The Tale Teller emerges from PhD hibernation

As 2014 draws to a close I'm reflecting on how wonderful this year has been for re-immersing myself in storytelling activities, rather than only researching and writing about it.

After several years of not performing any stories while I completed my PhD (a copy of the thesis is available at http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/939911) I got my storytelling "mojo" back in late 2013 through the support and encouragement of fellow storytellers Jo, Lindy and Megan and their wonderful storytelling intiatives of The Brooklyn Story Circle and Cafe la Story. It was like coming home to be in the friendly and like-minded company of fellow storytellers again and I realised how much I had missed it while I was tucked away in my study.

Late 2013 also saw me receive a grant to write a journal article based on work from my thesis. The article is based on the method used in my doctoral study. By publishing this article first, it can act as a foundation article for others, when I can refer to it rather than rewrite the methodology each time. As of today my co-authors and I are still waiting for a final decision from the Journal publishers, after editing it twice following peer-reviewers suggestions. An appallingly long wait but it will be worth it if it finally gets published in this high ranking journal. Stay tuned.

2014 saw more opportunities to share and tell stories at the wonderful Brooklyn Story Circle and Cafe la Story but brought a wealth of other storytelling activities and opportunities too.

In March I told the foundation story of Grandmother's lap at Cafe la Story in East Gosford. This contextual story allows me to include other stories that I first heard from my maternal grandmother. At this cafe I included the story of "The boy who cried wolf".

In April Glenn and I took at road trip south to Creswick, catching up with library colleagues and dear friends from Goulburn Valley Regional Library. I think it's safe to say many stories were shared over several drinks during a riotous dinner. More stories were told over breakfast the next day with my dear friend Jenni. At the end of April an invitation arrived to launch a picture book in October (more in that month's section).

May was spent preparing for a conference workshop I was giving in June, a poster presentation at the same conference and reading for an organisational storytelling workshop I was attending, after receiving the funding from my supportive bosses at the University of Newcastle Library.

June was a fabulous month of story sharing, telling and discussing the results of my PhD research for the 1st time in a public forum. I presented a workshop "It's all a plot: Preparation and memorisation for storytelling"  at the Sydney International Storytelling Conference which was very well received. What I was most looking forward to however was my poster presentation which published the "Indicators of Engagement", derived from my Doctoral Study.

June also brought a meeting with one of the authors who featured in my thesis: Annette Simmons. I was extremely fortunate that my work funded my attendance at Annette's Sydney workshop - "Whoever tells the best story wins". This was a brilliant full-day workshop which inspired me to consolidate on what I already do, and do more work on organisational storytelling within my own workplace.

I presented the first of my workshops - "Look what we found in the storeroom"  that had Annette's work as the foundation at the Ourimbah Campus Education and Humanities Seminar Series in September. What should have really gone for only an hour lasted almost 2, with all the prepared stories being requested and great interaction from all the participants in the activities.
Blurb

September was also a great month for storytelling, with the opportunity to tell the very creepy story "The monkey's paw" at the Cafe la Story. Thanks so much Fiona for introducing me to this story. I'm very happy to have it in my repertoire now.

October was the standout month for all things story however. On the 18th I was privileged to launch the latest picture book "Outside" by Libby Hathorn at the Inaugural Festival of the Society of Women Writers NSW at the State Library.

This is the speech I gave to launch Libby's glorious book.

       Strap yourselves in because I’m afraid I have several warnings about this book.

       There are some books that are so beautiful, so intricate, that you keep them locked away as treasures’,     desperate to keep them in pristine condition. I’m sure we all have numerous books like that.

On the other hand, there are books that are so beautiful that you can’t bear to keep them to yourself. I was keen to know where “Outside” would place itself, because it’s really the books themselves that make the decision for us.

I knew “Outside” would be beautiful before I even saw it. As soon as Wendy invited me to launch the book, the research librarian kicked in and I found some pre-publication information about it. I already knew the quality of Libby’s writing. I’ve owned a well-read copy of Thunderwith since it was 1^st published, which after my daughter and niece read it, I only recently passed on to book-loving young neighbours. As a children’s librarian in a former life I always ensured that Libby’s books were part of the collection, and I know her gift for poetry since hearing her give a poetry presentation in Melbourne in the 1990’s.

I wasn’t familiar with Ritva’s work before I received the book, but I researched that too and now I’m a convert. I am particularly intrigued by the process of digitally created illustrations that are used in this book.

So when my advance copy of “Outside” arrived in my workplace, I was like a kid at Christmas, desperate to get the wrapping off. I didn’t move from the mail delivery area for a good 10 minutes.

Warning 1: “Outside” is a highly advanced diversionary device

I tend to read the text of an illustrated book first, then return to the beginning to take in the illustrations. “Outside” defies that rule and I was only at page 4 when I realised how long I’d been standing at the mail delivery area, totally mesmerised by both text and illustrations.

Warning 2: “Outside” has the power to disrupt life-long reading habits.

I looked inside the padded envelope and around where I’d been standing to see if a slip of paper had fallen out. Nothing! Great! No declaration of confidentiality. No secrecy agreement. You see, this book falls firmly into the latter category of beautiful books and demands to be shared.

Warning 3: Don’t think for one minute that you will be able to keep “Outside” to yourself.

I passed the book around the morning tea table at the Uni Library, where I confess we all fit the stereotype of book lovers. We don’t fit the stereotype of quiet librarians though so it was extraordinary to hear how quiet the room became as the book was shared, with only the occasional “beautiful”, “lush”, “rich”, “it just draws you in” being uttered.

Later that day I showed “Outside” to my manager who returned it a full hour later with a request that I buy a copy for her today and have it signed for her 2 granddaughters.

Warning 4: There will always be someone special that you need to buy a copy of “Outside” for.

When I emailed Kate Brown to let her know that the book had arrived safely and that I already had a sale for it, she very generously mailed another copy to Fatu (sorry Libby, that’s 5% of the sale that you won’t get for that one.)

Let me tell you what happened to that copy. Fatu took it down to 5 year old Mia the very next weekend. On Mia’s insistence, the book was read to her 4 times in one day, and when Fatu said that Nanna really needed to do other things, Mia sat with the book and told the story to herself (Fatu said there were a few variations but she recalled the majority of the book.) Mia has Nigerian/Italian heritage and having heard her gorgeous blended accent, I can imagine how luscious the story would have sounded.

Warning 5: Children are captivated by the book and will want to share it repeatedly.

I tried to carry the book around with me wherever I went and several weeks ago I was travelling back from a conference in Melbourne. I opened the book while I was sitting in the departure lounge, and you know how sometimes you just get the feeling of eyes boring into the top of your head? It was the Friday before school holidays and one young boy really wasn’t enjoying the wait at the airport. I’m really good at shutting out distractions when I read but the boring into my head intensified.

Warning 6: See Warning 5.

I asked the boy’s parents for permission and soon he was sitting beside me and we were enjoying reading the book together. And then I felt it – more burning on the top of my head. 3 other children had moved from their seats and were standing in front of us. I invited them to sit down in front of me and my new friend joined them. Now it’s been 15 years since I was a Children’s Librarian, but some things you just don’t forget.

(Read excerpt here)

We read that book until the flight was called. (I’m pretty sure there’s a couple of sales there for you Libby.)

Warning 7: “Outside” is magnetic and builds communities of story loving people.

I was very grateful for the opportunity to read “Outside” aloud to a group of children who just gathered spontaneously. It let me see their genuine enjoyment of the book (unquestionable), it provided me with the chance to see how the words scan beautifully and really do trip off the tongue (a true test of a great picture book) and how engaging the illustrations are for children (I’ve actually spent a LOT of time just pouring over the endlessly revealing pictures myself.) The impromptu reading also provided me with a huge smile for most of the flight home and a truly lovely memory.

Warning 8: Reading “Outside” will wedge itself in your memory and you’ll find yourself saying “Oh just once more.”

Finally I just want to say that there is a significant flaw in the cover design – it needs to come with a warning sticker – “Not to be opened by time-poor persons. Time stealing magic within.” 

It is my absolute pleasure, on behalf of Libby and Ritva, to launch their exquisite book “Outside.”

 

On the 24th October the Caravan of Stories set out on it's inaugural voyage:

3 storytellers

3 days

3 towns

Lindy Mitchell, Megan Pascoe and I were commissioned to conduct storytelling workshops and performances in three towns in the Upper Hunter by Arts Upper Hunter. We brought the Caravan of Stories to Murrurundi, Merriwa and Aberdeen. We told in church halls, school classrooms and playgrounds, School of Arts Halls and on the patios of stunning B & B's. It was an absolute joy to share such an amazing storytelling journey with the ultimate storytelling professionals Lindy and Megan and I hope it is only the 1st of many outings for the Caravan.

 

Photo courtesy of Mike Wang of Creative Camera, Merriwa NSW
 

I also conducted another "Look what we found in the Storeroom" workshop for Auchmuty Library staff of the Uni of Newcastle.

November was the month for the workshop to be conducted at the Ourimbah Campus Library and was also the month when I began the 1st of 4 "Grimm lunches" to celebrate the publication of "The original folk and fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm" translated by Jack Zipes.

The year has culminated in an amazing opportunity for me to be the guest speaker at the award presentation of my old school, Birrong Girls High School. I was invited to speak for 10 minutes about what I'd been doing since I left school. This is what I came up with and shared with the assembly yesterday:

This morning I visited your school for the first time in over 30 years. In all my 6 years at BGHS I never walked through the front door, always coming and going through the back gate, so I was slightly disoriented when I came through the front entrance today. But as I heard the lovely sound of all the girls in the corridor, like the chatter of beautiful lorikeets flitting through a long aviary, and walked past the wall of lockers, memories came flooding back. 

I remembered a girl nearly everyone called Fuzznut. She had the most incredible curly hair that her mother insisted on having cut short to keep it under control. She was short, wore glasses and was incredibly shy. I remembered that if she was ever asked a question in class, Fuzznut would blush scarlet from her collarbone right up to her hairline. Not because she didn’t know the answer, but because, as she later told her close friends, it was as though her heart leapt up through the back of her throat and choked all the words about to come out. 

When some of us would compare report cards, Fuzznut’s would always show very high marks but the comments would often be things like 

 “A very quiet, friendly girl who really must contribute more in class if she ever hopes to achieve anything.” 

 When those report cards were taken home, Fuzznut told her friends, her mother would congratulate her on the marks and when she read the comments would say:

            “The world needs the listeners and the thinkers as much as it needs the talkers.”

No-one calls me Fuzznut anymore. They call me Julie, or Jules, or even Dr Julie. You see, my parents always believed that I could achieve anything I wanted to, as long as I worked hard enough. I was the first in my family to finish my HSC. Apart from my mother’s 2^nd cousin I was the 1^st in my extended family to attend university. My family was very much working class. My grandfather had been a bullocky driver, a shearer’s cook and a manager of country pubs amongst other things. My dad was a hard-working plumber and my mum was a secretary until she married, when it was then expected that she would give up work.

University for a shy girl was an eye-opening experience, not least because as I walked through the gates of UNSW for the 1^st time, a pigeon soared overhead and proceeded to poop on my head and down my left shoulder. A girl walking beside me said, when she finally stopped laughing enough,

 

            “In the part of Italy that my family come from, it’s good luck for a bird to poop on you.”

Actually, she didn’t use the word poop, but it will do for now. She then set about using the fine linen handkerchief that her mamma had insisted she bring to “school” to clean me up. Whether it was luck or a higher destiny that put Gina on the same bus as me that day, I was very grateful. Gina was the 1^st in her family to go to uni too and we stumbled through our entire bachelor degree together. 

I majored in English literature and history and I finally felt at home on that campus. I was privileged to listen to amazing lecturers as they brought the past lives of kings, statesmen, poets, playwrights and novelists alive, not through a list of dates and dry, hard facts but through stories. When I wasn’t in a lecture theatre or a tutorial room, I was exploring the Aladdin’s Cave of the Uni library. 

Who knows exactly what they want to do for a career? 

I didn’t either, and I was 2 weeks away from finishing my degree when a friend invited me to an information session about a 1 year post graduate diploma in librarianship. Have you ever had one of those lightbulb moments? I had one right there and actually said out loud;

            “You’re an idiot. Why didn’t you think of that before?” 

I quickly had to apologize to Shakti who thought I was talking about her. 

So my main career has been in a variety of libraries, across several different Australian states, but in between I’ve worked in plumbing supply stores, where I learnt more about bathroom fittings and swearing that I ever needed. I’ve sold bread at dusty country markets and learnt about customer service and the difference between a baguette and a French stick. I spent my Uni holidays working on a cattle station in outback Queensland where I learnt about how to test a cow for pregnancy and how to muster cattle on horseback so you don’t cause a stampede. I also learnt on that first cattle muster not to be arrogant about the education I was getting. I was told to ride at the back of the mob and another jackaroo must have seen the look of disappointment on my face. He brought his horse over near mine, smiled at me and said, 

            “So Clancy rode to wheel them – he was racing on the wing

            Where the best and boldest riders take their place” 

And for the next hour or so we rode along reciting Banjo Patterson poetry, starting with “The man from Snowy River” where that line comes from; a poem that my father used to recite quite frequently. Whenever we were mustering after that, Dave and I would exchange Australian poems and folklore. Not bad for a bloke who finished school at 15 – even to this day I wish I had his knowledge of poetry. No-one else on the cattle station really understood why Dave always called me Clancy, but the name stuck whenever I visited Dingo in Queensland. 

My grandfather, the bullocky- driving one, was a brilliant storyteller, although some of the tales he shared probably shouldn’t have been heard by children. I developed my love of storytelling from him and my maternal grandmother, who had a story or rhyme perfect for any situation. When in my 2^nd month of my 1^st permanent job in a library, the children’s librarian went on an extended holiday and no-one was interested in filling in for her. With Archie, Nellie’s and Dave’s stories and poems ringing in my head I volunteered to do it. And that, I have to confess, is where my addiction began. I fell totally and utterly in love with storytelling and went to every workshop and read every book I could get my hands on about the topic. Believe it or not, I often get paid to tell stories and in the most amazing of places. The words that my grandfather used to tell me finally made sense.  

“Everyone has to earn a living in this world. But if you can find what it is that you love to do, you’ll never really work a day in your life.” 

 I hadn’t had enough of formal education though and 10 years ago I returned to part-time study for my Doctorate in storytelling through the Uni of Newcastle and I was awarded my PhD last year. While I’ve obviously become much more comfortable along the way at public speaking and answering questions, I’ve also truly learned the wisdom of my mother’s words. 

So while you may be quite capable of talking when you need to (and even when it’s not required), please also remember to be listeners and thinkers. The world is an amazing place, with so much to learn whether you’re sitting in an office, a university lecture theatre or on the back of a horse in 40 degree heat, staring at a cow’s rump. Sometimes finding what it is that you love to do is hard, and may take years before you discover it. Don’t give up. I know there are still challenges for girls but there are also amazing opportunities. I work at a university and I see girls/women every day who are excelling at marine science, pure mathematics, podiatry or engineering. Sometimes you need to ask for help and support to find your way and sometimes you just need to jump right in. And most importantly, don’t let anyone convince you that you can’t achieve whatever you set your mind to. 

Good luck with your studies and the lifetime of learning ahead. Thank you.

It's been a massive year for this re-emerging storyteller. I feel extremely grateful for the opportunities that have come my way and for the community of storytellers that I'm so fortunate to be a member of. I'm looking forward to what 2015 will bring.

 

Storytelling @ The Grotto

I have just confirmed today that I will be storytelling at the Ourimbah Campus Grotto event on Friday evening, November 5, 2010. As much as I adore telling to children, it's fantastic to have the opportunity to tell to adults. I will be telling a personal story of a refugee, that was gifted to me years ago. I have been working on it in various forms ever since, and now feel that is in a tellable form that does justice to her life.
Details can be found at the link below. Please come along if you can. -:)

http://aboutthecentralcoast.bigblog.com.au/post.do?id=489969

Teller's Tea October 2009

For the October Tellers' Tea of the Australian Storytelling Guild (NSW), my tow good friends Jo Henwood and Mary French sent shivers through the entire audience at the lovely Hughenden Hotel with their tales of 'Shades and Shadows.' Both Mary and Jo have a huge talent for telling literary tales and I love getting swept away in their language and expression.
Jo kept us spellbound with her rendition of 'The signalman' by Charles Dickens and 'The shadow' by H.C. Andersen. I am always in awe of Jo's pacing and voice modulation and the Dickens' tale had the hairs on the back of my neck raised.
Mary's style is a very gentle one, deceptively so, and you quite often don't realise the sinister nature of the tale she is weaving until you are totally ensnared in the web. Her last scheduled story was in turns creepy and funny, but left the listener with much to ponder.
Our Guild President Christine Carlton asked if I'd like to share a story in the Open Mic section, and I told the Nigerian tale of 'The severed head.' This is a huge hit with upper primary grades and secondary kids. It's a short story, but packs a punch at the end, although I wasn't entirely happy with the way I delivered it this day. I don't think I spent enough time building suspense, and the ending wasn't quite as effective as it's been in the past as a result.
Christine then very cheekily asked both Mary and Jo to pull out a story from their personal 'teller's bag', to share with the audience, totally unrehearsed. Of course, being the consumate professionals that they are, both stories were fantastic.
I always come away from these Tellers' Teas totally inspired and entertained.

Hunter Vally storytelling October 2009

Sometimes a booking inquiry comes along that just really gives you pause for thought.
An email arrived in late September asking if I would be interested in telling stories to the groom and his wedding party on the morning of his wedding, in the Hunter Valley. My immediate question to myself was, "What sort of stories do they want?"
My trusty correspondent replied that they were really interested in the stories I described on my Guild webpage; folktales of other lands, and stories that would be calming and impart wisdom on such an important day. He also informed me that the venue would be a private property, only one of two on a back lane in the Hunter Valley. At this point, my lovely husband offered to drive me and stay in the car while I did the gig.
So, all systems go. The stories were agreed to, as was the fee. I deliberately made it lower than usual, because the whole concept intrigued me, and I wanted to ensure that I got the gig. I was viewing it as a learning experience.
I was so thrilled by the whole gig. What a great bunch of young men (and several girls who I think were either sisters or girlfriends). They told me they wanted something relaxing for the morning of the wedding, and after considering tai chi, decided that storytelling sounded really different and interesting. They were such an engaged audience, and so prepared to take part in the story experience. By the second story, they were happily participating in the tale of Anansi the spider, by playing musical instruments. Anansi has never sounded so good.
When it started to rain, we moved from our idyllic spot on the pool deck, with its expansive views of paddocks and dams, to the cosy pool room, with comfy chairs and lounges. To get us back into the story realm, I began a rhythmic chant and they all rapidly joined in. The whole room was incredibly quiet as I told the Maori legend of 'Hinemoa and Tutanekai' in honour of the groom and his bride travelling to New Zealand for their honeymoon. The silence at the end of that story was just music to my ears, as each listener took their own time in returning to reality.
I lightened the mood for the final story, and each listener did origami folds along with me as I related the story of 'The rainhat.' This is a fantastic story that adapts so easily to fit almost any theme. In this case, I adapted it to be all about the groom, and his efforts to prepare for, and arrive at, his own wedding.
Several of the audience members told me how relaxed they were after the storytelling, and one guy told me he would have been happy to sit and listen to more stories for another two hours. When I asked my correspondent if the storytelling was what he had expected when he made the booking, I was shattered when he replied,
"Ah no, nothing like it."
"I'm so sorry," I stammered.
With a cheeky grin, he said,
It was so much better than anything I could have imagined. Thank you so much for helping to make Brad's wedding day special.

This gig was an absolute blast, and I'm so pleased that I decided to accept the very unusual booking. Several photos were taken of me with the whole group, and I really hope I am sent copies as promised.

Children's Book Week storytelling 2009

September brought a late Children's Book Week booking at St John's School at Woy Woy. This was my 5th year at the school for CBW. With the theme for 2009 being 'Book safari' it was time for the 1st ever appearance of 'Jungle Julie'; safari adventurer extraordinaire.

I absolutely love telling at this school; it's one of my favourite venues. I spend a morning telling stories to the entire school, split over age groupings. The library is a fantastic space to tell in, and the students and entire staff get right into the spirit of CBW, and always come dressed appropriate to the theme. The kids are a great audience; really good listeners but with enough spunk to get involved at the slightest encouragement.
'Jungle Julie' is a really out-there, eccentric character,

and had each group slightly shocked initially, with her raucous voice and bizarre behaviour. But once the kids got used to her, boy was there some fun that day.
Bless Ann Hall, my good friend and school librarian; she was my straight-guy for the day, and responded perfectly to everything that 'Jungle Julie' threw at her.
As usual, I finished the day of telling at St John's absolutely exhausted, but so keyed up by the great time we all had.

With the theme of "Build the story bridge' next year, I wonder what character we can dream up; a demented engineer perhaps?

Cross-cultural storytelling August 2009

Following on the success of the Cross-cultural storytelling program, Annie Vanderwyk from Gibalee and I were successful in obtaining a Research Grant to continue the project in 2009.
We were very fortunate to have Stuart McMinn, also from Gibalee, come on board along with his company of Aboriginal dancers Minning Minni Kaiwarrine ('Night no more.")
We were also extremely fortunate to have Kiran Shah, an accredited storyteller with the Australian Storytelling Guild, and originally from Singapore, join us as a performing consultant. Kiran's cultural knowledge of South-East Asia (our theme for 2009) was immediately valuable as we worked through our stories with the performers the first time. Kiran was able to inform us of pronunciation, regional ways of doing things, and ensured that the flavour of the performance was culturally appropriate.

Open Day at the Ourimbah Campus was the scheduled day for the 1st performance of 2009, and we were really pleased with both the performances and the audience numbers. The room that we performed in however was less than suitable, as much as we tried to decorate it. No amount of fabric draping could hide the fact that it was a high technology teaching space, and the vibe was just wrong for the whole day.

The venue will definitely need to be changed for Kids Day Out in November.

PhD confirmation May 2009

A major milestone was passed in May, with finally completing my confirmation as a PhD candidate. A panel of academics gather to collect evidence of the work the the candidate has been doing over the course of 1 full year of their study. In my case, this came several years after I commenced, as I am undertaking my degree part time, and transferred from Masters in late 2005. This length of time prompted one of the panelists to say, "Well, I guess that means we can be tougher on you then."
I have nothing else to compare it to, but it did seem to me that the grilling from some of the academics was pretty severe. I must have managed to present my study adequately, as I was told in the meeting that I would be confrimed, pending the receipt of two pages of ammended proposal and methodology.
One of my supervisors gave me a huge hug at the end of it.

I am so pleased I never have to go through an experience like that again.

Storytelling workshop with Kenn Benn May 2009

What a treat to spend an entire weekend in the company of other storytellers, learning from a master storyteller. A full day workshop with New Zealand storyteller Ken Benn had us looking at researching historical characters on Saturday morning, with Ken staying in character of Leonardo DaVinci for the majority of the time. Saturday afternoon was spent examining comedy in storytelling. An enjoyable afternoon but not as satisfying for me as the historical character material. Comedy is really a very personal thing, and I'm not sure Ken and my sense of humour is really in sync.

But then dinner !!!!
Sue Alvarez very kindly opened her gorgeous home to members of the storytelling Guild for a degustation, in honour of our visiting teller. Who would have thought that our quiet, unassuming treasurer Stanley had such a gift for cooking. Each dish was better that the one that preceded it, and way past the point when I should have been saying that I couldn't fit any more in, I will still finding room somewhere.
The conversation was wonderful, with an opportunity to really chat with people from such diverse backgrounds, but all with a common love of people and communication.
Then back to the Hughended where I was staying the night. I really didn't expect to get a great night's sleep, but I barely remembered closing my eyes, before I woke at 7.30 in the morning, totally refreshed.

A light brekkie down in the cafe, then a walk along Queen Street, before coming back to the hotel and getting stuck into some study on my laptop.
The afternoon was again spent with members of the Guild at the Teller's Tea, where Ken was the featured teller. He was accompanied by my long-time friend Mary French,from Canberra, and delightful storyteller and bush poet Arch Bishop.

Challenge Ranch March 2009

Yay, back to Challenge Ranch again; this time to tell Australian stories. A group of 60 fantastic kids, who were really enthralled by the stories. I told my very Aussie version of Stone Soup for the first time, and got some very useful feedback on it from both the kids and the teachers.
Of course "Goanna and Dingo' play the tap sticks went down a treat, especially when I really emphasise Dingo's stupidity.

The teachers are always so friendly and keen to have a chat about storytelling before the session begins, so I always try to get there quite a bit early. Not much chance for a chat after the sessions, as they are busy getting the kids off to bed usually. It's a bit of a shame, because it would be good to get their feedback after the program.

NewMac Symposium Feb 2009

I presented a paper at the Annual NewMac Symposium, a joint project run by the Humanities Faculties of the University of Newcastle and Macquarie Uni.
My paper was on

Information as meaning-making: how children use a “sense of story” to understand narrative and information.

I was happy with how the paper went, except that the person before me went way over time, so I didn't have my allotted 20 minutes, and had to cut my presentation as I went along.

It was an interesting day, with lots of thought provoking presentations. As usual though, some of the best moments came during discussions over the tea and lunch breaks. It's good to know what other people are up to with their studies.

Cross-cultural storytelling Nov 2008

We had the great opportunity to run our Cross-cultural storytelling program again at the Ourimbah Campus in November 2008.
Kids Day Out is a huge community event, that has been held for the last 9 years on the Campus, and attracts 10,000 family members.
The kids that took part in the Open Day program were unavailable, so my colleague Annie was able to involve the amazing students from NAISDA.
They were so impressive! At the first run-through they were up off their seats and brainstorming interepretations of the stories.
At the KDO performances, they engaged with the kids (who wanted their photos taken with the NAIDSA kids) Always a great sign that kids have enjoyed it.
Watch the video attached to see what I mean

Halloween Storytelling UNEWC Oct 2008

As I had to develop a Halloween storytelling program for the radio, I thought I would see if any of my uni colleagues would like to be rehearsal bunnies.
An email was sent to all staff at the Campus and about 8 brave souls ventured into the gloom of the storytelling area that we set up in AV3. A darkened room, with only a covered table lamp for light.
As the audience entered, I sat completely still, with my head bowed and my face concealed by the wide brim on my dark hat. None of my body could be seen under my huge storytelling cape. (One of the audience members later said he didn't even realise I was sitting there.
I let the adience settle, and an uncomfortable silence descended, then I threw back the cape and commenced the story.
Seeing several people jump was very satisfying, and set the tone for the gruesome and suspenseful tales that followed.

Good fun, great practice and something I'll do again for other occassions.

Storytelling Guild Accreditation Sept 2008

Sunday, October 25, 2009

You would think that telling stories in front of a room full of storytellers would be easy wouldn't you? Sympathetic listeners, kindred spirits, all of that. But going for Accreditation with the Storytelling Guild was one of the hardest things I've ever done - storytelling-wise.
Sure, they're great listeners, and of course they are a fantastic responsive audience, but they are also very experienced in the art of storytelling, and know all the tricks in the book.
Anyway, I stood in the usual room at the Hughenden Hotel that we have our Teller's teas in, took a deep breath and plowed right in with asking the Riverside riddle question, and while they were thinking of that, the Guild president Vivienne very kindly agreed to be my volunteer as the lion in the story of the Dancing Lion. She did a great job, and telling a story that I've told for over twenty years allows you to relax into it, and play around with it as necessary.
The audience were then asked if anyone had solved the riddle. A few suggestions were made, but none really answered it, so then I told the story of The Riverside Riddle.
Eve Hoff and Stephen Martin also told for Accreditation.
We were then each called out individually to the dining area of the hotel to get feedback. How nerve-wracking - 3 professional storytellers doing a written critique of your telling. The feedback was great! One of the panel said she didn't have much written down because she was so engaged in the stories that she forgot to write! Music to a storytellers ears.
So, after telling stories for well over 25 years, I know am an Accredited Teller with the Australian Storytelling Guild (NSW)

Cross-cultural storytelling launch

An exciting new storytelling project is developing between the Ourimbah Campus Library and the Gibalee Centre at the Uni of Newcastle.
For several years, the Library has taken part in Open Day at the Campus with Library tours and storytelling. Annie Vanderwyk from the Gibalee Centre was interested in building on the storytelling by broadening it's scope and giving it a campus focus.
Thus was The Cross-cultural storytelling project born, where a region that is represented in the international student cohort is chosen as the focus for stories, and the tales are interpreted by Aboriginal performers/dancers from the local community.
For Open Day 2008, August 23, stories from Australia and Africa were selected and given new life by a group of talented young dancers with connections to the Uni.
This was the first time I had collaborated with anyone in my storytelling, and I found the process both challenging and very rewarding. I formalised my telling style much more than I normally do, and found that I needed to stick very close to the original telling as we'd rehearsed it, so that the performers knew where they were up to in the story. Being able to respond to the audience wasn't as easy, and meant that story couldn't be adapted on the fly to suit the particular group of listeners.
However, each performance brought new life to the stories, and the audience responded very positively to it. We will certainly continue the project in November with Kids Day Out.

Children's Book Week 2008

For the 4th year in a row, I celebrated Children's Book Week at St John's School, Woy Woy. A full morning of storytelling meant every child in the school was abe to share in stories that fit this years theme of "Fuel your mind."
The younger classes dramatised the story of "Caps for Sale", while the older classes volunteered a helper for the African story of " The Dancing Lion."
All classes laughed at the antics of silly dingo in "Dingo and Goanna play the tap sticks" and shook their heads at the arrogance of the village chief in "All things are connected."
As usual, every child and several of the teachers dressed appropriately to the theme, and the Library was decorated to celebrate CBW.
As usual, one of my favourite gigs of the whole year.
Here's a link to the Newspaper article about the gig.
http://digitaledition.expressadvocate.com.au/default.aspx?iid=9199&startpage=page0000031

Workshop for Uni business students

Aug 9, 2008 saw me leading 40 final year Bach of Business students of the Uni of Newcastle in an Organisational storytelling workshop. Combining the theories of Knowledge Management and Communities of Practice with practical storytelling examples meant that the students could see the application of stories in realistic settings. I had some great feedback from the lecturer and some of the students, about how they enjoyed hearing the stories as well and the more factual material. I had a business student approach me just recently this year who had heard about the workshop and wanted some info about Org storytelling for a presentation she had to do.

WriteNow 2008 Workshop

After not being able to do this at Challenge Ranch last year when Glenn had a serious work accident on the day, and my storytelling buddy Jo Henwood valiently jumped in at the very last minute, I was really thrilled to be invited to be part of the WriteNow 2008 activities at Challenge Ranch.
Only students in 5th and 6th grade who have string creative writing abilities get selected to attend the WriteNow camp. My job is to get their creative juices flowing with storytelling, and to set them a story creation task for the following evening.
I did this in a much more structured way this time, and sent a detailed outline to the co-ordinator of what stories I would tell, the issues we would discuss about each of them, and the follow-on activities that I would ask of the students. It was a great night, and we worked solidly for almost two hours. The stories used were 'Heaven and Hell'; 'Bedd Gelert'; and 'Sukkhe and the White horse.'

A dry spell

Between April and August was a dry spell for storytelling, although that allowed me to concentrate on my daugher, who was very ill for the first half of 2008.
I had a few storytelling inquiries during this period, but I either wasn't available on the date required, or the gig just didn't eventuate after the initial inquiry.
It did allow me to concentrate on my study in the times when my daughter didn't need me.

Catching up on storytelling activities

Apologies for not posting any news for such a long time. I've been doing the odd storytelling job here and there, but have really been focussing on my study. So the following few posts will be about each of the gigs I've done, every single one of which I've thoroughly enjoyed.
So first up, back to one of my favourite places to do storytelling, Challenge Ranch at Somersby.
On a balmy summer's night, I told stories to nearly 200 kids at Challenge Rach for a holiday Camp. Over two sessions, we shared stories in the stand alone huts on the far edge of the paddock. The walk through the night air added to the adventure of the experience, and made it something special after they cleaned up from dinner. The teachers/cousellors are always so welcoming, and these were a more lively bunch than I usually tell to at the Ranch, probably because it wasn't a school camp.
I had several volunteers in each group who asked to share a story with the group. I love it when that happens spontaneously. I have to confess to making several audience members cry, for the first time ever in one of my storytelling sessions. I told my reworked version of the Mongolian version of the 'Horse-head fiddle' and children cried in both sessions. I noticed a few of the adults tearing-up as well. A good result for a tragic story I'd say.
I also told the 'Riverside Riddle' a slow, languid tale that speeds up dramatically at the end and has a twist.

St Patrick's Day storytelling

With a bunch of fellow storytellers from the Australian Storytelling Guild, I enjoyed a great day on February 16 at the National Trust property Vienna Cottage, at Hunter's Hill.

Being the day before St Patrick's Day, the theme was obviously Irish stories, and some great tales were told, incorporating humour, tragedy, rollicking yarns and interactive tales. I shared two string stories with a healthy audience of young children and their parents, then was able to listen to other tellers weave there magic.

My hubby Glenn came along, and being the tallest one amongst us all, was soon put to use constructing screens and backdrops. My daughter and her friend were "volunteered" as honorary Leprechaun's and soon got into the spirit of things, dancing jigs and speaking to young children with an irish lilt.

In a day of great variety and highly skilled tellers, the highlight for me was Reilly's storytelling debut. Her version of 'The selkie' was incredibly moving and evocative. What a brave choice for her first publicly-told story.

Days like this one convince me of the need to involve myself more in Guild activities. There is a danger in doing my PhD of becoming very isolated and introspective, which is hardly healthy for a storyteller.