the global flow of ecological knowledge within the context of transatlantic slavery. Edith is a Fulbright Scholar of the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library, will be a Research Fellow at All Souls College – Oxford University in 2024, and is committed to decolonizing the spaces in which she works. Her current NSF-funded field research takes place on the island nation of Antigua and Barbuda in the Eastern Caribbean, but she is not there on vacation no matter what the photos of pina coladas might indicate. She is a two-time champion of the Smut Slam sex storytelling show because of her creative use of profanity and complete lack of shame. Her dedication to logic and sci-fi fangirldom have earned her the nickname of “the Puerto-Rican Mr. Spock.”
Claire Hennessy
British-born Claire Hennessy is a founder and co-producer of the highly acclaimed online storytelling show, Six Feet Apart Productions, producing over 100 storytelling shows and festivals, including The Bay Area Storytelling Festival. She is an award-winning storyteller, emcee, podcaster (The Bonkers Brit) and author, plus she is a Board member of the Storytelling Association of California. Her stories have been on the RISK! Podcast, she won the StorySlam at the 2023 National Storytelling Festival and was an NSN and Moth GrandSlam finalist. She was also a featured teller at The Sacramento Valley Storytelling Festival. She is hoping to find an agent for her humorous memoir before she is too old to go on a book tour. http://sfapshows.com/
Megan Hicks
Megan Hicks makes stuff and makes stuff up. For the purposes of this bio, she is three decades into a storytelling career that has taken her to four continents and from sea to shining sea. With her husband, whose name is (aptly) Jack, she co-produces the Rose Valley Storytelling House Concerts series, now in its 8th season. When she’s not working on new stories, she’s making art from things most other people throw away. Check out the merch table.
Andrea Kamens
Andrea Kamens tells traditional, original, Jewish, and first-person stories that tremble with truth. Based in Boston, MA, and Zooming everywhere, she’s a host and feature coordinator at The Story Space, New England’s longest running weekly venue, and director of ASST’s Youth Standing Strong Camp, an online global camp where youth and mentors meet across all borders to share their art. Andrea is a religious school teacher, writer, mom of five, and decades-long community volunteer who believes every season is beach season. She is co-chair of Sharing the Fire 2024, Northeast Storytelling’s premier annual conference happening the weekend after the Women’s Festival because there is no such thing as too many story communities!
Ronna Levy
Ronna Levy is a Brooklyn-based storyteller. She is newly retired English professor and has
happily made the shift from telling stories in the classroom to telling stories on the stage.
She has
appeared on WGBH’s Stories from The Stage, RISK, and she is a 2x Moth StorySLAM winner. She
also co-hosts a monthly open mic in Williamsburg Brooklyn.
Ronna is thrilled to be a part of the
Women’s Storytelling Festival.
Roopa Mohan
Roopa Mohan, a storyteller from Walnut Creek, CA. She first trained at the Asian Art Museum, SF to tell folktales and myths to school groups. She now enjoys sharing different genres of stories with adults as well, often braiding her childhood memories from India into them. Roopa serves on the Board of the Storytelling Association of CA, leading a project to bring stories to under-served schools. She is a Chautauqua scholar and recently debuted her portrayal of Kasturba Gandhi. Before retiring, Roopa worked as a Domestic Violence Advocate and is passionate about women’s empowerment.
More at:
www.roopamohan.com
Stacy Ann Parish
Stacy is an award winning storyteller, podcast host, and educator who’s been honing her craft for almost 25 years. What began as a career in professional broadcasting has evolved onto performing stages across the nation.
She has been professionally involved in education and communication for over 30 years–spending the last decade creating and presenting self-empowerment workshops using the arts as her vehicle. Her popular “Full Spirals” podcast–a nominee for a National Sonic Bloom Award–brings together two of her passions: using her voice as an agent for change and promoting the arts as a tool for healing.
A working local artist, she is also employed in the paint and sip industry as an artist, and her original paintings have been taught to tens of thousands of people nationwide.
Anne Rutherford
Award-winning storyteller Anne Rutherford engages audiences nation-wide with funny,
smart stories
that are often as tall as she is. Her mandolin playing and singing add musical zest to her performances,
as does her Wild-West alter-ego Clementine Ryder, who usually steals the show.
Anne is currently telling stories
to audiences hither and yon, in person and over the ether, because her motto is:
“Without you, I’m talking to myself.”
Find more at www.annerutherford.com
Robin Schulte
Robin Schulte tells stories that tap into the collective, clumsy experience of growing — growing
up, growing older, growing (hopefully) wiser. She is a winner of the National Storytelling
Festival Story Slam in Jonesborough, Tennessee. A former high school English teacher and past
president of the Florida Storytelling Association, she has spent more than 25 years sharing
folktales, literary tales, and personal stories with audiences throughout central Florida. She has
two audio recordings: Jack & the Levitator and Other Stories and Late. Night. Stop., which
received a Storytelling World Honor Award. Robin earned an MFA in Creative Writing from
University of Central Florida. She and her husband, Randy, have three grown children.
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. 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. Laura received the Brimstone Award for Engaged Storytelling, CHOICE award for best story collection, Sesame Street’s SUNNY DAYS award for work with children worldwide, and a Life Time Achievement Award from the National Storytelling Network.
Aimee Snow
Aimee Snow has been an actor and storyteller since childhood. She grew up in Northern Virginia andafter stints in Tennessee, Texas, and Florida, returned here to put down roots. She has been seen onnumerous local stages in community and professional theatre, where her favorite genre is anythingShakespearean. She is currently on an extended hiatus from acting while she raises her 9-year-old son,Beckett. By day she is a federal employee and by night she can be found in her pajamas by 9 pmbecause she’s a single parent in her late 40s. Her interests include cycling, watching sports, trivia,crossword puzzles, and double checking the latest facts her son picked up from YouTube.
Penelope Whitney
Penelope Whitney lives in the mountains of Northern California where she hosts community storytelling events, as she did in the past living in San Francisco. She’s told stories on stage in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Cape Cod, as well as on her local public radio station. Her stories are personal, soulful, and often salacious. She has an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Montana and works as a communications director for a research group at UC Berkeley that advocates for women’s economic rights.
Linda Yemoto
Known as “Ranger Linda” to thousands of San Fransico Bay Area kids and families, Linda was an award-winning naturalist for over 30 years at Tilden Regional Park in the Berkeley Hills. She loves to tell Asian folktales and nature stories that both educate and entertain.
Andrea Young
Andrea Young is fairly new to storytelling and after speaking at an open mic night in September 2019, she has been hooked and has told stories and helped as an emcee on occasion through Better Said Than Done and Artists Standing Strong Together.
