7th Annual Hearing Voices Storytelling Festival - April 10-16, 2011 - Create Your Own Story @ Your library - A Celebration of National Library Week

For immediate RELEASE
Date: March 31, 2011
Contact: Jodi Nielsen, Senior Program Educator
Washington County Cooperative Library Services
www.wccls.org  
503-846-3235

7th Annual Hearing Voices Storytelling Festival - April 10-16, 2011 - Create Your Own Story @ Your library - A Celebration of National Library Week

Background on the featured storytellers

Gene Tagaban: Dreaming of a World in Which We Want To Belong

Known as an inspirational speaker, facilitator, storyteller and performer, Gene Tagaban “One Crazy Raven” brings to you a presentation of story, laughter, insight and vision. “One Crazy  Raven” is a presentation of contemporary and traditional Native American stories, music, song and dance. Be it trickster stories, creation stories, portrayal of his grandmother, personal life experiences or his journey of becoming the Raven Dancer, Gene masterfully weaves them all together in a way described by one audience member as “A delight and inspiration to the human spirit.”

With over twenty years experience as a noted Tlingit storyteller and actor, he shares his wisdom and talent via dance, native flute and storytelling. His heritage is Cherokee, Tlingit and Filipino. Raised in Alaska, Gene’s Native American name Gaay Yaaw loosely translates as “Salmon Home Coming.” He is of the Tak`deintaan Raven Freshwater Sockeye clan of Hoonah, Alaska, and the Child of a Wooshkeetaan Eagle Thunderbird clan of Juneau, Alaska.

Gene has uniquely integrated his interpersonal skills, Native American heritage and performance artistry with traditional training and counseling techniques to develop inspirational and results-oriented performances; presentations and personal growth work with youth, adolescents and adults. He has worked with schools, universities, reservations, corporations, government and mainstream organizations.

Stories are more than entertainment. According to Gene, stories teach. The spirits of our ancestors, who have much to teach, live in stories as well as in songs and dances. Gene brings his tales to life with the use of traditional flutes, drums and rattles, dance and movement, and masks and regalia.

Gene’s performances emphasize the lessons one gains and how one learns to be a better person through stories. These lessons involve the role of humans in the natural world and the importance of family and lineage in one’s own identity. Learn more at www.genetagaban.com.

Jeff Gere: Transports you to the islands through his meaningful and touching stories

Jeff Gere presents a variety pack of tales and legends from Hawai`i. He has been the Drama Specialist for the City and County of Honolulu for 25 years, where he is a frequent presenter of stories for senior and community groups, conventions and to over 8,000 Summer Fun children annually. He created and hosts the annual Talk Story Festival in Honolulu. He hosts Story TV a monthly storytelling show. Audio from these videos created Talk Story Radio.

Jeff blends his talents as a painter, puppeteer, mime and director into a performance style which has electrified audiences throughout Hawai`i and the mainland. Jeff becomes his stories!

He performed at the 2010 National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee. And, he has made eight CDs and co-produced/ performed in “The Storytellers” series and appears on Mystery Hunters, Travel Channel & History Channel shows about Haunted Hawai`i. Learn more at www.jeffgere.com.

Kelly Hoffman: An uncanny ability to get people laughing

Storyteller and ABC television personality Kelly Hoffman has told stories on air and in festivals across the West for over 10 years. She has been a presenter and performer at a variety of festivals and conferences, including the National Storytelling Conference and the Mount Timpanogos Storytelling Festival.

Kelly uses her amazing range of vocal ability combined with her hypnotizing body movements to paint vivid pictures in her audience’s minds. Whether she is telling fractured fairy tales in a New York accent, Native American stories with songs and chanting, or an original comedic tall tale,

Kelly’s stories are well crafted and uniquely her own. Listening to her stories will have you laughing one minute, crying the next, and occasionally hanging on the edge of your seat. No two stories are alike and hearing one of her stories will always leave you wanting to hear more.

Ken Iverson: A child-like ability to clown and thoroughly immerse in the telling of a tale

Ken Iverson has been telling stories most of his life. An early fascination with Jonathan Winters led him to write and perform stories for friends when he was 17 and he hasn’t stopped yet! He loves the connection that sharing stories creates and how the telling of a story can bring people together. Ken believes the old adage ‘Laughter is the Best Medicine’ is close to true. It’s not the only medicine, however, it is the most fun to take.

Ken tells traditional and contemporary folktales and myths from around the world. Sometimes using a drum, his energetic telling of Jack Tales, Arthurian tales and world folktales are enthusiastically received.

He says stories have a remarkable ability to reach deep inside of us and to loosen our prejudices and fears. Even a seemingly simple children’s story may contain untold gifts. During the story we may laugh, reflect, even cry and being in the story is all that matters. Sometimes a story will come back to us later and we realize there was much more to it than we first knew.

Ken is a founding member and past-president of the Portland Storytellers’ Guild. He teaches Beginning Storytelling and has presented workshops at: Boston Public Library, Stories By-The-Sea Storytelling Festival in Newport, and the Portland Waldorf Schools’ Word of Mouth festival. Learn more at www.portlandstorytellers.org .

Portland Storytellers’ Guild:
The guild works to preserve the ancient tradition of oral story-telling in the modern world. The goal is to bring together and nurture people who tell, listen to and love stories.

For 25 years, people of the Pacific Northwest have been listening to stories through the Portland Storytellers' Guild. They are proud of that and want to invite the community to be a part of their commitment to the spoken word.  2010 marks the Guild’s 25th Anniversary.

Storytelling remains a vital part of human life, even if you get your stories from a screen as often as in person. As storytellers, the guild members bring stories to life literally in person, face to face. Old stories that may have been committed to print long ago can breathe and move and sing again. New stories can find their way from individual’s lives into personal tales. Old or new, the stories live only when they are told, and shared, and savored. That is what the Portland Storytellers' Guild is all about.  To find a teller to make your next event extra special visit the Guilds website www.portlandstorytellers.org.

For directions to each Hearing Voices storytelling performance venue and additional festival details please visit www.wccls.org/voices or pick up a festival newsletter at your local WCCLS member library.

NOTE:  A high resolution picture of each storyteller is available by request: Nielsen@wccls.org.  A prior media release containing the festival schedule was released prior to this release.