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Would you like to be a part of a storytelling conference call that supports you in your use of storytelling with children? If so, then enter your name and email address and you will receive personal invitations to participate in The Art of Storytelling with Children Conference call - most Tuesdays at 8pm Eastern.

I will not share or give away your email address.

And don’t forget to subscribe by iTunes or your browser to The Art of Storytelling with Children Podcast so you can get weekly inspirations from Bother Wolf direct to your desktop. Read the info on the right to find out how. It’s free and it’s super simple.

Would you like to be a part of a storytelling conference call that supports you in your use of storytelling with children? If so, then enter your name and email address and you will receive personal invitations to participate in The Art of Storytelling with Children Conference call - most Tuesdays at 8pm Eastern.

I will not share or give away your email address.

And don’t forget to subscribe by iTunes or your browser to The Art of Storytelling with Children Podcast so you can get weekly inspirations from Bother Wolf direct to your desktop. Read the info on the right to find out how. It’s free and it’s super simple.

Greetings! I look forward to sharing with you on Tuesday evening October 29, 2008, at 8pm. The focus topic on this pod cast of Storytelling With Children is “Breaking Barriers Through Storytelling”.

My introduction to literature and the planting of seeds that later bloomed into storytelling, came in the 1950’s. In the midst of a social, political and cultural climate that suggested that my family and community were devoid of intellect, history or culture, my father began reading to me the literary diamonds and jewels that came from within our culture. Somewhere around 6 years old, my father read out loud the words of James Weldon Johnson, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Gwendolyn Brooks and Langston Hughes. My father relished and touted the genius of these writers. He handed me the Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, selected a poem for me to memorize and launched me, as a child, onto a spoken word path. Numerous church banquets, teas and special community events were staging grounds for “a reading by Miss Charlotte Blake”.

I’ll share some memories of that time and fast-forward to the place where those germinating seeds and my experience in an independent school crossed paths with storytelling and an immediate realization of the power of this art form. On I faculty of 70, I was one of three faculty members of color. One particular event at the school served as a reminder of how invisible we often were, of how a genuinely well-meaning (and I really mean that!) community could unknowingly participate in perpetuating stereotypes and marginalizing members of their community. My concern was the statement those actions made to the children in the community. When I encountered storytelling, I immediately saw it as a window, a bridge, a tool I could use; a way in which initially children, could access, affirm, value and appreciate a cultural perspective that was different from their own.

That two-story repertoire (plus a set of Kiddie Rock& Roll songs!) later expanded to incorporate stories for all ages. I’ve since told at home and abroad in schools, festivals, concert halls, detention centers, a refugee camp; in collaboration with jazz musicians, choreographers and symphony orchestras. One of my most storyteller-reaffirming moments happened in a refugee camp in northern Senegal. So come on in! It’s okay. This will not be psychologically heavy duty! I am not an academician. This will be a chance to peek inside my head, listen to my heart and perhaps hear a perspective, a view that might serve you well in your own work.

“See you” on the pod cast.

Saturday, October 25, 2008
For Immediate Release
Contact: Eric James Wolf
Phone: (937) 767-869
Speaking out in Defense of Scary Stories on the Art of Storytelling with Children Show

Eric James Wolf, professional storyteller and host of the Art of Storytelling with Children Show, is available for print, radio and television interviews to defend the use of the scary Halloween stories in the oral tradition with children.

Scary Halloween stories and ghost stories for children have taken the place of ritual trials of adulthood for teenagers, according to Mr. Wolf. They also serve as a means for adults to warn children away from dangerous places or behavior. Ghost stories and scary Halloween stories in the oral tradition can be age appropriate and satisfying for families. Currently on his the Art of Storytelling shows website he has five interviews available for easy download about the art of telling scary Halloween stories.

Eric Wolf does not condone or support horror or the graphic use of violence. “It is possible, however, by carefully working within the confines of scary Halloween stories and ghost stories for children, to leave our audience psychologically stronger and more emotionally capable of dealing with their fears or the shock of real world disasters,” Mr. Wolf says.

#

Storyteller Eric James Wolf has performed nationally at such venues as the American Museum of Natural History; Bank Street School for Children; Barnard College; Blue Theater - Toronto, Canada; Columbia University; The Fund for the City of New York; Kings Island Amusement Park; New York City Clearwater Festival; New Jersey Liberty Science Center; and The International Performing Artists for Youth.

He is the host and producer of the Art of Storytelling with Children, a one hour interview format show. Mr. Wolf has M.S. in Education from Lesley University.

Eric Wolf’s Websitehttp://www.ericwolf.org

The Art of Storytelling with Children Show
http://www.storytellingwithchildren.com

A list of five episodes on the Art of Storytelling with Children with storytellers speaking on how to use scary storytelling with kids.
http://www.storytellingwithchildren.com/category/scary-storytelling/

To schedule an interview, call…
(937) 767-8696

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Would you like to be a part of a storytelling conference call that supports you in your use of storytelling with children? If so, then enter your name and email address and you will receive personal invitations to participate in The Art of Storytelling with Children Conference call - most Tuesdays at 8pm Eastern.

I will not share or give away your email address.

And don’t forget to subscribe by iTunes or your browser to The Art of Storytelling with Children Podcast so you can get weekly inspirations from Bother Wolf direct to your desktop. Read the info on the right to find out how. It’s free and it’s super simple.

Would you like to be a part of a storytelling conference call that supports you in your use of storytelling with children? If so, then enter your name and email address and you will receive personal invitations to participate in The Art of Storytelling with Children Conference call - most Tuesdays at 8pm Eastern.

I will not share or give away your email address.

And don’t forget to subscribe by iTunes or your browser to The Art of Storytelling with Children Podcast so you can get weekly inspirations from Bother Wolf direct to your desktop. Read the info on the right to find out how. It’s free and it’s super simple.

Would you like to be a part of a storytelling conference call that supports you in your use of storytelling with children? If so, then enter your name and email address and you will receive personal invitations to participate in The Art of Storytelling with Children Conference call - most Tuesdays at 8pm Eastern.

I will not share or give away your email address.

And don’t forget to subscribe by iTunes or your browser to The Art of Storytelling with Children Podcast so you can get weekly inspirations from Bother Wolf direct to your desktop. Read the info on the right to find out how. It’s free and it’s super simple.

Would you like to be a part of a storytelling conference call that supports you in your use of storytelling with children? If so, then enter your name and email address and you will receive personal invitations to participate in The Art of Storytelling with Children Conference call - most Tuesdays at 8pm Eastern.

I will not share or give away your email address.

And don’t forget to subscribe by iTunes or your browser to The Art of Storytelling with Children Podcast so you can get weekly inspirations from Bother Wolf direct to your desktop. Read the info on the right to find out how. It’s free and it’s super simple.

Would you like to be a part of a storytelling conference call that supports you in your use of storytelling with children? If so, then enter your name and email address and you will receive personal invitations to participate in The Art of Storytelling with Children Conference call - most Tuesdays at 8pm Eastern.

I will not share or give away your email address.

And don’t forget to subscribe by iTunes or your browser to The Art of Storytelling with Children Podcast so you can get weekly inspirations from Bother Wolf direct to your desktop. Read the info on the right to find out how. It’s free and it’s super simple.

Would you like to be a part of a storytelling conference call that supports you in your use of storytelling with children? If so, then enter your name and email address and you will receive personal invitations to participate in The Art of Storytelling with Children Conference call - most Tuesdays at 8pm Eastern.

I will not share or give away your email address.

And don’t forget to subscribe by iTunes or your browser to The Art of Storytelling with Children Podcast so you can get weekly inspirations from Bother Wolf direct to your desktop. Read the info on the right to find out how. It’s free and it’s super simple.

08 CWIM Preview: Interview with Jo Knowles...

Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting previews of features and interviews that appear in the 2008 CWIM, which will be in stores in early August. (Just this minute Greg the Production Guy handed me two advance copies! A nice morning surprise.)

Today I offer an abbreviated version of my Q&A interview with debut novelist Jo Knowles. Jo's first book, Lessons From a Dead Girl, offers readers a powerful, often uncomfortable journey into the world of abuse and healing, chronicling the complex relationship between main character Laine and her best friend/tormentor Leah, who, Laine learns at the book’s opening, has died.

Jo's journey to publication was helped along by winning grants and awards including an SCBWI Work-in-Progress Grant for a Young Adult Novel in 2002, which attracted the attention of her agent Barry Goldblatt. And she won a PEN New England Children's Book Caucus Discovery Award in 2005, which lead to a contract with Candlewick. She's a member of the Class of 2k7 collective.

Would you recommend contests and grants to other writers pursuing publication?

Absolutely! There are so many good things that come out of applying for a grant. First of all, you have to write a synopsis, which is very hard but really forces you to think about your manuscript and what it’s about. I guess that sounds pretty obvious but when you do it for the first time, it’s like a revelation!

Second, I think submitting a sample of your work, say 10 pages, makes you look at those pages in a really intense way, through the eyes of the most critical reader you can imagine. Every sentence counts! Since doing this I now revise my manuscripts in roughly 10-page chunks, which usually translates to two chapters for me. I look at those chapters and work on how they stand on their own. It’s a great exercise.

Third, getting that call is the biggest thrill! At the time I got the call about the SCBWI grant I had been through some tough times in my personal life and was feeling pretty hopeless. I remember hanging up the phone and sitting on the floor and crying. It was wonderful! And then soon after that I received a letter from Barry Goldblatt (he’d read the notice about the grant in the SCBWI Bulletin) asking if I’d be interested in submitting my work to him. He’d only been in the business for about a year or so at that point, so I was really lucky! And then when I applied for the PEN award I’d sort of sunk to that hopeless place again. I’d had some close calls with revision requests, but I was beginning to feel like maybe I just didn’t have what it takes. A good friend of mine, Cynthia Lord (author of the Newbery Honor-winning Rules), encouraged me to give it a shot so I decided to take a chance on Lessons from a Dead Girl, a manuscript Barry hadn’t actually shopped around yet because I had nearly given up on it. I was totally shocked and thrilled when I got the call and found out I won.

Any tips on catching the eye of judges?

Hand in your best work. I know that sounds a bit simple, but really I think you have to make those first pages sing, just like the first pages of any book. How can your first sentence hook the reader? What would make the judge keep going? Read the pages out loud, have someone else read them to you, read all the first chapters from your favorite books and think about what it is that makes those resonate with you. Don’t just hand in any old thing for the sake of submitting. Respect the judges’ time and only submit if you have something you’ve put your all into. Also, follow the rules to a T. Don’t hand in more pages than requested. Follow the formatting guidelines. If the submissions say the excerpt should come from a completed work, don’t hand in something you’ve only written the first chapter of. Be professional.

As a first-time author, were there any surprises during the publishing process? What has your relationship with your editor been like? With your agent?

It’s funny but I don’t think there have been too many surprises. The biggest surprise was getting an offer! My editor, Joan Powers, is wonderful. She is very straightforward, asks lots of questions, and trusts me to answer them in my revisions. I certainly don’t think she ever shied away from asking tough questions, and I really appreciate that. My agent, Barry Goldblatt, is terrific. He’s become a good friend who knows and cares about my career and me. Barry has a reputation for being “brutally honest” but I think I should set the record straight right now and say he also has a huge heart. You have to be honest in this business. That may sound harsh but dishonesty will only lead to disappointment later. Barry knows that, and I think by being honest up front he is giving aspiring writers a huge gift. Writing is hard, hard work. But if you keep at it, if you keep revising, keep listening to the feedback rather than feeling it, you will get better, and you will succeed.