Stories & Storytelling: Special Events ~ Professional Storyteller Anna Jarrett:South Coast NSW Australia

Throughout the year I am involved in presenting storytelling workshops and shows for special events locally and internationally. I enjoy working collaboratively with other artists and educators, always creating new material for new audiences.

This listing is a taste of some of my special events. For more listings, please see my calendar.

NEW ZEALAND TOUR March 8-22, 2010

This was my third visit to NZ and what a wonderful tour it was. I was initially invited by storyteller Liz Miller of Invercargill, to visit the Southland. Liz and the NZ Reading Association (Southlands) received funding to bring me and an American storyteller, Micheal Parent, all the way to Invercargill for a week of storytelling. It was a total honour to be in the company of veteran storytellers Liz & Micheal, as well as to be visiting my new Invercargill story friends. I love this community, though the winds blow strong & the mornings can be icey, the hearts of the folk are warm and storytelling is alive & well here. It was great to meet a cross section of the community, to sew the seeds for a lifelong love of stories with school students, and to nurture the budding storytellers who came along to the workshops. Thank you Liz & the NZRA crew for hosting me!

Heading north from Southlands, I enjoyed touring some of the divine countryside and making my way up to Christchurch where I visited a few more storytellers and learned more about living & storytelling in NZ. This was a quick visit on my way to Auckland. Kay Miller, NZ Storytelling Guild’s President, invited me to stay with her, and to present some shows and workshops in her region. I was very excited to present a workshop with 20 children’s librarians from Manakau Libraries, and to watch them dance out the door full of stories and ready to tell them. I love having the opportunity to spend a whole day with storytellers, and this was made possible with the Thames Story Circle. A small, dedicated group, the Thames mob share a passion for stories and writing tales in many different styles. I really enjoyed sharing my insights to storytelling and hearing so many wonderful tales from the participants. Thank you Kay for organizing this work.

I hope to return to New Zealand some time soon.

Storytelling friends, Liz Miller (NZ), Micheal Parent (USA) & me

KIMBERLEY WRITERS FESTIVAL, July 2009

Storytelling takes on many forms and this year’s Writers Festival was a celebration of the many ways of telling a story. Visual arts, puppetry, music and storytelling were all part of the three day feast of workshops, shows and talking about stories and writing. I am honoured to be on the program with a host of top writers including much loved Bruce Whatley. Held in Kununurra, the Kimberley Writers Festival is growing strong in it’s fifth year, and considered a top cultural event for the region. I loved visiting the Kimberleys for the first time, and I can’t wait to return (see photos).

More information about the Kununurra & the festival ~visit website~

rogram: Kimberley Writers Festival.

SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL STORYTELLING FESTIVAL
August 29 - Sept 12 2009

I am honoured to have been invited to be one of the featured tellers at this year’s Singapore’s International Storytelling Festival (SISF), representing Australia with storytellers from USA, UK, France & Mexico. Due to other commitments, I was only able to attend one of the two weeks of the festival, but wow, what a week! Hundreds of people came to the Storytelling Congress at the National Museum of Singapore. As well as it being a very flash venue, it was great to see so many people there to listen to stories and to learn everything they could about storytelling. I sensed a great hunger and passion for stories from all the people who attended my workshops. The workshops were booked up and the showcase was booked out (see photos).
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WRITERS ROADSHOW
Writing Program for Young Regional Writers in South Coast Schools
This year’s Writers Roadshow held a total of 4 all day workshops with 60 enthusiastic young writers in years 5 – 8 from 12 local schools. We are pleased to see the program growing strong in it’s second year, with a partnership between myself, the South Coast Writers Centre, and the Eurobodalla Braidwood Learning Community. We’re planning to keep nurturing the groundswell of young writers by holding a Writer’s Camp in 2010. I love these days which are totally dedicated to writing, where Harry Laing and I create a safe writing space for young people to try new ideas and to have fun playing with the power of their own words (see Schools Project).

Writers Roadshow Workshop, Bodalla

Stories & Storytelling: Special Events ~ Professional Storyteller Anna Jarrett: South Coast NSW Australia