When & Where:

Friday & Saturday,
August 10 & 11, 2012
Northland Public Library

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		Linda Fang Just like the stories she tells, Linda Fang's career as a storyteller started with a story. Years ago in Shanghai, China, a teacher who wanted to help a ten-year old girl overcome her shyness handed her a book and said, "Go and read the story, my child. Come back tomorrow and see if you can tell it to me." That launched Linda Fang's career as a storyteller. She began telling stories, went on to win storytelling competitions, and eventually became a professional storyteller who delights hundreds of children and adults every day. Enriched by her experience of growing up in China, Linda tells stories she collects from Chinese folktales, historical anecdotes, oral traditions, and Chinese opera. Her captivating storytelling style is seen in her unusual ability to engage her audiences at various levels, to draw them into the stories, and keep them there. Instead of hearing a story, the listeners are ushered in the magic world to witness the story unfold.
		Michael Reno Harrell It was just natural that Michael Reno Harrellwould become a storyteller, because it just comes so naturally to him. His style has been described as being "like a breakfast of butter and molasses on warm biscuit... Southern, easy and sweet." It's Southern alright. It couldn't be anything else considering Michael's Southern Appalachian roots. But, his stories reflect events and histories common to all. And "easy" is as good an adjective to describe Michael's style as any. His personal experience based stories certainly are easy to listen to. And easy depicts is style of telling as well. He gives his audience space to absorb and to savor... and to laugh! And sweet it is... sweet with the familiarity of shared memories and particularly sweet with Michael's signature humor and self pinned songs. It's obvious that the storytelling world agrees that Michael is a natural storyteller. His credits include being a featured teller at the National Storytelling Festival and Teller In Residence at the International Storytelling Center as well as being invited to share his talents at major festivals across the US and British Isles.
		Andy Offut Irwin Some people have inner-kids. Andy Offut Irwin has an outer-kid. With a manic Silly Putty voice, astonishing mouth noises, and hilarious stories, he is equal parts mischievous schoolboy and the Marx Brothers, peppered with a touch of the Southern balladeer. People are drawn to him like magnets to a refrigerator. And inside, it's all Mountain Dew and Jolt Cola. A native of Covington, GA, Andy is a storyteller, humorist, singer, songwriter, musician, whistler, walking menagerie of sound effects and dialects, and so much more; some of his talents are hard to categorize. In storytelling circles, he is especially known for relating the adventures of his eighty-five-year-old-widowed-newly-minted-physician-aunt, Marguerite Van Camp, a woman who avoids curmudgeonship by keeping her finger on the pulse of... well herself, but also the changing world around her. She steps lively through it, loving as many people as she can. Andy has appeared at the National Storytelling Festival, as a Teller in Residence at the International Storytelling Center; the La Guardia High School of Art, Music, and Performing Arts in New York (The "FAME!" School), and the Library of Congress
		Bob Reiser Bob Reiser is an old friend of the Three Rivers Storytelling Festival. He is an expansive and joyous storyteller, teacher, and award-winning author of books for children and adults. Accompanying himself with flute and drum, Bob brings warmth and wit to traditional and original stories. Last May Bob served as a Storyteller-in-Residence at the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough Tennessee. Recently he has been featured at New York's Clearwater Hudson River Festival, Albany's RiverWay Festival, and Vancouver BC's International Story Festival. McFarland Press listed him among the "120 best contemporary English-speaking Storytellers." Dr. Morgan Hill (Brother Blue) calls him a "force of nature." "Bob Reiser is a wonderful storyteller, with tales for every age and temperament. I hope he keeps on for another half century." - Pete Seeger

Barra the Bard has been a Celtic storyteller/musician for over 20 years, specializing in Scottish and Welsh tales. She performs solo, with the Harp Grove of Western PA, and as half of the duo ClarSeannachie. She won the Spoken Word category of the Ligonier Highland Games Harp

Lisa Hollingsworth-Segedy, a professional storyteller since 2002, owes her love of storytelling to her mother and maternal grandparents, who raised her into oral tradition with stories and folk songs. Lisa was a costumed interpreter/storyteller for the National Park Service, a featured regional teller at VA Storytelling Alliance’s 2006 Gathering, and at the 2005 and 2006 National Folk Festivals in Richmond, VA.

Alan Irvine is a long-time friend of the festival. His storytelling began as a camp counselor and has grown from there. He performs at numerous festivals, including the Toronto Festival of Storytelling, the Smoky Mountain Storytelling Festival, and the Three Rivers Storytelling Festival (where he was a featured performer in 2003 and 2011).

Judy Kane has explored the art of storytelling for adults and children for decades. Her tales and witty stories carry the listener on an adventure with memorable characters and plot. Tales are from around the world and reveal universal truths on human nature, community building and the environment.

Edmund LoPresti enjoys sharing tales of fools, sages, and wise fools. He has told and taught telling through StorySwap of Pittsburgh, the Society for Creative Anachronism, and the Children's Institute of Pittsburgh. Recently his telling has been focused on a target audience of Sophia and Clara.

Kathy Maron-Wood is a children's librarian at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Oakland. When she's not telling stories, she loves to spend time with her family, walk, and do Bulgarian dancing.

Sean Miller is a Professional Entertainer and Author from Northwestern Pennsylvania. He began his career in the early 1990's. Specializing in tales from Pennsylvania Folk Lore and Folk History, his first book "Pennsylvania's Oil Heritage: Stories from the Headache Post" covers some of this body of Folk History. Find out more at www.greycloudstudios.com.

Kristin Ward founded Moquette Volante in 2008, a theatrical middle eastern dance company dedicated to preserving the art of live storytelling as well as bringing Silk Road folklore to life through dance, music, and spoken word.

Elaine Muray integrates movement and narration to perform stories from around the world as well as personal stories. She has performed at the Australian Storytelling Festival and in 2008 was chosen by her then Pacific Region peers to represent the region in the National Storytelling Conference All Regions Concert. Elaine originally hails from Scottsdale, Pennsylvania.

Katerina Stoy Pavelle is a Czech native, who engaged in competitive poetry recitals in her native country. After many years telling stories for family and friends, she decided to share her very own story in public performance in English.

Scott Pavelle says he is a lawyer in his "real" life but we've got to wonder. He has been a regular here at the Festival for years (particularly on Ghost Story night) and is one of the central pillars of the local storytelling community. His main project recently has been a storytelling series for teenagers in the Family Links program. Ask him and you'll hear ALL about it!

Sydelle Pearl is an author, storyteller, and songwriter who relocated to Pittsburgh from Boston a few years ago. She often incorporates original songs that spring from the multicultural and original stories that she tells to preschool, elementary and family audiences. She can be reached via her website, www.storypearls.com.

Mike Perry said "Don't run away and join the circus: listen, and let it run away with you." Michael Perry has never quite been able to hang up his unicycle. Living in Pittsburgh, for the past twenty years, Michael has applied a Master's Degree in Elementary Education, towards teaching, writing and presenting educational programs, and telling tales. His fictional stories run away with his audience, tenting characters in circus settings. Michael is a graduate of Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Clown College, with two years as a circus clown. He sprinkles his tales with sawdust, circus trains, and elephants; offering a peek under the canvas-covered lore and legend of life on the road. He has been known to say, "Someday I hope to run away and join the real world... ...but ...what's the hurry?"

The Savvy Cinderellas program was created by Joan Wolf Schenker as a way to prevent the significant drop in girls’ self-esteem that begins in 4th grade and continues through adolescence. The program provides a fun, creative way for girls to use storytelling to develop their talents, skills, and abilities. Savvy Cinderella groups perform at area schools and libraries. Savvy Cinderellas performing at this year’s Three Rivers Storytelling Festival are Kara Bosilovich, Kara Jans, Taylor Jones, and Sara Walker

Judi Tarowsky was born in Latrobe, PA, and grew up in New Castle, PA. She graduated from WVU and worked for a number of years as a journalist. Now she tells her own stories -- memory-based tall tales, as well as other fiction and non-fiction pieces.

Greg Weiss, a storyteller and middle school drama teacher from the Chicago area is a native son of Pittsburgh. He returns home each summer to visit family and to tell and emcee at the Three Rivers Storytelling Festival. Greg's storytelling takes him to schools and other venues in Pennsylvania, Illinois and Missouri, including the St. Louis Storytelling Festival. Greg's work earned him the Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award from the Illinois Humanities Council.

Marsha Wong trekked from place to place around the world; visiting haunted mansions, the mystical pyramids of Egypt, the temples of Japan, walked through gardens in the Himalayas, and lived on a houseboat in Kashmir. Marsha will always impart the knowledge and stories she has learned, to enrich, and entertain with her dialects and enthusiastic manner.