Where indeed?

Much of the year has been taken up with moving house and an author/storyteller study space is a house within a house. But all the same, many adventures were squeezed in. So working backwards from December …

In December I had all the fun of attending the Language in Community Festival in Footscray and cheering along my brilliant bilingual storytelling friends. This is unique event in the festival calendar celebrating the diversity of languges spoken in Naarm Melbourne.

From L-R: Priti Modyiyer, Anna Manuel, Rohini Vij, Dee Palanisamy - simply the best!

In November Sarah and I took the the stage as part of a celebratory afternoon marking the achievements of the multiple groups that make up the Newport Fiddle and Folk Club. Along with my good friends Em Chandler and Adrian Newington, I coordinate the Newport Storytellers - a small and enthusiastic group of language lovers. Definitely worth an end of year party!

Sarah Depasquale on violin

In August, together with this team of some of my favourite people in the universe, Newport Storytellers hosted the annual Australian Fairy Tale Society Conference. We attracted participants from around Australia to Newport, and thanks to Zoom, people were also able to check in on some sessions from afar. Check out the AFTS website - the next conference is in Sydney.

Dee Palanisamy, Adrian Newington, Em Chandler, Priti Modyiyer and Jackie Kerin.

And in May, Sarah and I travelled to tell the story of The Amazing Case of Dr Ward at the Ballarat Heritage Festival. We were the guests of the Friends of the Ballarat Botanic Gardens and they looked after us like royalty. The Friends operate out of a cottage in the gardens and its filled with botanical tales of all sorts and of course the story of plant transportation to Australia in Wardian cases on board ships.

Me and Sarah telling the story The Amazing case of Dr Ward on the deck of the cottage.

Well I’ve skipped a few adventures - this is just a taste of what was 2024. I’m looking forward to what 2025 has to offer. The life of an author/storyteller is always unpredictable - just how I like it. Wishing you all the very best for the year to come.

As someone who enjoys a little uncertainty when it comes to living the life of a storyteller - I’m well satisfied with how things have been going.

In January, the year kicked of with The Big Story Day hosted by Hobsons Bay Library. This was a day of multi lingual stories and stories with music - for all ages. Sarah Depasquale and I had fun with kamishibai during the picnic breaks. K is perfect for outdoors where there are distractions and the picnic shelter provided us with concert hall acoustics! It was a joy to see our bilingual storytelling colleagues in action: Anna Manuel (Tagalog), Rohini Vij (Hindi) and Dee Palanisamy (Tamil).

Sarah, Jackie and Wombat

Mid March delivered a run of days. The Japanese Language Teacher’s Association Conference was sandwiched between celebrating World Storytelling Day twice!

The idea to attend the conference and promote the use of kamishibai in the language classroom was led by my friend Anna Manuel - brilliant story creator and gifted teacher - it’s my privilege always to work with Anna. We’re both over preparers, and planned a display table to accompany our presentation. Our session was called Unleashing the Magic of Kamishibai in the Language Classroom - teacher artists and artist teachers. Getting the gear into the Convention Centre is a story in itself however that aside, it was a thrill to see the teachers enjoying the resources.

There was a bit going on at the Convention Centre - fun to be in the mix with Anna

I celebrated World Storytelling Day twice - with the Newport Storytellers - once for adults and again with children. Together with my friends Em Chandler and Adrian Newington, we run regular community storytelling evenings throughout the year and a couple of special events - WSD being one of those. Visit our page, read all about us and check out our videos and podcast. Our regular gatherings operate as a hybrid and have a Zoom option so people can participate whereever they are in the world. I love these photos Adrian took of us celebrating under the tree in the Newport Lakes Park. Our event was part of the annual Bush Dance. L - R: Em, books, Sarah and me, Rohini.

FEAST was launched in Chennai in 2018 by a group of passionate and experienced storytellers and since then there have been 3 conferences. My story colleague, Anna Manuel and I, attended the 2019 gathering in Bangalore and co-presented 2 workshops on kamaishibai and telling stories with paper, string and body percussion. And then came Covid and the story world went virtual.

Finally the FEAST community got to gather again in Jakarta. With over 100 delegates from 14 countries, the excitement was palpable. There were 16 workshops planned, story swaps, keynotes and a cross-cultural 90 minute performance of the Ramyana. There was dancing, singing and spontaneous evening story gatherings that went late into the night. All of it fantastic but one of the highlights for me was re-connecting with story friends living in Asia who I only ever get to see on special occasions.

For this conference, I was persuaded by my friend and colleague, Kate Lawrence, to offer a workshop, Let the feather fall - hosting and holding community to tell stories. We both run community storytelling events in Melbourne - different but similar. Kate founded Story Wise Women in 2016 - Melbourne’s original storytelling event for women and I co-coordinate the Newport Storytellers. Our aim was to have a session where people could share their experiences of community storytelling or leave with their own draft plan for creating caring and inclusive storytelling events through shared storytelling and listening.

Photo: Alicia Dongjoo Bang, Jackie and Kate

The next FEAST Conference in 2024 will be in South Korea. Now that’s something to look forward to!