Invited Storytellers

Adwoa Badoe (Guelph)

Adwoa Badoe was born and raised in Ghana, West Africa and is the author of several childrenís books including the Pot of Wisdom: Ananse stories, Nana's Cold Days, Crabs for Dinner and the Queen's New Shoes. She is a vibrant storyteller who employs interactive songs, chants and rhythm in her telling of African stories. Accompanied by drummer Fule, she also teaches and performs African Dance. She mixes her natural talent for storytelling with dance, play and rhythm. It is her hope that she can increase an awareness of black history and culture through the exciting cultural arts of Africa. Find out more at www.afroculture.com

Mariella Bertelli (Toronto)

Mariella’s love for stories continues to grow, whether listening or telling.  Her storytelling repertoire includes folktales, literary stories and personal narratives.

Mariella particularly enjoys storytelling from her Italian heritage. She has translated and adapted medieval tales from Boccaccio’s Decameron and passages from Ariosto’s Renaissance retelling of La Chanson de Roland-“Orlando Furioso”. Her personal narratives are inspired by Italian landscapes and her own family sagas. Mariella often tells blending her native language Italian with English, to share with others her unique cultural experience.

Stéphanie Bénéteau (Montreal)

Stéphanie Bénéteau has been telling stories professionally, in English and in French, for more than ten years. She has produced an award-winning CD, Dreaming Tall: Stories for Growing Girls. Her mixed-up heritage includes Italian, French Canadian and American. Stephanie is also artistic director of English events for the Québec Intercultural Storytelling Festival. www.contesdudragon.com

 Charly Chiarelli (Kingston)

Charly has become one of Canada’s premiere storytellers, as cited by the enormous successes of his two one-person works, Cu’Fu and Mangiacake.  Charly was born in Racalmuto, Sicily, and raised in a Hamilton neighborhood in the industrial north end. Charly has also written a text for a symphonic piece called The Birds Beyond. John Burge, a renowned Canadian composer, wrote the classical score for this piece. The Birds Beyond has been performed on several occasions with the Kingston Symphony and the Thunder Bay Symphony. Charly also has other works for children, Ho Ho Hum and Once Upon A Pizzeria, which have been recorded for radio broadcast throughout Canada and featured at Ottawa’s Museum for Civilization “Presenza” display.

Sandra Carpenter Davis (Toronto)

Sandra has been a professional storyteller for over 25 years; telling epics, myths, folktales and family stories to all ages. A teacher/trainer with the Parent-Child Mother Goose program since 1989, Sandra is the collector/editor of Bounce Me, Tickle Me, Hug Me, a multicultural rhyme collection. She is a member of Four in Hand Storytellers, The Storytellers School of Toronto, and a founding member of the Canadian Association of Storytellers for Children.

Gail Fricker (Stratford)

Gail has told stories around the world: Kenya, Japan, Denmark, UK, and across North America. She has a Masters Degree in Story Arts and now teaches storytelling and drama at Emmanuel Bible College and North Western Secondary School. She regularly gives workshops through the Ontario Arts Council, performs storytelling thoughout Avon Maitland, and is a popular speaker at many arts education conferences.  Her lively and interactive style engages audiences of all ages, especially her 7 year old son Gavin.

Celia Lottridge (Toronto)

Celia Lottridge is an author and storyteller who loves the shape and sound of an oral story. She weaves storytelling into her life whenever she can, as a performer, listener, teacher, and creator of books for all ages. She has a special love for family stories, Appalachian tradition, Russian stories, the tales of Mullah Nazrudin, and any rhyme or story loved by little children. She is the author of many books including The Name of the Tree and Ten Small Tales.

Norman Perrin (Toronto)

Blending tales from around the world with music from his penny whistle, Toronto storyteller Norman has followed the storywinds from Toronto schools and museums, to Edinburgh to Sri Lanka’s Butterfly Peace Garden. He is the founder of the Four Winds Storytellers Library.

Marylyn Perringer (Toronto)

Toronto-based Marylyn Peringer has told stories across Canada for 30 years and was a featured teller in St. Marys first storytelling festival. Her vast and varied repertoire includes stories from her Maltese heritage, classical epic and riddle tales, but she is best known for her bilingual telling of French-Canadian folktales and legends.

Mary-Eileen McClear (Baden)

25 years as a storyteller, she has performed on CBC radio, at the Toronto Storytelling Festival, the Stratford Festival, and numerous other festivals across Canada and the U.S. Mary-Eileen founded the Second Story Workshop (aka The Story Barn) in Baden, where monthly storytelling gatherings are entering their 21st year. She has won several awards for her work and her writing and has a recording of Strange But True Stories of Early Canada. www.thestorybarn.ca

Rico Rodriguez (Toronto)

Rico Rodriguez is a storyteller, drag performer and a percussionist. He tells folktales, fairytales, fables and legends from the rich and diverse Latino and Hispanic cultures and stories with LGBT content. He tells in Spanish, English and in Spanglish.

Antonio Rocha (Maine)

Antonio  Rocha, from Brazil, came to Maine in 1988 to study with Master Tony Montanaro. Since then he as also studied with Marcel Marceau, earned a Summa Cum Laude Theatre Program degree from The University of Southern Maine and has performed his unique blend of mime and tales in over 10 countries on 5 continents. Highlights include the National Storytelling Festival, The Tales of Graz in Austria, Dunya Festival in Holland, The Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian,and many other venues in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. This award winning performer is sure to delight your soul and tickle your funny bone. His DVD, Under African Skies, is the recipient of The Parents Choice
Gold Award for 2008.  http://home.maine.rr.com/rocha/

Marta Singh (Ottawa)

Argentinian by birth and Ottawa Storyteller by choice, Marta Singh has told in festivals, concerts, schools, offices and living rooms. Fairytales illuminate her. In that light, she is crafting personal stories to explore what in voice, body, and mind, has been lost or silenced. Good thing she likes tales of courageous journeys.

Yusuke Tanaka (Toronto)

Yusuke immigrated from Japan to Canada in 1986. He loves to play guitar and sing the Beatles and Paul Simon. He founded the Katari Japanese Storytellers with other Japanese teachers in 1994, and has been telling the original stories and adopting folktales into English. He has been managing editor of the Nikkei Voice community newspaper n Toronto since 1989.

La'Ron Williams (Michigan)

Nationally known and celebrated storyteller La'Ron Williams brings to life multicultural stories from around the world with an emphasis on African and African-American stories.  His rich baritone voice creates the appropriate sound effects while his skillful theatrical interpretations convey the wit, pathos and humor of the tales he tells. www.laronwilliams.com

Harriet Xanthakos (Toronto)

Harriet believes we are all storytellers. She presents workshops and shares folktales, family stories and Greek myths with listeners and tellers of all ages. In 2007 she toured Quebec for Canadian Children's Book Week. The more stories she tells - stories that warm the heart, stir the soul, and cross all barriers - the more she realizes that she will live happily ever after.