Featured Storytellers

Sheila Arnold

  
Shelia Arnold smiling at the camera wearing glasses and a gold and navy blue floral pattern blouse
Spotlight Interview		 Master storyteller, Sheila Arnold, has performed in a myriad of ways since she was eight-years-old! Sheila has been a featured storyteller at festivals around the United States sharing her stories, songs and historic character presentations.

 
   

Noa Baum

  
Noa Baum wearing multicolored rimmed glasses and smiling. She is wearing a navy blue long sleeve top with silver embellishment.
Spotlight Interview		 Born and raised in Israel, Noa is a storyteller, author, public speaker, and coach. She focuses on the power of storytelling to heal across divides of identity and build bridges of peace. Noa is an international storyteller and an award-winning author of the memoir “A Land Twice Promised: An Israeli Woman’s Quest for Peace.”
   

Trix Bruce

  
Trix Bruce with her hands up in the air and her eyes looking at her right hand. She is wearing a black top against a black background.
Spotlight Interview		 Patricia (“Trix”) Bruce, who is Deaf, delightful and dynamic, is an extraordinary performing artist with a spirited audience-participation entertainment style. Drawing on her background in American Sign Language (ASL) Linguistics and a life of travel and adventure, Trix excels in hilarious true-to-life storytelling and impromptu, interactive ASL artistry. She can tell you the story of her life, without uttering a word. Trix is a storyteller, a poet, an actress, and a one deaf-woman show. You will be captivated by her electrifying energy, irresistible sense of humor, open-hearted honesty, and rich experience.
   

Motoko Dworkin

  
Motoko Green looking away with a dark colored scarf being held up between them and the camera. Her right hand is up against the scarf about chest height.
Spotlight Interview		 Award winning Japanese storyteller, Motoko, has enchanted audiences of every age with Asian folktales, Rakugo and Zen tales, ghost stories, mime vignettes, as well as oral memoirs from her childhood in Osaka and her life as an immigrant in the U.S. She is the recipient of the National Storytelling Network’s 2017 Circle of Excellence Award. Motoko’s storytelling recordings have won a Parents’ Choice Silver Honor Award, a Storytelling World Award, and a National Parenting Publications Award.
   

Nestor Gomez

  
Nestory Gomez smiling while standing at an elevated train platform. He is wearing a black long sleep zipped up jacket.
Spotlight Interview		 Nestor "the boss" Gomez was born in Guatemala and moved to Chicago undocumented in the mid-80s. He is a 65-time Moth Slam winner and three-time Chicago Moth Grand Slam winner. He is also the creator, producer, curator and host of ​80 Minutes Around the World, a storytelling show that features the stories of immigrants, their descendants and allies.
   

Queen Nur and Dwight James

  
Queen Nur standing over Dwight James. Both are smiling at the camera.
Spotlight Interview		 Karen “Queen Nur” Abdul-Malik is a nationally renowned storyteller, teaching artist and folklorist. Sharing her gift, she has performed in venues from the Opening of the Smithsonian NAAMCH to Equity Theater on Broadway, from the National Black Storytelling Festival to the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesboro. Traveling abroad, Queen has presented for the U.S. Embassy in Cameroon and at PANAFEST in Ghana.

Dwight James' passion for drumming has become a mission that includes researching world drumming and sharing his knowledge with children. He has created percussion instrument workshops in school districts, libraries, museums and music societies.
   

Bobby Norfolk

  
Bobby Norfolk smiling at the camera with his head propped on his right fist. He is wearing a teal blue shirt against a gray background.
Spotlight Interview		 Bobby Norfolk is an internationally known story performer and teaching artist, this three-time Emmy Award winner, multiple Parents' Choice Gold and Silver Award winner, and a National Storytelling Network Oracle Award recipient is one of the most popular and dynamic story-educators in America today!