Monday 30 May 2011

A busy day in the life of your friendly neighbourhood storyteller

I'm in an airport! It is hardly news to anyone who follows me on twitter that I'm writing from yet another airport, but it is true. I'm in Ottawa, having just finished a speaking engagement last night for Memorial University Alumni. It was a great turnout, with some familiar faces in the crowd, which is always a plus for me. Here is the interview done by Dean Verger at the event.

I'm off to Halifax, for another talk and storytelling session tonight at the Elephant and Castle Pub. Last night I was telling ghost stories, Jack tales and some oral history material from Newfoundland. Who knows what tonight will bring, through there will definitely be some ghostly tales, and perhaps the appearance of a sea monster or two.  It has been a great mini-tour so far, and I'm delighted that Memorial University, and their sponsors Johnson Insurance and the Elephant & Castle pubs, have been so supportive. It is great to get storytelling out to new audiences, and introduce Newfoundland stories to new (and old) listeners.

I went out for breakfast this morning with Ottawa's Ruthanne Edward, who was host of the St. John's Storytelling Festival's first story slam earlier this year. It is always great to get to hang out with fellow storytellers, to talk about what is happening in the storytelling community. We talked about how it is that storytellers so often work in isolation, working individually on personal projects, without a lot of opportunities for some of us to collaborate, critique, grow and converse about our art.

I head back to St. John's in the morning, taking every chance I get along the way to run lines for Ghosts of Signal Hill which opens this Friday night at 8pm! Zounds!

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