StoryFest 2024 Adult Concert — Story Arts of Minnesota

Meghna Bhat

Dr. Meghna Bhat (she/her) is a renowned national gender and social justice consultant, storyteller/ artist, multidisciplinary educator, and feminist scholar based in California. She is a multidisciplinary artist and storyteller, who enjoys meeting other people and listening to others’ stories, with the intent to create culture change and intergenerational community building. In the story “Larger than Life”, Meghna will be sharing a moment about her loving yet layered and complex relationship with her late mother-in-law. What brought them closer? Her story highlights the joys and importance of art and storytelling in capturing intergenerational joy and relationship-building, in a very complex world. When Meghna is not telling stories, she enjoys brisk walks, gardening, Zumba dancing, and spending time with her loved ones.

Larry Johnson

Larry is a Veteran, Educator, and Storyteller. He often works with his wife, Elaine Wynne, as KEY OF SEE STORYTELLERS. For over 50 years Larry has walked in the woods and ridden public transit worldwide, telling stories with music that is “better than it sounds”. He loves the mathematical mysticism that the notes of the musical scale are embedded in the Creation as THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES. Larry plays “pretty good music” on HEAVY METAL RECYCLED WATER FAUCET, FRENCH SHOE HORN, and other items that might otherwise languish in the landfill. His GIANT’S JUNKYARD story celebrates the glorious rescue of violence and reuse of discarded tires. 61 stories in his book, SIXTY-ONE, call for less war and better Veteran care. THE PLEA OF O.B. LEARY, adapted from Mark Twain’s War Prayer, does the same. His favorite endorsement is still a letter from a 1973 school assembly: “Thank you. I was sick the day you told stories at our school, but the other kids liked it a lot. I’m going with that.”

Sufian Zhemukhov

Sufian Z is an award-winning author and performer, featured off-Broadway and nationwide. He served as the 2023 Teller in Residence at the International Storytelling Center, received the 2020 JJ Reneaux Emerging Artist Award from the National Storytelling Network, and his academic research won the 2019 Best Book Award from the International Studies Association. Sufian's stories are based on his personal experience as a first-generation immigrant and a college professor, which might be funnier than it sounds. NPR presented Flirting Like an American as "a show about romance, culture, and one immigrant's story." In this story, a naive single professor arrives to America, his fluency in numbers and statistics is only matched by his cluelessness in the not-so-international language of women and romance. Sufian navigates the foreign world of dating and romance in the New World trying to understand and conquer the heart of the mysterious, exotic creature known as the American Woman.

Coral Conant Gilles

Coral Conant Gilles, Storytelling Naturalist, uses storytelling to inspire curiosity, empathy, and connection with ourselves, each other, and the natural world. Coral believes these things are at the heart of healing ourselves, our relationships, our communities, and the greater global community of human and non-human beings.

Coral became a storyteller accidentally while teaching environmental education in the Pacific Northwest. Now she lives on land known to most as Madison, WI, but taken from the Ho-Chunk people and called Teejop. She is at home in wild places and uses story to connect others to those places, themselves, and each other. Her work allows her to bring both subtlety and power to that which must be explored. Coral tells folktales, original creations, and personal stories. She also leads hands-on nature activities, discovery hikes, and workshops. Follow her on Facebook or Instagram!