Anna Jarrett

The Travelling Storyteller

"Celebrating life and learning through creative arts & storytelling"

STORY NEWS & PHOTOS

An occasional newsletter of storytelling highlights, reviews, profiles and thoughts

As 2011 rolls out and 2012 gets ready to move in, I’m enjoying reflecting on what a big year of change and success 2011 has been. In between my Outdoor Recreation studies, I have continued to grow my storytelling business in new and satisfying ways. My story work is a combination of projects, consultations and recordings.

Highlights for this year include four storytelling tours out west working with children and families, acting as Artistic Director for the fourth year of Writers Roadshow (a young writers project in Eurobodalla schools), recording stories from the PERFEX Literary Competition for ABC Radio (to be broadcast January 2012), writing and recording an instructional narration for one of the on line National Science Curriculum modules (to be launched in 2012), recording the oral history of an Antarctic geologist, presenting Bohemian Fairy Tales puppet show with Lenka Muchova and telling Halloween stories at Q-Care Long Day Care Centre. The photos in my albums capture the joy, magic and sense of community which are the essence of the storytelling experience.

Halloween Show

Bookweek Tour – Dubbo & Forbes NSW

This was a very exciting tour as there were full houses for every event, combining workshops and shows. In Dubbo, I presented a one day workshop for Centacare family workers and playgroup facilitators. There was as electric energy in the room all day as everyone soaked up new ideas and immersed themselves in a day long creative journey into story, music, dance and drama.

Storytelling Workshop Bookweek

The town of Forbes celebrates Bookweek in style as main street comes alive with book readings, and all the teachers, carers, parents and children dress as their favourite story characters. I presented 2 children’s shows at the RSL, and each show was packed with an audience of 200 or so. It’s so exciting to see children and adults interested in stories and books, and wanting to learn more. 

Writers Roadshow
Young Writers Project in Eurobodalla Schools, NSW
In it’s fourth year, Writers Roadshow continues to grow, with over 100 students from 13 schools, participating in 4 days of workshops this year. Each year, Harry Laing and I facilitate workshops which help the students to free their creativity and write from their heart. This year, we added an illustrator,Greg Mackay to the creative team. The students really enjoyed the opportunity to both write and illustrate their stories/poems. The result is a stunning publication of the student’s selected writing – something which celebrates and showcases the wealth of creative talent which we have in our region.
We’re looking forward to Writers Roadshow 2012 . Perhaps in this fifth year, we’ll have a writers camp – stay tuned!

Writers Roadshow

NEW DIRECTIONS - Outdoor Recreation & Guiding
This summer marks a turn in my employment as I embrace the life of a kayak guide for Region X and Discovery Ranger for NSW National Parks. I’m enjoying the new challenges which come with this work, and am exploring new ways of working with stories outdoors. There’s nothing like an adventure to get people sharing their stories, and being outdoors on the river and in the bush, is always an adventure. I’m loving hearing new stories, and letting all the stories about place reveal themselves, waiting to be shared on a bushwalk, under the stars, around a campfire, on the river..mmmm

Bushwalk in the Budawangs

WATCH THIS SPACE for news of my Storytelling Weekends in 2012

See Issue 2 — Feb '08

See Issue 3 — Aug '08

See Issue 4 — Dec '08

See Issue 9 — Autumn 2011

See Issue 10 — Winter 2011