Joanna Jarvis
Born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Joanna began telling stories to the children she worked with and eventually her own. She has worked with children most of her life, primarily special needs children. She is a singer, musician and puppeteer and has also done clowning or performances in costume, as well as performing/singing in two plays. It wasn't until 2002 that her storytelling took flight when working at a school in Brockville, ON. She met a local storyteller and joined the 1000 Islands Yarnspinners, telling on many occasions including the Toronto Storytelling Festival in 2007. She also became a member of the Storytellers of Canada. Soon Joanna found herself writing many short stories and was called upon by teachers and students to tell. In the fall of 2007 she moved to Nova Scotia and began a new career as a professional storyteller and part-time Library Clerk before retiring in 2023. She ran children's programs, visited schools and founded the Weymouth Storytelling Circle (Due to a change in work location and hours this group no longer meets). She became a member of the Storytellers Circle of Halifax in 2008 and has told with them on numerous occasions, including a Marathon of Telling at Alderney Landing and the Mussel Festival in Mahone Bay. Joanna has performed her original tales, folktales, historical, humorous and chilling tales at schools, churches, coffee houses, fundraisers, senior's residences, campfires, telethons and many other venues, often accompanied by her husband on his African Drums, along with holding storytelling workshops. She is presently retired but continues to tell and write stories, accompany her husband in African drumming presentations or in teaching drumming to students. In late 2024 her children's story, "Josiah Wigglewart", one of the first stories she told with the Thousand Islands Yarnspinners, was published.
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