This Tuesday,July 1st at 8pm ET - Jack Zipes the preeminent writer about and translator of fairy
tales will be appearing on the Art of Storytelling with Children.

Jack Zipes writes…
At their best, the storytelling of fairy tales constitute the most profound articulation of the human struggle to form and maintain a civilizing process. They depict metaphorically the opportunities for human adaptation to our environment and reflect the conflicts that arise when we fail to establish civilizing codes commensurate with the self-interests of large groups within the human population. The more we give into base instincts – base in the sense of basic and depraved – the more criminal and destructive we become. The more we learn to relate to other groups of people and realize that their survival and the fulfillment of their interests is related to ours, the more we might construct social codes that guarantee humane relationships. Fairy tales are uncanny because they tell us what we need and they unsettle us by showing what we lack and how we might compensate for lack.

Fairy tales hint of happiness. This hint, what Ernst Bloch has called the anticipatory illumination, has constituted their utopian appeal that has a strong moral component to it. We do not know happiness, but we instinctually know and feel that it can be created and perhaps even defined. Fairy tales map out possible Continue Reading »

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This Tuesday Evening at 8 pm ET on June 24th - 2008 Jim May will be appearing on the Art of Storytelling with Children Podcast.

Jim May Writes…
I tell stories to children because I learned many years ago that nothing in my ten years of experience as a classroom teacher held my elementary students’ attention like a story.

For some twenty-three years now, I have made my living as a professional, full time storyteller. That storytelling produces a singular, intensely vital experience in my listeners’ imagination continues to be reinforced nearly every day of my professional storytelling life.

I remember a particular occasion telling stories to an auditorium full of primary-aged students (grades k—2). After the program was finished, the students filed past the front of the Continue Reading »

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This Upcoming Tuesday - June 10th - - 8PM ET– Mary Jo Huff speaks about early literacy begins with rhythm rhyme & story time on the Art of Storytelling with Children.

Mary Jo writes…
Language is critical for literacy development and storytelling creates an interactive bridge. Music, repeated phrases, and actions provide connections and invite participation by children when they become part of the storytelling event.

Working in schools demands that the storyteller is tuned into the state literacy standards. Storytelling connects many types of standards but I am only concentrating on the literacy connection. A good story challenges a child’s auditory, visual, and kinesthetic skills along with a phonemic awareness.

Performing in schools as a storyteller gives a teller the opportunity to address some Continue Reading »

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Press Play to hear this interview that was recorded as a conference call on Tuesday June 3rd at 8 p.m. SWC #057 with storyteller, Dovie Thomason - Building Young Adult Audiences.

Dovie Thomason writes…

I enjoy listening… I enjoy dialogue…I hope to learn something from every group of listeners or every chance conversation. SO….join me/us for this podcast, which isn’t about “The Answer”, but a collaborative search for alternatives and new visions that speak to a question many of us are asking: Where are the Young Adults in our Audiences?

There is considerable conversation going on about the “graying” (I prefer silvering…) of the storytelling community. Yet, these conversations seem to deal primarily with the age of the Storytellers, not the age of the Listeners…. How can we issue an invitation and create a sense of inclusion and an appreciation for the vital role of stories at all ages, but particularly with the extraordinarily responsive and interactive and “plugged-in” 15-30 year olds (more or less…).

Overseas, particularly (in my experience) in Europe, it is not unusual to have strong representation from Continue Reading »

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