News and Events

The 2020 Annual Conference in Parksville, British Columbia, which was scheduled for May 27 to 31, is cancelled. 

Noa Baum

Noa Baum is an award-winning storyteller, educator and public speaker performing internationally with diverse audiences. Born and raised in Jerusalem Noa offers a unique combination of performance art and practical workshops that focus on the power of stories to heal across the divides of identity and build bridges for peace.

Mariella Bertelli 

A versatile storyteller, experienced in performance, Mariella also loves telling in intimate settings to varied. She believes in the power of stories to transform and inspire.

Cindy Campbell-Stone

Cindy Campbell-Stone is from Dartmouth, NS and has family roots in PEI. She has been giving performances, workshops and presentations for audiences of all ages for over 30 years at various events nationally and internationally. Cindy has been known to surprise and delight audiences with her unique approaches to telling a tale of any size, shape and scope.

Jennifer Cayley

I have been telling and listening all over for more than three decades. I take great joy in the old traditional material but love any tale that challenges, amazes, makes me laugh or cry, hold my breath or inspires difficult questions. 

Sandy Cole, Laurie Hutchison, Margaret Murphy (Around Town Tellers)

From kitchen table discussions, Margaret, Laurie and Sandy, as well as many courageous friends, created a storytelling community in Nanaimo, BC in 2007, that continues to thrive to this day. Margaret, Laurie and Sandy have been offering a variety of storytelling workshops and presentations, both collectively and individually, for over twenty years.

Bethany Ellis

When the campers would not listen to a story reading, I began a story telling, and, experiencing the power of that connection I have continued telling for more years than I care to count, in schools, libraries, theatres,trains, under trees and even a few graveyards. 

Elizabeth Ellis 

Elizabeth Ellis grew up in the Appalachian Mountains and was a children’s librarian at the Dallas Public Library before becoming a professional storyteller. She is a versatile and riveting teller of Appalachian and Texas tales and stories of heroic American women, though her personal stories are arguably her best. Invariably hilarious and poignant, she is a recipient of both the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Circle of Excellence Award from the National Storytelling Network.

Jennifer Ferris

Jennifer engages with audiences of all ages. She gives workshops on a range of storytelling topics and works with individuals to improve their storytelling practice. The power of language is very important to her

Saulo Giri

Saulo Olmedo Evans, also known as Saulo Giri, has been telling stories for more than 8 years. In 2018, he took part in the Montréal, Arts Interculturels (MAI)’s Mentorship Program to create his new storytelling show, "Le cordonnier va nu-pieds", which has been presented in November 2019.

Hugh Lupton

Hugh Lupton is one of Britain's leading storytellers. He is an award-winning storyteller, performer, author, poet, and lyricist whose work spans over 40 years. Hugh Lupton's interest in traditional music, in street theatre, in live poetry, and in myth, resulted in him becoming a professional storyteller in 1981, working largely in schools.  In 1985 he formed the Company of Storytellers with a view to taking storytelling to adult audiences. 

Shayna Jones

Shayna Jones, founder of We Are StoryFolk , is a professionally trained and passionate performing artist. With professional credits as an actor, singer, and dancer, she imbues her work as a Storyteller with craftsmanship, and precision. She trained at Trinity Western University (Langley, BC), apprenticed with Pacific Theatre (Vancouver), and has performed with the Arts Club Theatre Company, Stone’s Throw Productions, and the University of British Columbia to name a few. She has honed her skills working with acting and vocal coaches, performance workshops, and hours of dance instruction of various forms. 

Dawne McFarlane

Dawne has been telling and teaching storytelling (professionally) internationally for many years. I'm the Artistic Director of the Toronto Storytelling Festival, and longstanding member of the Toronto storytelling community.

Margo McLoughlin

Margo McLoughlin and Faye Mogensen have been telling stories for over thirty years each. The natural world and the people who have explored it are some of their favourite subjects.

Kim Michele

Kim is a diverse performer, author, storyteller, RCM artist educator and musician. She blends her enchanting voice combining storytelling amid the sounds of the ancient harp with tales of fairy, folklore, legends, poetry, rhyme and her original stories and songs that reflect upon summers in a cottage by the sea. Kim has a love for the old ancient traditional ballads and performs them in story and song.

Judy Millar

Judy Millar is a writer, speaker and comedic storyteller. She's been published in Reader’s Digest, Writer’s Digest and in anthologies such as Flash Nonfiction Funny (Woodhall Press, 2018). 

Faye Mogensen

Margo McLoughlin and Faye Mogensen have been telling stories for over thirty years each. The natural world and the people who have explored it are some of their favourite subjects.

Margaret Murphy

Margaret Murphy's life-long passion for story is twofold. First, she loves researching, writing and sharing stories of feisty women. Margaret is equally passionate about helping others find their storytelling voice.

Loren Niemi

Loren Niemi has spent forty years as a professional storyteller, creating, directing, performing and teaching stories about what matters to audiences of all ages in urban and rural settings. His work has included sharing contemporary personal, traditional and ghost stories.

Cindy Shantz

Cindy loves connecting with people. Originally, she wrote and published personal essays in newspapers such as The Globe and Mail. She also wrote and produced a play. After she began telling stories, however (including one called, "Letting Go", about her sky diving experience in New Zealand), she was hooked! Since then she has been entertaining and inspiring audiences from Vancouver Island to Switzerland. Cindy brings her adventures and challenges to life with a combination of humour and insight. She also conducts personal storytelling workshops for adults, and for international students at Vancouver Island University. 

Rubena Sinha

Rubena interweaves stories of personal history with Hindu mythology and folktales in a quest to find meaning in the face of life’s challenges. 

Heather Whaley

Heather Whaley is an orator who is best known as a musical storyteller singer-songwriter for both adults and children. She tells and sings traditional and original stories and songs and has performed and toured nationally and internationally in many venues including schools, libraries,cafés, festivals, pubs, and for special community events. A consummate performer for 28 years, Heather has learned to more than appreciate the value of stories and music in our lives.