News and Events

Fourth Annual Canadian Storytelling Night–Soirée nationale du conte

November 2015

Let the Fur Fly!
Teachings from the Animals

It's time to let the cat out of the bag. Canadian Storytelling Night–Soirée nationale du conte in its fourth year is more than ever a national event. Storytellers can now apply for funding support for local concerts and CSN-SNC gatherings next November, through Storytellers of Canada–Conteurs du Canada, which has generously offered to pony up for qualifying events.

If you have a bee in your bonnet, if you're a night owl, want to talk turkey, cry wolf or tell a shaggy dog story, you can join CSN-SNC in your community and Let the Fur Fly! You can find information about CSN-SNC grants to support the event at www.storytellers-conteurs.ca, in the Member Area. The deadline for grant applications is July 15.

The event is scheduled this year for November 7, but an event can be any time in the weeks before or after and still come under the CSN-SNC umbrella.

Let the Fur Fly! Teachings from the Animals is this year's theme, a little bird tells us. It's been
chosen by Storytelling Orillia, originators in 2012 of the now national event, to give all us birds of a feather from coast to coast an opportunity to tell stories about what the animals can teach us.

Thanks to support from Storytellers of Canada–Conteurs du Canada and eager beavers across the land, the event has grown from its start in Orillia to include more venues. In 2014, organizers in Halifax, New Brunswick, Montreal, Orillia, Toronto, Burlington and Alberta gathered tellers and audiences to hear Canadian tales, and tales by Canadian tellers. The theme in 2014 was The Bigger the Better, How Tall a Tale Can You Tell?

Finding Canadian stories is not a wild goose chase! The idea of making a night for telling Canadian stories is one that has grown out of the event itself, and organizers and audiences alike seem inspired by the idea of creating a national evening.

Halifax organizer Claire Miller reports from her 2014 CSN-SNC evening:

You might be interested to know that of the 32 audience members, 10 had never beforeheard a storyteller – new converts! …I put the CSN logo on the printed program. When I told everyone we were part of a nation-wide event, there was a collective whispered "Wow!"

You don't have to go to the horse's mouth for animal stories, or even tell Canadian tales, to join CSN-SNC 2015. But please consider starting a night for stories in your community under the CSN-SNC banner.

Host a story circle, a concert, a gathering around a kitchen table with a pot of tea, or something more Canadian. Whatever event you decide to hold should be something that suits and is useful to your organization, and helps promote storytelling in your area. How can you bear not to?

Canadian Storytelling Night–Soirée nationale du conte in late fall gives storytelling groups a reason to gather at the turn of the year when the nights grow longer and colder, a traditional time to meet around a fire or move indoors and start a winter’s storytelling season. It can be held as a companion event to World Storytelling Day in March, another event that also started in a small way, in Sweden, and grew.

Make a beeline for resources and story sources at www.storytellingnight-soireeduconte.ca where you'll also find a fillable poster, logos, an excellent article on organizing a storytelling evening, and a growing list of Canadian story resources.

Post your event the CSN-SNC Facebook page, www.facebook.com/csn.snc.

Or, contact Susan Charters, at suecharters@gmail.com or 705-325-8463, to have your gathering added to the list of events on the CSN-SNC web page. Please feel free to call and talk the idea over, or email her with any questions.

"Some people talk to animals. Not many listen though. That's the problem."

A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

"One thing to remember is to talk to the animals. If you do, they will talk back to you."

Chief Dan George