Press Play to hear Diane Wolkstein and Connecting with Audiences, Other Cultures and Ourselves on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf.
Bio…
Diane Wolkstein is one of the world’s most preminent storytellers and the award-winning author of more than 30 books, CDs, and DVDs. From amusing children’s tales to epic adventures for adults, Wolkstein has performed and collected stories on five continents. Her lively and Read the rest of this entry »
Press Play to hear Octavia Sexton talk about Jack Story and how this traditional tale belongs to everyone on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf Show.
Octavia Sexton writes…
I think most people probably know that a Jack Tale is a trickster story and Jack. They’ve been around for over 800 years – originating in the British Isles. The stories came to North America via European settlers. The stories told in the Appalachian Mountains began to change through the years to reflect the environment and cultural traditions that emerged among the mountain people.
I grew up in a storytelling tradition and stories were a part of life. I heard a variety of stories not only through kinfolk but also at school. I went to a one-room school and the only thing to do at recess was sing songs, tell stories and play games that did not require ‘stuff.’ We didn’t have any ‘stuff’ to play with because we were all just a bunch of poor country kids. I think I established myself very early as a storyteller. I remember being 5 years old and standing on a big rock in the yard of one of my uncles’ houses and telling tales to my cousins, aunts and uncles who gathered on the big front porch. We had all kinds of stories, but I never knew what a Jack Tale was until I went to college.
After eighth grade, Mommy asked me if I wanted to get married or go on to high school. I went on to Read the rest of this entry »
Press Play to hear Sankofa, aka David A. Anderson speaks on Historical Storytelling and Cultural Identity on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf.
David A. Anderson/Sankofa
In 2009, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture convened, at the Washington Mall, several members of the National Association of Black Storytellers (NABS) to “give voice,” to “explore the expressive power of the creative African American verbal arts and oral traditions in the shaping of American culture and communication.” Through stories [and] words of wisdom, . . . we NABS sisters and brothers . . . evoke[d] themes dealing with “hearth, home, and community.” Read the rest of this entry »
Press Play to hear Brother Wolf speak with Limor Shiponi on striding towards storytelling mastery on the Art of Storytelling Show.
Limor Shiponi writes…
Mastery is an ambiguous word raising the impulse of ownership and recognition, resonating something standing apart while representing a form of wholeness. What is it about mastery and mastery in storytelling that keeps me at this issue for so long?
For me, mastery is about inspiration, a northern-star I can dream about and act upon. I want to help my audiences, including myself, touch our stars for the Read the rest of this entry »
Press Play to hear Elisa Pearmain speak about a Teaching Forgiveness through storytelling on the Art of Storytelling.
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Written by Elisa Pearmain…
Forgiveness is central to the success of relationships, and is an integral part of the emotional, spiritual and even physical healing process, and yet it is poorly understood. Forgiveness offers an opportunity to look at and relate to our stories of wounding in new ways. It calls us to see those who have hurt us with more complexity and empathy. It guides us to forgive ourselves, to untangle ourselves from wounding experiences and the role of victim, and ultimately to live more fully. Stories and storytelling work can help us to understand forgiveness more deeply, and to traverse the forgiveness process with more support and imagination.
In this podcast Elisa Pearmain focused on forgiveness for individuals rather than reconciliation between people or groups of people. She shared a few stories that illustrate aspects of the forgiveness process in action. She discussed some of her personal experiences with forgiveness. She shared some of her observations of the forgiveness process in her therapy practice, and how often at bottom we discover the need to forgive ourselves. Elisa discussed how retelling personal experience in folk and fairy tale can help in this healing process and how the “narrative reframing” or “shifts in perspective” are at the heart of forgiveness, and various techniques for shifting story perspectives she Read the rest of this entry »
| Fill out the form and press play to hear Charlotte Blake Alston speak on breaking barriers through storytelling on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf. | |||||
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Charlotte Blake Alston writes…
My introduction to literature and the planting of seeds that later bloomed into storytelling, came in the 1950’s. In the midst of a social, political and cultural climate that suggested that my family and community were devoid of intellect, history or culture, my father began reading to me the literary diamonds and jewels that came from within our culture. Somewhere around 6 years old, my father read out loud the words of James Weldon Johnson, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Gwendolyn Brooks and Langston Hughes. My father relished and touted the genius of these writers. He handed me the Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, selected a poem for me to memorize and launched me, as a child, onto a spoken word path. Numerous church banquets, teas and special community events were staging grounds for “a reading by Miss Charlotte Blake”.
I’ll share some memories of that time and fast-forward to the place where those germinating seeds and my experience in an independent school crossed paths with storytelling and an Read the rest of this entry »
| Fill out the form and press play to hear Michael D. McCarty speak on literacy and storytelling in the 21st Century this interview on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf. |
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Michael D. McCarty writes…
That which does not evolve dies. The ability to change, grow and adapt is essential to the survival of any species, society or ideal. Storytelling has been around since the dawn of man, which says a lot for the viability of this essential art form. Throughout human history stories have been used to inform, inspire, educate and more. Storytelling is part of our DNA.
So what is the role of literacy and storytelling in the 21st century? How is it evolving? The National Storytelling Network’s Storytelling Interest Groups (SIGs) give an indication. Storytelling has Read the rest of this entry »
