Quaker Storytellers
A meetingplace for Quakers interested in storytelling and storytellers interested in Quakerism
Hosted by Tom & Sandy Farley, Spontaneous Combustion Storytellers
We know the power of story and have heard stories as ministry. We sense that storytelling is a delightful way to foster community, keep to simplicity, promote peace and equality.
Queries
- What does it mean to be both a storyteller and a Quaker?
- What else might we hold in common?
- How does our faith inform our storytelling?
- What do our stories bring to our meetings and to the community at large?
Look for Storytellers and Storytelling at the FGC Gathering this summer.
Finding Quaker Storytellers:
Below are links to web-sites of Quaker storytellers we know of. Please let us know of others we might add.
- John Callahan of Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania.
- Tom and Sandy Farley of Spontaneous Combustion in Redwood City, California.
- Ruth Fraser
who hosts a monthly story-swap at the San Francisco Meetinghouse in California.
- Bill Harley in Massachusetts.[Bill just received a Grammy for his CD Blah Blah Blah. See Boston Globe article 3/8/07.]
- Sarah Malone of Peace Tales in New Mexico.
- Lee-Ellen Marvin in Ithaca, New York.
- Karen Maurer of Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania.
- Kathleen Mavournin of Knoxville, TN and graduate of the School of Sacred Storytelling
- Skip Mendler
in Pennsylvania who is also a clown and satirist.
- David and Bill Mettler brothers, as Quiet Riot in Pennsylvania, offer programs addressing Conflict Resolution, Bullying, Multicultural/Diversity, Self-esteem/Character Education, and Care for our Earth.
- Holly Stevens near Greensboro, North Carolina whose web presence is the blog The Storyteller and the Listener Online -- Essays on the role of story and narrative in peace making, healing, bridge building, and reconciliation.
How Quakers Use Stories
Books and Articles:
An article on storytelling in religious education is available from Pacific Yearly Meeting at Stories Take Us Deeper.
Two recent books, The Healing Heart ~ Families: Storytelling to Encourage Caring and Healthy Families and The Healing Heart ~ Communities: Storytelling to Build Strong and Healthy Communities have a Quaker co-editor David Albert and several contributors are Friends or friends of Friends.
Events:
From time to time, Quaker and non-Quaker storytellers have been invited to tell at Quaker gatherings, schools, camps, conference centers, etc. Some Quaker organizations have offered workshops in telling or using stories. We will gladly list or link to such events when we know of them.
Quaker Connections:
We are members of Palo Alto Meeting of the Pacific Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends [Quakers].
For an informal e-mail list on Quaker topics, go to the Yahoo! Group called Dry Clean Only [because most Friends don't practice water baptism.]
FQA is the Fellowship of Quakers in the Arts based in Philadelphia, PA.
Storytelling Connections:
- Southbay Storytellers and Listeners meets on the second Sunday evening of each month in Los Altos, California.
- SAAC the Storytelling Association of Alta California sponsors the Bay Area Storytelling Festival each May.
- National Storytelling Network is the professional organization for storytelling in the United States and sponsors Tellabration(tm), a worldwide storytelling event each November.
- Healing Story Alliance a special interest group [SIG] in NSN
- National Association of Black Storytellers [NABS] puts on the National Black Storytelling Festival.
- Black Storyteller's Alliance is the NABS affiliate in the Minnesota area.
- Turtle Island Storytellers Network is the American Indian speaker's bureau being developed to promote talented American Indian storytellers, tribal historians, and song carriers from the Pacific Northwest and Northern Plains.
- The Storytelling FAQ maintained by British storyteller, Tim Sheppard, is a compendium of story-stuff on the Internet.
- STORYTELL is probably the best [and busyest] e-mail list for storytellers. Hosted by Texas Woman's University School of Library and Information Studies, it is now over ten years old.
- Professional Storyteller is a ning or on-line network for information about and interaction with storytellers who offer performances, workshops, recordings, books, etc.
- SOS: Searching
Out Stories is a catalog of stories by topics.
- Storyteller.Net is a resource for stories and tellers.
- Story Tsunami is a wave of storytelling events benefiting disaster relief agencies.
Where did this story come from? [remember to credit your sources.]
At the 1996 FGC Gathering in Hamilton Ontario, Bobbi Keely and Chuck Fager lead a workshop on The Art and Witness of Quaker Storytelling and most of the Junior Gathering morning groups had a resident storyteller as part of the staff for that week. In planning for that Gathering, Chuck sent an e-mail where he said "I've also been thinking about whether there might be interest and need for a Quaker Storytellers Network....
Whaddaya think?"
Page last updated on 6/25/08 by Tom Farley of Spontaneous Combustion