Congratulations to Canadian Children's Book Tour Teller : Shoshana Litman

It has just been announced that Shoshana Litman has been chosen to be one of the tellers during Canadian Children's Book Week 2012. These tellers, who are members of SC-CC, are chosen by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre staff. Applicants are scored by an anonymous jury of experienced peers from provinces across Canada. In addition to the costs of accommodation, travel and meals, tellers are paid for their performances. Congratulations Shoshana.

April Stories at Fern

Photo of Margo McLoughlin by Katherine McGinnis

Shirley Routliffe hosted another full house of listeners at Stories at Fern on April 18. We had the pleasure of hearing Margo McLoughlin play her Hang between stories, giving us time to let the stories settle within us.

Janna led off with a story of her connection to the royal Coronation Coach at the end of World War II and on a later visit to London in the Buckingham Palace Mews - celebrating freedom to visit the Royal Household, - a visit to the House of Commons - celebrating freedom to witness the heart of democracy in action, a visit to Westminster Abbey - celebrating freedom to worship, with acknowledgment of those who gave their lives to preserve those freedoms. The title of her story: "Fanfare for Freedom".

Anne Beatty took us South of the border with "Computer School" a story about two teachers at the beginning of the computer age who decided to play hookey from required, but infinitely dull, computer lessons. They made their escape to the dog track, absorbing sufficient information about its workings to gamble and win a tidy sum.

Tessa Owens - invited to tell after Shirley attended her performance at the recent Festival of the Arts - told us "Road Rage" by Dave Barry, a fun telling of a number of 'rages' that seem to be part of our society's current speedy, affluent circumstances. Tessa we hope to have you with us again and, this writer hopes, that a Young Tellers evening at Fern will be reinstated before too long.

In the Aztec legend "How Music Came to the Earth" Al told how the wind and the sun did battle over the celestial music of the spheres, the sun forbidding the musicians to leave, the wind finally triumphing with such a blast that the musicians were scooped up, bringing their celestial harmonies down to Earth for our delight.

Victoria told us the Korean folk tale "Story for Sale" of a couple who, sadly, had no stories in their lives, the wife, in desperation, sending her husband out into their small world to buy a story. Victoria's rendition of both the story and the heron within the story, unforgettable.

Catherine Sheehan told the Japanese tale "The Master of the Tea Ceremony" in which the gentle tea master accidentally affronts a samurai and is challenged to a sword duel. From a Zen master our tea master learns to confront the warrior with such absolute calm and concentration that it is the warrior who retreats, the tea master free to return to his master's household intact.

I should not surprise us to know that Jacquie's parents were storytellers, particularly her mother, who told, through her daughter Jacquie, of the howling, wailing ghost who inhabited an old house. The kind of ghostly encounter no one believes until they experience it for themselves.

Margo brought us a timely tale in this present election era, of the difficulties encountered by the animals when trying to choose a King. One by one those presented for consideration were speedily discounted by a recitation of their negative rather than their positive qualities. At the end, only the dog was left. They dressed the dog in royal robes but when his mouth began to water with the smell of meat cooking on the fire he threw off th robes, snatched the meat and ran off to the woods. "He's no king" was the cry,"just a thief" The gathering broke up, and to this day, they have no king !

Lee rounded out the evening with a Vancouver Island story, a tall tale if ever there was one, of ByGod Stafford, the man who milked a whale to help her because her calf had died, then used the milk to feed piglets. A thieving bear put an end to the pig farming and offspring refused to eat anything from cow or goat and headed off to sea, following a mother whale. Believe it or no, after a while, a pod of pink whales was spotted in the waters near Ocean Falls and the Queen Charlotte Islands, now
Haida Kwai.

submitted by Janna

Consider Attending Story North

Just got the latest advert from StoryNorth, The annual SC-CC AGM and Conference. This year it will be in Yellowknife, NWT 26-29 May.  More info from Peg Hasted, Patricia Houston or Al Fowler.

Award Winning Guild Member

Congratulations to Victoria Storytellers Guild Member, Sylvia Olsen, who won the Lieutenant-Governor's Medal for Historical Writing for her book, "Working With Wool: A Coast Salish Legacy and the Cowichan Sweater."

The B.C. Historical Federation's annual award recognizes the best non-fiction book representing an aspect of British Columbia history. "Working with Wool" has also been nominated for the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize. (This notice appeared recently in Victoria's Time-Colonist Newspaper.)

Listeners of the World, Unite!

Photo by Katherine McGinnis

"Listening to a story is not a passive experience. It is an action-filled colorful event in the theatre of the mind. Storytelling, by its nature, is an audience-involving art form. As the storyteller's narrative, shared in words and gestures, is perceived by the listener, vivid images are created in the listener's imagination. Costumes, scenery, characters, come to life with as much complexity and detail as the creative listener devises. Even when the teller shares stories with a large group, there is an intimacy and an immediacy to the art form that bonds the teller and the listener as the journey of the tale unfolds...Since the imaging on the part of the listener is rooted in their own personal imagination, the transfer of the tale is both a group event and a highly intimate exchange between the teller and each listener. There are as many stories being heard as there are ears to hear the teller."

- From "Joining In. Some Thoughts on Audience Participation" by Heather Forest

For details of what's happening at this year's annual conference of the Storytellers of Canada- Conteurs du Canada, check out Al Fowler's storytelling blog #yyjstoryteller.

Kim Weitkamp in Penny Candy Love

SATURDAY JUNE 4th 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
A humorous look at life, love and other quandries with:
KIM WEITKAMP - HUMORIST, SINGER/SONG WRITER, STORYTELLER

Grace Lutheran Church, 1273 Fort St. (Northeast of Moss St.)
Tickets: Advance $15.00 and $20.00 at the door
Tickets Available from: Chronicles of Crime, 1057 Fort St.
Munro's Books, 1108 Government Street
Ivy's Bookshop, 2188 Oak Bay Ave.

Kim Weikamp is an award winning performer who shares original stories and songs at theaters and festivals across the continent. She is a master at building bridges from story to song to story. Her album, Penny Candy Love, recently won two World Storytelling awards. Victoria storytellers who have experienced Kim's warmth and extraordinary ability can't wait to share her awesome talent with you.

For more information, contact publicity@victoriastorytellers.org or call 778-433-0979