Chad Filley

Chad Filley is an award-winning Scandinavian Storyteller, Author, and Standup Comedian. When he's not sharing entertaining anecdotes about his three sons, his wife, and their lively household of three dogs and two cats, he's captivating audiences with compelling Scandinavian stories of the experiences of immigrants and their descendants. With material drawn from interviews, archival research, and literature, Chad's performances blend history with humor. Recently, renowned Nyckelharpa player Renee Vaughan likened Chad's storytelling to a combination of Studs Terkel and Garrison Keillor.

Chad Filley 

CONTACT INFO: 

chadfilley@yahoo.com
(763) 742-3851 
http://www.norskstoryteller.com

"I laughed so hard, lutefisk came out of my nose. I don't think I'll ever get rid of the smell." -Ole Danielson

Rose Arrowsmith

Rose Arrowsmith writes poetry and children's books, and tells traditional and original folktales. You can listen to stories every week on The Saturday Morning Story podcast, on all streaming platforms, or at www.rosearrowsmith.com

Rose draws on her Swedish heritage and theatre background, and gets plenty of inspiration from the wild woods and lakes of the North Shore. She has performed around the US, and in Sweden and India. Rose lives in Grand Marais.

Contact Rose through her website: https://www.rosearrowsmith.com

Howard Lieberman

Nationally known storyteller, poet, performance artist and political activist Howard Lieberman moved from Brooklyn, NY to bucolic but shockingly Republican Stillwater, MN in 1990.  His jaded yet surprisingly tender style has made him a favorite on the national and, thanks to Zoom, global performance scene. Howard is a former member of the Board of Directors of the National Storytelling Network and a current member of the Board of Story Arts of Minnesota.

Email: hlieberman@lieberman-nelson.com

Joshua Gillespie (Brotha Asè)

Joshua Gillespie (Brotha Asè) is a third generation Griot/ Storyteller. As the Grandson of Vusumuzi and Nothando Zulu he was enamored, intrigued, & inspired by the rich African Folktale stories, history, and lessons that came though the art form that his family elders perform and love. 

Brotha Asè has written several stories of his own including “Master of The Skies” , “Ra Amun and The Djembe Drum” , and  “The Planter Women’s Seed” which honors ancestor Aunt Beverly Cottman. 

Brotha Asè believes our stories are like seeds from the divine tree of life, helping to guide us and grow us into divine trees of our own.

--
𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐚 𝐀𝐬𝐞 | 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐀𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞

𝐈𝐆: @𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐚_𝐀𝐬𝐞
𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤: 𝐉𝐨𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐚 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐚 𝐀𝐬𝐞 𝐆𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐞

Danielle Daniel

email:  magicteller@aol.com   /   website:  www.danielledaniel77.com     /     Cell: 651-398-9614

Danielle Daniel is a motivational storyteller, speaker, actress, creative writer, director, and teaching artist.  Her vivacious style fills the stage with a swirl of characters.  Her storytelling programs and tour shows have been presented in Europe and the United States.  She has worked in many schools, colleges, and community organizations using the art of storytelling to entertain, educate, motivate, and empower people of all ages. She is a recipient of the Jim Dusso Artist Award, Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship, LIN Grant, Many Voices and Jerome Fellowship from the Playwright Center.  Her literary work includes a children’s book, “The Ghost of Old Man Willie,” and three plays, Voodoo Child, Sugar and Spice a Black Woman’s Melody, and The Magic of Laughter. She believes our stories are like air and water, we need them to survive. 

Jim Stowell

An award winning professional actor, director, playwright and storyteller. Jim Stowell has written and directed eleven full cast plays, including two children’s plays, three book adaptations and a Spanish language play. Written and performed twelve one man plays that were commissioned and produced by six different theaters in Minneapolis-Saint Paul. His work has also been on National Public Radio, Minnesota Public Television, seen at The Sundance Film Festival, The Toronto Film Festival, The National Storytelling Festival and 200 other venues around the USA and Canada. Teaching experience: St. Thomas University-Five Ph.D. level storytelling workshops. Moorhead State University-Tom McGrath Visiting Writer Series-Creative writing.  University of Minnesota-Several times, teaching acting/playwriting/storytelling, including ‘Going Long. How to write a one-person play.’  The Playwrights Center-‘From the Page to the Stage.’ Middlebury College Middlebury, VT. ‘Creating stories through movement.’   Two local Community Colleges and many, many, high schools in the twin cities and around the state.

Email: jrstowell@msn.com

Nicholas Pawlowski

Nicholas Pawlowski M. Ed, has been integrating fairy tales, rhythmic movement and music into education for over 14 years.  Nicholas tells stories because they have soul and because they promote imagination, which according to Albert Einstein, is the essential element in childhood development. 

Nicholas' form of participatory storytelling is grounded in Multiple Intelligence Theory which not only embraces diverse learning styles but uses embodied learning for all children. Nicholas tells stories in such a way that children can listen with their eyes, ears, hands, feet and hearts. Through this embodied practice, children learn how to formulate their own imaginative life as well as how to walk in some else's shoes.

In these uncertain and challenging times, it is important that timeless stories about hope, respect, justice and kindness inform the moral, spiritual and imaginative development of our children. 

Contact information at  www.nicholaspawlowski.com  

Katie Knutson

Katie Knutson is a Professional Storyteller and Teaching Artist who travels the world to tell stories and lead workshops. She has performed around the US, and in Canada, Chile, Italy, and the United Arab Emirates. This "enchanting and magical" performer is one of the few local tellers who can provide bilingual (Spanish/English) programs.

Katie provides:

Performances for Young People and Families, including school assemblies and library programs that focus on early literacy skills and character education,

Performances for Adults and Teens that include never-intended-for-children folktales, social justice stories and personal tales,

Professional Development Workshops for Teachers, Librarians, Artists and Businesspeople who want to effectively use Storytelling in their Work,

Storytelling Coaching for those looking to work on specific stories, either as a group or one-on-one, and

Storytelling and Drama Residencies for schools who want to make learning fun, develop literacy and critical thinking skills, address state/national standards, create excitement about writing or public speaking, or train teachers to integrate the arts into their classrooms.

More about Katie: She has received three Minnesota State Arts Board Arts Learning Grants to be the Storyteller-in-Residence for Bloomington Public Schools, Neill Elementary in Crystal, and Folwell Performing Arts Magnet in Minneapolis. In addition to writing for Storytelling Magazine, Knutson has also contributed to three books - two on integrating storytelling into the classroom, and one on the future of storytelling. She mentors new Storytellers and Teaching Artists, is a SELCO Vetted Performer, and has worked as a Teaching Artist for Stages, Stepping Stone, Homeward Bound, and Children's Theatre Companies. She is currently serving on the Board of Directors for the National Storytelling Network (NSN), and has also served on the boards of SAM, Northlands Storytelling Network, and the Youth, Educators, & Storytellers Special Interest Group of NSN. Find out more about Katie, watch videos of her in action, and more at www.ripplingstories.com.

Contact Info:
Email: stories2teach@gmail.com
Cell: 651-246-7168
Website: ripplingstories.com

Debra Ting

Debra Ting spins warm, comforting, and thought-provoking tales for adult audiences. Her stories are both old and new, personal or traditional, and they embody timely and time-honored ideals such as love, compassion, forgiveness, and hope.

 Ms. Ting believes that no one ever outgrows the need for stories and, that it is through the sharing of our stories that hearts may be opened, spirits may be inspired, and souls may even begin to heal.

 Listeners have said, that Ms. Ting is “a gifted storyteller,” down-to-earth, humble, and authentic.” They have said that Debra’s stories “speak to the heart and soul.”

Email:  debrating@me.com 
Website: www.debrating.com

Amy Salloway

Actor, writer, storyteller and teaching artist Amy Salloway is a big fan of the Venn Diagram spot where live performance, social activism and empathy overlap. Her creative work has often focused on stripping the shame and stigma from experiences that are hard to talk about – bullying and discrimination, weight bias and body image, sexual violence, disabilities, and chronic illness.  Amy’s autobiographical solo plays  -- Does This Monologue Make Me Look Fat?, So Kiss Me Already, Herschel Gertz!, and Circumference -- have toured to and won awards at theatre festivals, colleges, conferences and communities across the US and Canada since 2004, earning her reviews like “raw and fearless,” “achingly honest and hysterically funny” and “the voice for all of us who were picked last for kickball.” Amy was a founding member of the Minneapolis narrative ensemble Rockstar Storytellers, a co-producer of the place-based bike ride Spinning Stories, and currently hosts Story Club Minneapolis, happening monthly at the Bryant-Lake Bowl.  She’s contributed stories to radio programs on MPR and CBC, and to the hit podcast "Risk!" Amy teaches classes in creative writing, memoir, humor and story structure through Minneapolis Community Ed, as well as personal storytelling and corporate workshops through The Story Studio. She coaches actors, comedians, lecturers, presenters and speakers of all kinds, in person and via technology.

For more info:
www.amysalloway.com (rarely updated, sorry)
www.facebook.com/awkwardmomentonstage (always updated!)
https://soundcloud.com/amysalloway  (work samples)

Email: heysalloway@gmail.com

Noel LaBine

·         I create and tell stories based on my many varied experiences. These include: time at a Benedictine College, harvesting wheat in the Midwest, making hay with cowboys at a ranch in Montana, working in factories in California and Minnesota, serving as an infantry scout in Vietnam, jumping trains and hitchhiking across America, farming in Northwest Minnesota, milking goats, raising honey bees, and working as a teacher at a University, a grant writer for small rural communities and a director of a nonprofit organization.

·         I have a rich variety of experiences and skills to help people and communities realize their potential as a spirited part of the global community. I also tell stories based on experiences and the mythology from other cultures.

·         For a modest fee I am able to coach others to bring humor into their public presentations.

Website: www.noeLLabine.com

Email: noeLLabine@gmail.com

Elaine Wynne

Elaine, a licensed psychologist, has taught and performed throughout the world since 1976, focussed primarily on the Healing Art of storytelling in community.  She grew up in Alaska and a farm in northern Mn.  Her stories carry themes that bridge cultures, and "The Dance":  neighborhood barn dances, her Dad in the great ballrooms of Chicago, and her family invited to Pow Wow.  She still believes it most important to tell stories to children, at home, and in community.  Listeners of all ages say, "When you tell stories, your voice melts away the stress".

Email: topstory7@gmail.com

Larry Johnson

Larry has been in the woods and on public transit around the world, telling stories there, and as a camp director, army medic, community TV director, and public school storytelling/video specialist.  He plays "pretty good music" on old car and plumbing parts, to keep them from the landfill.  61 stories in his book, SIXTY-ONE, call for less war, more walking, and better veteran care.  His favorite letter is still one from a 1973 school assembly:   "Thank you for coming to our school.  I was sick that day, but the other kids liked your storytelling a lot, so I'm going with that".

Email: topstory7@gmail.com

Gregory Pickett

Originally from Chicago, IL, Gregory Pickett is a Minneapolis-based poet, storyteller, writer and educator known for turning the difficult events of his adolescence and early adulthood - homelessness and substance abuse- into engaging, accessible narrative that bridges the gaps between us. After studying writing at Chicago State University, he has gone on to win several awards which include: first-place finalist in the 2019 National Storytelling Festival Story Slam, 2019 Twin Cities: The Moth Storytelling Grand Slam Champion, 2019 and 2017 Minneapolis SlamMN! Storytelling Grand Slam Champion, 2014 and 2009 Rootabaga Poetry Slam Champion in Galesburg, IL.

Contact Info:

Website: www.gregorypoet.com
Email: pickett@gregorypoet.com
Phone: 612-860-7927

Michael Merriam

Michael Merriam is an actor, playwright, and spoken-word artist living in Hopkins, MN. Michael tells personal narratives with an emphasis on disability, stories of the fantastic, reworked folk tales, and anything else that strikes his fancy. He has appeared on stage in the Minnesota Fringe Festival, Tellebration!, StoryFest Minnesota, Story SlamMN!, with the RockStar Storytellers, and over the air on KFAI 90.3FM and Minnesota Public Radio. Michael competed in the Story SlamMN’s Grand Slam in 2013. Michael attended in Ward Rubrect’s Slam Storytelling Workshop in 2012 and Nancy Donoval’s Storytelling Workshop in 2008.

Contact Michael at mmerriam@gmail.com

Website: www.michaelmerriam.com

Kathleen Johnson

Kathleen Johnson is an award winning singer, hammered dulcimer player, storyteller, and  teacher.  Her stories and music resonate with beauty, transporting the listener to a magical place and time.  Her classes inspire students to reach beyond their comfort zone - open hearts and deepen connection to the audience so that the story is fully shared. Kathleen has been a featured performer at Renaissance Festivals and other venues in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Colorado, Virginia, Maryland and Nova Scotia.  She ties together her British / Irish / Early American song quilt with stories and poems. You can find her three albums on iTunes.

Contact Info:
info@kathleen-johnson.com

For more information please visit www.kathleen-johnson.com