Featured Storytellers

Charlotte Blake Alston

  
Charlotte Black Alston smiling wearing red lipstick and a black collared top in a room with white walls and a poster to her right For over 30 years, Charlotte Blake Alston has graced stages in venues throughout North America and abroad. She is an award-winning storyteller and performer that has performed at venues including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Smithsonian Institute and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. In 1991, Charlotte became the first storyteller to perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra on both their Family and Student concert series. Thirty seasons later, in 2021 she was named: The Philadelphia Orchestra’s Official Storyteller, Narrator and Host.
   

Lyn Ford 

  
Lynette Ford smiling and wearing a neck scarf while standing near an archway Lyn Ford is a fourth-generation, nationally recognized, Affrilachian storyteller of African American heritage and history from the Appalachia region. Lyn is a recipient of two National Storytelling Network’s Oracle Awards, and a member of the National Association of Black Storytellers Circle of Elders, the National Writing Project's Writers Council and the Ohio Arts Council Teaching Roster. She has performed internationally and is known for her folktale adaptations, spooky tales and original stories rooted in her family's multicultural Affrilachian storytelling traditions. 
   

Jitesh Jaggi 

  
Jitesh Jagg smiling at the camera with a building blurred in the background Jitesh Jaggi is a two-time Moth StorySLAM winner who believes that by harnessing our personal stories we can communicate effectively across barriers. Having traveled the world Jitesh Jaggi teaches how despite our backgrounds, our fears and hopes are surprisingly common! He is an immigrant storyteller from India, poet and dancer currently living in Chicago.
   

Bil Lepp

  
Bill Lepp wearing a read hat dark blue shirt smiling standing in the middle of a two lane road Bil Lepp is an award-winning storyteller, author, and recording artist. Bil’s humorous, family friendly tall-tales and stories have earned the appreciation of listeners of all ages and from all walks of life. Though a five time champion of the WV Liars’s Contest, Lepp’s stories often contain morsels of truth which present universal themes in clever and witty ways. He is also the recipient of the Vandalia Award, West Virginia’s highest folk honor.
   

Crom Saunders

  
Crom Saunders smiling wearing frameless glasses and hoop earrings against a bright red wall Crom is a performer, presenter, writer and teacher. His stories include autobiographical references to pop and deaf culture mixed in with humor. Crom has performed with the ASL Comedy Tour circuit and has performed internationally with his one-man show, “Cromania!”. He has interpreted and translated dozens of plays, from children’s theater to Broadway musicals, and has taught dozens of ASL linguistics and theatrical workshops across the country. 
   

Dovie Thomason

  
Dovie Thomason smiling with her long dark hair down and wearing a black top Award-winning storyteller, Dovie Thomason, a Lakota and Kiowa Apache, utilizes the art form of traditional Native storytelling for the preservation and continuation of Native cultural arts. When Dovie tells stories from her own life and from her people’s experience, the result is a contemporary vision of the rich cultures of the First Nations of North America.