Friday, September 22, 2006

Esther Martinez, Tewa Storyteller, Rest in Peace


Esther Martinez, also known as P'oe Tswa (Blue Water), was a storyteller and linguist of the Tewa language spoken in the Pueblos of New Mexico. At 94 years old, she just received the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship for Lifetime Achievement. Driving back home from the ceremony in Washington DC, she was killed in a car accident last Saturday by a suspected drunk driver.

You can hear audio recordings of her stories at the NEA web site here.

Washington Post obituary here.

Friday, September 08, 2006

Crackle Mountain

Crackle Mountain is a new blog from Australian storyteller Florence Forrest.

It features her re-tellings of Asian folktales, gorgeously illustrated with images of Asisan artwork. Florence cites her sources for both the stories and the artwork, and fills us in on some folklore to help give the stories some context.

I hope she keeps it up!

Monday, September 04, 2006

Stories for Storytellers: SOS - Searching Out Stories

I realized that Jackie Baldwin's Searching Out Stories web site is also hard to find, if you're not in the know. So I'll add my review here.

SOS - Searching Out Stories has stories for storytellers.

If you are a storyteller who needs a story-- and if you're a teacher, a minister, a camp counselor, a librarian, a toastmaster, a parent, or anyone who needs a story-- this web site is an excellent resource.

This unique, comprehensive archive has been growing for the past eight years. It contains references to hundreds of categories and thousands of stories, suggested by professional storytellers, librarians and teachers from all around the world through the Storytell listserv at Texas Women's University and independent research. You'll find full stories, abridged stories, book references, and descriptions of actual experiences and helpfpul hints in telling these tales at an event or using them in the classroom or at home with your own children or grandchildren.


Jackie has added a Google search interface to the site as well, so you can find just the stories you need, whether you're looking for stories about tigers or mosquitos, or need stories about truth, or strength, or marriage, or if you need help finding tales from a particular culture.

Now, you won't find the entire story usually... you'll often just get the "bare bones" - but if you're a storyteller, you can flesh it out. And the book references are helpful (in combination with your local library). Some of the categories are thin, but the site is a continuing work in progress.

In 2006, Jackie Baldwin was awarded the National Storytelling Network's Distinguished National Service Award for her work in maintaining the site.

Stories for storytelling