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A penny for your thought, a nickel for a story - Sudbury Ontario, 2023
3 | Artist Biographies
2023 Conference Artist Biographies
In alphabetical order
Sarah Abusarar
Sarah comes from a long line of storytellers on her paternal side. Sarah has appeared in festivals both nationally and internationally. Because Sarah, grew up in several countries she tells stories from all over the world with the focus on Palestinian and Croatian stories where her roots lie. Her favourite stories are ones that promote social change. Sarah uses stories in a therapeutic way. She teaches at the Parent Child Mother Goose Program. Sarah tells stories so that she may go deep inside of the tales and find herself in far-away magical places that she remembers, from long ago. Sarah comes from a long line of storytellers on her paternal side. Sarah has appeared in festivals both nationally and internationally.
Sylvi Belleau
Sylvi Belleau has been the artistic director of Théâtre de la Source since the company was founded in 1985. She is active as a playwright (Befana la sorcière de Noël, The dragon who loves fruits, Hanuman), actress, and storyteller for young audiences and author. For the last 30 years, she cherishes the art of storytelling by creating events to promote the art like Festilou (since 2010), a storytelling festival for young people over 7 years old. In addition to her activities, she works regularly in the educational community as a teacher and animator. Her first CD book Grindel et le bouc de Noël was published in 2013.
Les Bilinguish Boys
Les Bilinguish Boys est un groupe formé en banlieue du Grand Sudbury, à quek’ part entre Azilda et Chelmsford. Composé de Stef Paquette, Dayv Poulin, et Édouard Landry, ces gars de la 'scène' se ‘guette together’ de temps en temps pour jouer pour un prélèvement de fond, ou bien même pour un dévoilement de programmation ou pour juste passer une soirée dans une brasserie! Chansons originales et des reprises, ces ‘top guns’ de la scène franco-ontarienne vous offrent de l’improvisation, des voix et des guitares ‘blenderées’ dans un ‘cocktail’ qui ‘cruise’ à 100 milles à l’heure. Ce n’est pas d’la business risquée, ces gars ‘citte ont toutes les « right moves ». Bon pestack!
Capitaine Bonnefemme
Her years of experience on Coast Guard ships and in the maritime environment have fueled her fertile imagination. From her background as an educational specialist with deaf youth, her gestures and movements are complementary to her lively expressions and mimics. Capitaine Bonnefemme writes her own stories and tells them in schools, residences, festivals, thematic events, etc. She also offers one-to-three-hour workshops in French and English. She is registered in the "Répertoire de culture à l'école" of the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec.
Cindy Campbell-Stone
Cindy is storyteller, singer, performer from Nova Scotia with family roots in Prince Edward Island. She had been telling stories to audiences for over thirty- five years. A long time member of the Helen Creighton Folklore Society, Cindy has a special interest in the works of folklorist, Dr Creighton, and offers workshops on community or historical stories, oral history and folklore. Cindy often likes to include songs or ballads in her performances and has been known to add musical surprises in her stories. Cindy’s sense of fun and encouragement in her workshops, are sure to be delightful learning and listening experiences.
Jennifer Cayley
Jennifer Cayley has been telling stories for more than three decades. Her repertoire includes traditional, epic, literary, historical and personal material. Performance highlights include: collaborating with Jan Andrews on touring The Book of Spells: A Love Story to Rome, Australia, Wales, USA and southern Ontario; appearing at festivals across Canada and once in Hawaii; making regular appearances at the Ottawa Storytellers’ National Arts Centre series; telling the great epics of the world at Rasputin’s Cafe and the National Arts Centre. Work with young people, especially in educational settings, has always been integral to her storytelling work.
Cheryle Chagnon Greyeyes
Cheryle Chagnon-Greyeyes is a proud Nehiyaw Esquao (Cree Woman), a member of Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, Saskatchewan, Treaty Six. Cheryle earned a BA in Communications and a BA in Canadian “Native” Studies from the University of Calgary, and a Diploma in Advertising & Public Relations from Grant MacEwan University, Edmonton. Cheryle received the rank of Corporal in the Canadian Air Force, receiving an honourable discharge after five years’ service. She is an Indigenous storyteller and performer.
Rob Cloney
Rob Cloney has been writing and telling stories to audiences for almost 40 years. His stories have a distinct Irish and Atlantic Canadian feel to them, and usually are humorous with riddles and unexpected twists intertwined. He has performed traditional and adapted tales, as well as his own original stories, in schools and libraries, at story swaps and public performances, as well as song and story circles in a variety of venues. He has shared stories in Canada, the US and Brazil, and is the storyteller in residence at Viva Vida Art Gallery in Montreal.
Clara Dugas
Clara is a retired teacher, and now a bilingual storyteller. Even if for a long time she only had her classes as audiences, she has invested greatly in other venues since her retirement. Her years of teaching, her Acadian heritage, and her childhood memories feed many of her stories. She has taught storytelling to junior and senior high school students. She has told to audiences in New Brunswick, South Carolina, Quebec, Poitiers and Picardie France, St. Mary’s Bay, Lunenburg and Halifax County. She was a recipient of the 2014 TD Children’s Book week. She wrote a French teacher’s guide to storytelling in the classroom, funded by the Acadian School Board of Nova Scotia and a biography of her mother- her first storyteller.
Mavis Dumont
Oral Traditional Stories has been my passion since childhood. I've mastered my technique for the past 40 years. I am Cree First nations and have live in Europe for 20 years. I have audiences from all ages and cultures and hopefully to have more performances Internationally. I have been teaching Workshops on Indigenous Culture and History in Schools, Colleges and Cultural Centers for over 40 years in Canada and Europe. Currently, I am a District Cultural Facilitator for SD#36.
Claude Garneau & Mila Bercier
Claude (le Pére) Garneau is an experienced, published storyteller. Accompanied by his budding storyteller granddaughter Mila, they will entertain you with their original stories
Pascal Guéran
Pascal Guéran has been touring in France and abroad (in Quebec, Switzerland, Brazil, New Caledonia, Poland, Romania...) since 2005. He told his stories in a lot of festivals. Among them: Paroles de conteurs 2005 and 2006, in Vassivière (Limousin region, France), Conte en fête 2006 (Val d'Oise department, France), Paroles d'hiver 2007 (Alsace, France), Coquelicontes 2007 (Limousin, France), Histoires communes 2007 in the Paris region (France), Le Rendez-vous des Grandes Gueules 2007 (Trois-Pistoles, Quebec), Festival de la parole de la Baie Sainte-Marie 2007 (Nova-Scotia, Canada), Festival international du conte Jos Violon 2007 (Lévis, Quebec), Festival Interculturel du Conte de Montréal 2007 (Quebec), La semaine de la francophonie et du conte 2008 (Warsaw, Poland), Boca do Céu 2008 and 2010 (Brazil), Contes en Iles 2012 (Magdalen Islands, Canada). In 2013, he also performed in Sardinia, Switzerland, and New Caledonia. Since 2014, he has been touring the world with his stories, especially in Quebec, Switzerland, and France. In 2018, he came back to Quebec to perform in several festivals: Contes en Iles (Magdalen Islands), Le Rendez-vous des Grandes Gueules (Trois- Pistoles), Festival international du conte Jos Violon (Lévis), Flots de Paroles (Verchères). In 2020, he was supposed to go back to Quebec, but the pandemic changed his plans. He returned in 2022 though, for the Contes et légendes en Abitibi- Témiscamingue festival, and he also performed in Gaspésie, at the Carleton Cégep as well as for the Poèmes en août event.
Kathleen Kompass
A storyteller since 1983, Kathie’s desire is to light a verbal candle, drawing the audience closer. She likes the taste of sharp, keen, vivid words in her mouth. Words that will create a picture in the Listeners mind as the story reveals itself. She finds folktales and legends a pleasure to tell. There is mischief and wisdom in those tales. Kathie has told at Festivals in Ottawa, Toronto, Sharon, and at SC-CC events. As well she frequently shares stories in schools, at summer camps, for Girl Guides or the National Art Gallery, the Museum of History . She co-teaches the Ottawa Introduction to Storytelling workshop and has presented a workshop and for teacher candidates at Queen's University. Kathie has taken her tales on the road telling three times in BC and in 2017 she participated in the Canadian Children’s Book Week tour in Nova Scotia.
Jo Kuyvenhoven
Jo Kuyvenhoven is a seasoned teller, listener, writer and teacher. Her repertoire ranges from pithy Dutch folktales and dark wonder tales; to such epic narratives as the Illiad and the Maharabata. A founding member of Storytellers of Canada, she has told on stages in Canada and beyond. A passionate advocate of oral storytelling as vital to education, she published In the Presence of Each Other: Pedagogy of Storytelling. More recently, she worked with West African tellers and illustrators to support their publishing of more than 40 classroom readers so that primary school children hear and read their own culture and folktales.
FX Liagre
Originally from Brittany, FX has been living in Montreal for more than 20 years. He is particularly fond of Breton Death tales, intertwined with traditional laments called gwerziou, sung a capella in Breton, as well as Zen tales of Japanese or Chinese traditions. He also offers more contemporary tales of his own creation. FX is a writer, published by Québec Livres, Marchand de Feuilles and self-published. Singer-songwriter, he explores a unique universe. One of his songs won a prize in the 2018 Chansons sans frontières international competition. Finally, FX is an instructor of Zhineng Qi Gong, an ancient Chinese art of health.
Linda Lord
Linda obtained her PhD in Expressive Arts Therapy in 2020 with a specialization in using theatre, specifically Playbuilding, to give witnessed voice and visibility to those experiencing Disenfranchised Grief. Linda is also a Certified Recovery Coach with the Canadian Addiction Counsellors Certification Foundation. Linda’s approach to Expressive Arts Therapy and performative storytelling is grounded, person centred, solutions focused, and trauma informed. A playwright, embodied storyteller, and therapeutic expressive arts coach, Dr. Lord has written and performed five one-woman shows, written four social justice plays produced by Arts Collective Theatre, and written two self-help books. She is an Arts Can Teach drama, writing, and storytelling facilitator within the elementary school system enhancing the delivery of core curriculum. Additionally, Linda is a highly sought-after presenter for audiences across Canada. Linda holds board positions with the Arts Council Windsor Region and Storytellers Canada.
Danica Lorer
Danica Lorer has spent over twenty years as a professional storyteller. She has been struck by lightning, a moose, a rogue semi-tire, vehicles, and the odd strange idea. Her favourite audience members have been 0-103 years old. She is a freelance writer, workshop facilitator, face and body painter, poet, and the host of Shaw TV Saskatoon’s literary arts program 'Lit Happens'.
Rob Malo
Rob Malo, also known as TiBert le Voyageur is a Franco-Manitoban Métis storyteller, author, stage performer, juggler, poet, and community builder who shares his passion for history and culture with people of all ages. He is recognized by Storytellers of Canada as being a Master Storyteller and has been the Storyteller in Residence at the University of Manitoba. Rob draws on his background as an Educational Programs Developer at the Manitoba Museum and as a Professor in the Tourism Department of l'Université de St. Boniface to delight audiences through storytelling, juggling and music. Rob has been awarded Certificates of Excellence from Interpretation Canada for both TiBert le Voyageur live presentations and digital educational tools available to teachers through the Province of Manitoba DREF website.
Alexandre Matte
Alexandre Matte is one of those rare storytellers that can transport you to the time and the place he is describing. After 15 years managing finances of cultural organisations, most recently as Director of Finance of the oldest cultural centre in French Ontario, he transitioned from counting to speaking. Specialising in storytelling for young audiences, Alexandre is currently on a Canadian tour of elementary schools to help children discover the art of storytelling, from Ontario to British Columbia. At home, Alexandre practices the art of storytelling with his most difficult audience, his two nine-year-old girls, while their baby sister babbles in the background.
Eveline Ménard
Eveline Ménard has been telling stories for 24 years. She has collected stories from numerous traditional storytellers, and has a desire to pass their legacy on through different projects, such as Conteur d’une génération à l’autre with children, or Roue du temps in collaboration with the Atikamekw storyteller Karine Wasiana Echaquan. As heir to the vast collection of stories of Bertrand Lamoureux, she emphasizes cultural mediation, collection and transmission in her artistic approach. Having a traveler's soul, she toured the Canadian Francophonie, and also went to France as well as to many other countries (Poland, Mexico, Togo, Burkina Faso, etc.).
Nick Miceli
My credits include The Toronto International Festival of Storytelling in 2020, an annual World Storytelling Day concert in March since 2015, and self publication of the CD Dragon on the Mountain. I have studied with Celia Lottridge and Marylyn Peringer. I have been an active supporter of 1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling. I have been a board member and fundraising committee member for Storytelling Toronto.
Jennifer Munro
Born in the heart of the industrial midlands in England, Jennifer learned the rules of engagement that have resulted in a collection of original stories about rogues, rascals, and heroes. On moving to the USA, she has worked as a professional storyteller for more than twenty-five years, garnering numerous awards: National Storytelling Network’s prestigious Circle of Excellence Award, winner in Storytelling World Magazine for her three recordings and collection of short stories, Aunty Lily and other Delightfully Perverse Stories. She has been featured at major festivals across the nation, notably the National Storytelling Festival, TN, and the Timpanogos Festival, UT.
David Novak
David Novak tells stories to enhance learning, engage emotion, and find common
ground. Awarded the Circle of Excellence from the National Storytelling Network, David is a performing and teaching artist with festivals and institutes internationally. His tours include Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Singapore, Poland and the Czech Republic. He has a background in arts education, theatre, and creative writing, is a published author and recording artist, living in Asheville, NC.
Norman Perrin
Since 1991 Norman has been telling to diverse audiences across Canada and around the world. He developed the Story Stone workshop while storyteller in residence for the Spiral Garden, an outdoor arts program at the Bloorview-Holland Children's Hospital. In 2013 he traveled with the Story Stone to Scotland, Israel, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Founder of the Four Winds Storytellers', Norman is SC-CC's 2021 recipient of The Storykeepers Award.
Judith Poirier
Judith Poirier is renowned across Canada as a teller that weaves beautifully traditional stories, life stories and songs. Warmth, humour, depth and spontaneity share the stage, to the delight of the public, whether very young or fully mature. Anglophone audiances savour her bilingual telling allowing them to venture into French Canadian atmosphere with the sense of being there, being part of it. In recognition of her unique talent and repertoire, Judith Poirier has been chosen to be the featured teller of the 2020's edition of the StorySave's CD collection. Titled Bienvenue dans mon salon double! - Folktales and Stories from a Montreal Storyteller, her bilingual album was launch in June 2020.
Sylvie Proulx
Sylvie Proulx uses the language of the people to tell her stories. She gives a voice to the human frailty to give everyone the right to exist, to be heard, welcomed, and loved. This is the core of her artistic approach. She took several training courses with renowned storytellers. She has performed in several storytelling festivals in Quebec. In 2020, she was selected for a residency at the Centre franco-ontarien de folklore, in Sudbury, which allowed her to create a show that was later presented both in Sudbury (Ontario) and Lévis (Quebec) in 2021. In tales of her own creation, she especially likes to bring out the humanity of the stories and characters.
Melanie Ray
Melanie Ray started acting at 18. At 37, she told a story for an audition. She’s been telling stories ever since and she’s 75. Melanie tells for all ages, in diverse venues across Canada, and sometimes elsewhere. Her repertoire includes legend, literature, history, personal stories and many folktales. Her greatest pride might be touring with her two-hour version of Europe’s Medieval epic, Tristan and Iseult. In 2011, Storytellers of Canada/Conteurs du Canada honoured her with the Storykeeper Award, in recognition of artistic excellence and service to Canadian storytelling. In 2022, Melanie spent the summer telling stories weekly in Vancouver parks.
Ann Rothfels
Ann Rothfels, as a fabric artist literally weaves yarn, and as a storyteller, weaves tales for healing and reflection.
Joëlle Roy
Singer-songwriter from the Temiscaming Shores, Joëlle completed a doctorate in Francophone Studies at the University of Louisiana. Has been director for Le Festival du Loup de Lafontaine, for 11 years.
Lynn Torrie
Lynn is a clear, patient instructor who has been teaching beginners how to use technology since 2005. She has presented at conferences, run workshops and made many instructional videos for the Toronto District School Board. Since the start of social isolation, she has spent her time learning as much as she can about what works, and what doesn’t, when storytelling on Zoom. Lynn has been telling stories professionally since 2013, with a passion for traditional folktales and historic tales.
Julie Turconi
Julie is a multifaceted artist: published writer, poet and storyteller, she is also a visual artist and a Tai Ji Quan teacher. She has been performing in various events for more than 15 years. She likes both weird and peculiar stories exploring what it means to be (in)human and more traditional tales from around the world. Her stories are intimate and often atmospheric, but impactful. Julie especially likes zen tales that question our perception of the world. For more info: www.unicjuly.com
