• Coaching Lessons from 1916

    Posted by NEST on February 23, 2019

      By Doug Lipman Do you know the classic children’s book published in 1916, Understood Betsy, by Dorothy Canfield Fisher? I quickly fell in love with this book and its author, who has written a…


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  • When Our Stories Transform

    Posted by NEST on January 4, 2019

      Jim Brulé  © 2019 Years ago I was telling one of my favorite stories (“The Dead Fiancee”) when a completely unexpected thing happened. At the very end of the story, the protagonist offers…


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  • STF Presenter, Meghann Perry

    Telling My Story

    Posted by NEST on March 20, 2018

    © Meghann Perry, 2018 STF Presenter I step up to the podium, clutching my tattered papers in my shaking hands, sweating inside my suddenly too-tight shirt. I don’t know how to do this! But the…


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  • NEST Storyteller - Madelyn Folino

    Not Quite the Way I Pictured It

    Posted by NEST on March 17, 2018

    ©2018 by Madelyn Folino, 2018 STF Presenter   I had been searching for the lost photo for decades. It would settle a simple argument with my children, skeptics all, that once upon a time, I really…


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  • NEST Storyteller - Judith Heineman

    Beyond the Traditional Tale

    Posted by NEST on February 26, 2018

    “Once Upon a Time,” “Mukashi, Mukashi,” “It was or it was not,” “Si lo creo, o no,”  are words that bring us to the other side of the Looking Glass. These beginnings open doors…


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  • A Peek at Busking  ~ Tips for Performance

    Posted by NEST on February 22, 2018

    © by Papa Joe Gaudet, 2018 STF Presenter There are a lot of storytelling venues that follow the general format of the street performance. Examples include larger festivals like First Nights and Old Home Days,…


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  • It’s Your Story – Tell It!

    Posted by NEST on February 14, 2018

    © Rona Leventhal, 2018 STF Presenter Thanks to venues like The Moth, Mass Mouth and other “story Slam” series, even our regional and national conferences, personal storytelling has moved like a wave across the storytelling…


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  • STF Presenter, Heather Forest

    Voice as Instrument: Rhythm, Pattern and Music in Storytelling

    Posted by NEST on February 9, 2018

    © Heather Forest, STF Presenter Since early childhood, I have always enjoyed playing my favorite instrument, the voice. My kindergarten teacher tactfully wrote home that my impromptu and frequent outbursts of song were disruptive to…


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  • STF 2018 Presenter, Mark Binder

    Getting “Them” To Listen

    Posted by NEST on February 5, 2018

    © Mark Binder, 2018 STF Presenter   There is a moment in storytelling when the audience leans in and every word and gesture is gold. And then there are the times when you’re telling stories to a cinderblock wall.   These…


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  • STF presenter, Eshu Bumpus

    Dear Gingerbread Man

    Posted by NEST on January 29, 2018

    © Eshu Bumpus, 2018 STF Presenter   Eshu loves to reimagine old stories, playing with genre, time, setting, and the identities and motivations of the characters. Want a sample? Here’s a letter he’s written to an…


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