News and Events

Artist Biographies

In alphabetical order, by last name

Nadyne Bédard

Nadyne Bédard has been a storyteller and a singer of oral tradition repertoire since 2005. She is very active in her community. Trained in literature, education, ethnology and cultural heritage mediation, she also conducts research and collects data, gives workshops and lectures.

Sylvi Belleau

Storyteller, writer and actress, Sylvi Belleau has been active on the Quebec scene for 35 years. She has been the artistic director of Théâtre de la Source since 1985; of Festilou, festival de contes pour la jeunesse since 2010; and of Arbraconte at the Théâtre de l’Esquisse from 1991 to 2011. As a storyteller, she has been performing in numerous festivals and events in Canada and abroad, and she has been travelling throughout Quebec since 1995 with La culture à l'école program. Her book/CD, Grindel et le bouc de Noël, was published in 2013 by Planète Rebelle. In June 2019, she received SC-CC's Storykeeper Award.

Stéphanie Bénéteau

Stéphanie Bénéteau studied literature and education before discovering her true vocation as a professional storyteller, a career she has been pursuing full time since 1995. She has performed in English and in French in venues all over Québec, Canada, and Europe. She received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et lettres du Québec to create her three long shows, Tristan and Iseult, Perseus and King Arthur and his Two Swords. She has created a unique storytelling workshop which she brings to students in underprivileged neighbourhoods, and frequently mentors young storytellers. She contributed to the book L’art du conte en dix leçons published by Planète Rebelle, with whom she also published Le nom de l’arbre. She has been director of the Festival interculturel du conte de Montréal since 2015.

Mariella Bertelli

Mariella believes that stories can transform and inspire and connect us together. A versatile, bilingual teller with a wide repertoire of folk, fairy, literary and family tales for any age, Mariella is also a storytelling teacher, a workshop leader, a speaker on storytelling and an advocate of Children's rights. She has participated in international projects. Recently, Mariella taught an online course on Folktales for Storytelling Toronto.Mariella loves to bring different voices together, weaving threads of stories from a variety of cultures. She believes in the power of stories to reflect, restore and resolve. 

Lynda Bruce

Lynda Bruce is a renowned painter with more than 40 years of experience. She discovered storytelling in 2010 when she participated in a one-year training course under the guidance of Petronella van Dijk. With great delight, she then immersed herself in storytelling. Since then, she has been taking several other courses and has performed in solo and group settings. She tells in English, which is her mother tongue, and in French, her second language. She gracefully and very gently tells traditionnal stories infused with poetry. Her stories are similar to her paintings: they're colorful and touching. She has performed numerous times in the Eastern Townships, including several times in the Festival Les jours sont contés en Estrie. In 2019, she was invited to participate in La Grande Virée des Semeurs de contes, a tour with a group of storytellers in the Gaspésie region of Quebec.

Cindy Campbell-Stone

Cindy is storyteller, singer, and performer from Nova Scotia with family roots in Prince Edward Island. A long time member of the storytelling community, Cindy offers workshops on storytelling in general, community or historical stories, oral history and folklore, folksongs and ballads. Cindy’s sense of fun and encouragement in her workshops and performances, aim to provide delightful learning and listening experiences to audiences of all ages. She is a volunteer for 6 non-profit organizations and a proud member of the Storytellers Circle of Halifax, Helen Creighton Folklore Society and Storytellers of Canada - Conteurs du Canada.

Yolaine 

Yolaine thinks that storytelling creates a space for listening and gathering. It's an art of human connection. She has been creating stories based on themes derived both from traditional and modern folklore since 2005. She tells stories featuring and celebrating all the people who have lost or have never had their chance to speak up. She wants to laugh and have fun with her audience while sharing intense moments with them and creating times when, together, the artist and the audience can become a whole new entity. She is the founder and director of Les Ami.e.s Imaginaires. She has also created the Festival de contes et menteries de Québec.

Kesha Christie 

Kesha Christie is a distinguished storyteller known for using African and Caribbean folktales to bridge cultural divides and foster unity. Her captivating performances and insightful commentary have earned her recognition in the storytelling community. Kesha is the host of the "Walk Good" podcast and the creator of the "Talkin' Tales" YouTube channel, where she passionately shares the transformative power of storytelling.

Camille Deslauriers Ménard

Camille Deslauriers Ménard studied theatre and felt in love with storytelling. She found her sweet spot, a place of multiple possibilities and started to make shows that included multisensorial aspects. It was for accessibility matters at first and it became whole research of new ways of telling a story. She’s also a puppeteer/actor, writer, interpretative guide and occasional mentor.

Rachel Dunstan Muller

Rachel Dunstan Muller has shared stories on both coasts and both sides of the border. She is the author of four children’s novels and over a hundred articles and stories for adults, as well as the producer of two podcasts: Sticks and Stones and Stories, featuring original tales for young listeners, and Hintertales: Stories from the Margins of History. To date, episodes of Sticks and Stones and Stories have been downloaded more than 17,000 times from 80 countries. Her most recent project, “Once Upon a Fiddle,” celebrates the power of art and the resilience of the human spirit. Find her online at https://racheldunstanmuller.com

Jennifer Ferris

Victoria teller, Jennifer Ferris, has shared her repertoire and knowledge of story for more than 35 years. She has told and given workshops at festivals in Canada and USA. She loves all aspects of the art and has no favorites when it comes to folk and fairy tales, myths and legends, personal stories, historical accounts and improv.

Éric Gauthier

Éric Gauthier left computer science behind to indulge his love of strange stories, both on paper and onstage. He started telling his own creations in 1999 at the Sergent recruteur in Montreal; since then, his tales have taken him as far as France, Serbia and the Yukon. He likes to explore the logic of the weird and relate what happens when modern life takes a turn for the absurd or the mythical. His tales, short stories and novels have brought him many awards including, in 2003, the Grand Prix de la science-fiction et du fantastique québécois. (website: ericgauthier.net).

Pearl-Ann Gooding

Pearl-Ann Gooding has been telling stories, instructing in the Art and recognized professionally since 1995 both provincially and nationally.  She is an active member of Storytellers of Canada – Conteurs du Canada and Storytelling Alberta.  She has numerous recordings produced and 2 stories published in anthologies. Nothing gives her greater joy than telling or listening to well-told stories.  Whether it is wrapping up young children through interactive stories, laughing along with her audiences as she regales family and personal exploits or scaring the bee-jeebers out of herself and listeners as she retells or relates ghost stories both fictional and non!  Pearl-Ann loves gardening, cooking and quilting but more than anything, she loves her family!  She lives in small town Alberta but has hosted storytellers from across the country … being in the middle of nowhere just happens to be in the middle … so many make their way through her home on their tours!  Her husband and mini dachshund, Marmalade are among her biggest fans … don’t tell her grandkids that because they might argue the point! 

Ilya Krouglikov

Coming soon

Johanna Kuyvenhoven

Jo Kuyvenhoven is a seasoned teller, listener, writer and teacher. Her repertoire ranges from pithy Dutch folktales and dark wondertales, to such epic, mythic narratives as the Iliad and Mabanogian. 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.

Marie Lupien-Durocher

Marie loves all kind of stories: legends, fairy tales, literary tales and epics... She invites the audience into her unique world. She first performed on stage in 2001. After winning awards at   Cégep en spectacle and Université en spectacle, she started to perform in various events, for different audiences, sometimes along with her harp. She is also the executive director of  Maison des arts de la parole, a Sherbrooke organization dedicated to promoting storytelling and  performance poetry.

Delphine Machon

As a storyteller, Delphine is drawn to stories from the oral tradition. She performs for adults in monthly events that she organizes and hosts, as well as for children in schools. She is involved in multidisciplinary art projects connecting writing and singing, storytelling and dancing, storytelling and sand drawing. She has also created a show mixing storytelling and science, C'est où demain?, in which she makes people gently realize, through a mix of stories of the past and scientific anecdotes, that the greatest treasures of the world are not all made of gold! 

Dawne McFarlane

My Scottish Grandfather was a storyteller, and my Celtic Ancestors spoke Gaelic. I was born in Toronto, traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Haudenosaunee, the Anishnaabe, and the Huron-Wendat Nations. Long ago our Ancestors knew how to listen to the voices of nature. Stories can help us remember, and guide us in healing our relationships with each other and the natural world. Artistic Director of Toronto Storytelling Festivals 2019/20/21, co-author with Georgiana Keable (Norway) of Fairytales, Families and Forests; storytelling with young children (published 2023 Hawthorn Press), my favourite place to tell a story is beside a tree.

William Morin

William Morin is of Ojibway / Scottish / French Canadian ancestry, a member of the Michipicoten First Nation.  He lives and works in Northern Ontario with his wife Robin Wemigwans and their 4 children. After serving in the Canadian Armed Forces he obtained a B.F.A., B.A. in Native Studies, B. Ed, an M.A. and currently completing a Ph.D. (ABD). Will enjoys sharing traditional Anishinaabek stories and conducts Indigenous cultural awareness workshops. A leader in the local arts and cultural community, Will is currently serving as the first Indigenous Arts & Cultural Advisor for The Sudbury Theatre Centre / YES Theatre.

Louise Profeit-LeBlanc

I am a member of the Nacho N'yak Dän First Nation from the village of Mayo in  Northeastern Yukon . I have been sharing traditional  stories for almost 45 years and refer to myself, not only as a teller but a storekeeper a role which gives me the  honour of ensuring these stories are passed along to the next generation. These traditional stories are a means of informing us of the teachings in the stories which inform us how to best live our lives with honour and respect for all people and all living things. The story that I would like to share is Atsun Män, a story about the power of women to recreate.

Sylvie Proulx

Sylvie Proulx uses the language of the people to tell her stories. She gives a voice to the human frailty so that everyone can exist, be heard, be welcomed, and be loved. This is the core of her artistic approach. Everything she previously experienced in her life, such as being a nurse, working as a music therapist and a music teacher, is essential to her practice. She has always worked with people. Today, she finds herself drawn to stories and characters full of humanity. Her repertoire ranges from wonder tales to life stories and legends. All of her stories are stories of madness, nonsense and humanism.

Amy Tector (Keynote speaker)

Amy Tector is an author and archivist from the Eastern Townships. Growing up in Cowansville, she spent her days reading literally every single English-language book in the library. Amy's debut novel, THE HONEYBEE EMERALDS, was a finalist for the Indie Book Awards Best Debut. The first novel in her Dominion Archives Mystery series, THE FOULEST THINGS, was a finalist in the Crime Writers of Canada Best Novel Set in Canada. Her latest book in the series, Honor The Dead, was released in April. It is set in a fictionalised Eastern Townships' town and explores rural life, long-buried secrets and weaves in the story of the Megantic Outlaw, a real-life local folk hero. Amy has worked at the national archives, Library and Archives Canada, for more than twenty years. She lives in Ottawa with her family, including a cockapoo named Daffodil.