Eva Abram grew up in the small town of St. Joe, Louisiana, in the Mississippi Delta. As a child, one of her chores was to collect rainwater for household use. It taught her that water is essential for life. She believes that storytelling is also essential, so to promote the valuable lesson of the importance […]

By Mary Lou Williams, M. Ed.    Fairy tales reflect the world in which they originated – the medieval world.  They are patriarchal, hierarchical, and sexist.  Males are resourceful, fearless, and strong (emotionally as well as physically).  They don’t have weaknesses.  They are men of action, not thought and feeling.  They are still around as

by Eva Grayzel “To dream or not to dream’ was the theme of my very first story slam.  When I arrived at the sold-out event at Babs Lab in Jacksonville, FL, in the artsy Cork District, I put my name in the hat. Eight names were chosen over the 90 minutes, and the teller was allowed a

By Kaye Byrnes When I decided to explore the art of storytelling in 1996 several local friends directed me to Dr. Jim Mittlestadt, a professor at the University of North Florida.  He invited me to his cubbyhole of an office and wrapped me in encouragement.  To get me started, he shared some wonderful resource books

The Healthy Brain By Pat Nease Since April 2023, I’ve been working with our local Council on Aging in a program sponsored by the Florida Health Department titled The Healthy Brain Initiative. (When first contacted, I though someone had recommended me to be IN the program due to my unhealthy brain. But that was not

Jim Kissane grew up in the Industrial Northeast and in a family that had its roots in “heavy industry” such as railroads, mining, manufacturing, logging and construction.  The stories that were shared with him in his youth inspired the direction of his career (and his stories). These tales enabled him to experience steel mills, the

Ray Hicks was a tall, lanky North Carolina native, a mountain man who lived off the land and had a unique accent that was as thick as molasses. He was fond of overalls and flannel shirts. He also was an eighth-generation storyteller who went from sharing stories on the front porch of the family home

The Fringe: A chance to show your stuff. A 45-minute showcase for each teller at the Florida Storytelling Festival. Every year, three tellers, selected in a drawing, are featured during the FSA festival in Mt. Dora. “It’s a great opportunity for everyone to showcase longer or newer stories,” says Katie Green, from Dunedin, a 2022

Together We Can Do So Much So much, indeed. That Helen Keller quote is taped to the office doors of all my co-workers. We are often just one phone call away from the need to collaborate, cooperate to help an Elder in crisis. Florida is a big state. And Florida storytellers are a wonderfully diverse

FSA members can benefit from grants. Interfaith Story Circle     by Katie Green Members of the Florida Storytelling Association are fortunate that our organization makes small grants available to support our efforts to bring storytelling to the community.  I was pleased to receive a member grant that supported my work to create the Dunedin Interfaith Story