MEMBER IN THE SPOTLIGHT

The transformative moment in Jo Henwood’s story came in 1999 when she discovered the community of Storytellers and realised ‘But this is what my life has always been about!’

The things that have sustained Jo have always been stories –classic novels, vintage films, writing, travelling, theatre, and folk festivals. As a child she couldn’t decide whether she should be a teacher, librarian, or writer – and now they all come together in storytelling.

After about twenty years as librarian, special education, volunteer coordinator, and Out Of School Hours Coordinator, she finally became a Tour Guide and Museum Education Officer, and that was the path to joining the Storytelling Guild of NSW.

Jo tells mysteries and science fiction, as well as myths and legends, literary and folk stories, but her favourites are the epics, ghost stories, fairy tales, and historical stories. 

Jo has developed a specialisation in storytelling as museum theatre, performing in heritage sites, including historic houses, art galleries, museums, cemeteries, and walking tours.  This ran parallel to gaining post graduate qualifications in Museum Studies, Gifted Education, and a Master of Cultural Heritage, and organising Professional Development Days for museum educators. Jo was honoured to be asked to mentor Storytellers in Heritage Sites for FEAST in 2021-22 which led her to the Lycian Way storytelling tour in May 2022 – a life highlight. 

Researching fairy tales in order to create authentic Australian re tellings resulted in Jo co founding the Australian Fairy Tale Society in 2013, where she continues to research fairy tales as Ring Maiden, having recently relinquished her five year role as President.

Current projects – in addition to researching fairy tales, working in various museums and heritage sites, pre school storytelling, and creating new walking tours, and new community college workshops on history and literature– include writing a book of children’s historical stories for a local museum, a database on the history of fairy tales created in Australia, a new cemetery tour, and presenting at an upcoming FEAST Prop Swap. 

Fran grew up in a storytelling family and has been telling stories since she was a child. Babysitting for younger brothers, she learned the use of storytelling as a survival skill!

Fran’s performances and workshops have taken her not only nationwide in the US, but also to Japan, UK, Egypt, Singapore, India, Hong Kong, and Macau. She has worked in schools, libraries, community centers, and parks as well as at storytelling festivals and conferences. Her stories often include autoharp accompaniment and lively audience participation. Her younger brothers taught her how to keep listeners’ attention by involving them in the stories.

Fran’s academic training was in Biology (BA, PhD). She did research and taught university, and now strives to educate and inspire people of all ages about our living world through stories and songs. She loves to tell “Stories and Songs for a Green Earth”. Her CD on that theme is now available for download https://franstallings.bandcamp.com, along with several of her other albums of stories and songs. Fran co-chaired two Earth Up! International virtual conferences for the (US) National Storytelling Network, and helped start NSN’s ECO Special Interest Group which sponsors monthly virtual swaps and a programming stream at NSN’s conference in July.

Fran served two terms on NSN’s board of directors, and currently works on committees with several regional storytelling organizations in the US to plan conferences and virtual services. Thanks to Zoom etc, she has mentored ecotellers for FEAST; gave a keynote for University of Bologna, Italy, for the Italian Storytelling Center; and participated in storytelling groups across the US and abroad.



Fran looks forward to seeing FEAST friends in Suwon, South Korea, and sharing her workshop on storytelling with music/songs.

see www.franstallings.com for more information, links to videos and audio recordings, and Fran’s Earthteller Tales columns (story paired with science fact)

Kshamatha, Founder of Katha & Krafts – Hyderabad, practices storytelling with the purpose of serving humanity and spreading the joy of learning through stories.

After 7 successful years in the software industry as a Team Manager, Kshamatha decided to pursue a more rewarding experience – that of a Storyteller. Having witnessed first-hand how stories, music and books stimulated her daughter’s growth in the early years, she was inspired to

share this bliss with other children because she believes that “Storytelling is sharing happiness”.

Kshamatha took up this passion professionally by completing certified courses on the art of storytelling from Secret Passages, Federation of Asian

Storytellers(FEAST) and India Drama and Arts Educators Alliance(IDAEA).

For the last seven years, Kshamatha has been conducting regular storytelling classes for children where stories are effectively narrated and brought to life using puppets, props, visual imagery, music and physical movement. She also runs a mini library in her area and conducts regular

reading classes to raise reading enthusiasts. Both oral narratives and read-alouds have been an integral part of the classes to improve the child’s listening, speaking and reading skills. The carefully-crafted after-story activities like art and crafts, worksheets, drama and role-play help children to enrich their language and communication skills. As a versatile teller who is fluent in English, Hindi, Telugu and Tamil, she has curated, assisted and performed at major storytelling events and children’s literature festivals in India. Kshamatha along with three of her storyteller friends from Hyderabad represent Katha Konnections, which aims to connect people over stories to encourage empathy and to entertain.

Kshamatha is not only associated with several private schools, NGOs and Govt. schools but also supports the underprivileged and cancer patients who are in need of financial assistance. She has been actively raising funds through her online classes and virtual fundraiser event KathaDhara.

Kshamatha was honored with the Seva Ratna award from Urathasinthanai Tamil Magazine and was presented with the Inspiring Storyteller 2024 award by the Food4Thought Foundation for her significant contributions to society through storytelling.

Kiran Shah started her professional life as a social worker, then went into early childhood

education. She trained as a Montessori Directress and the travel bug took her to work in

schools in Honolulu and Japan. She studied some more and then trained numerous intakes

of early childhood educators in Singapore. She also spent a year volunteering her services

working with preschoolers and teachers in 2 slums in Colombo, as well as training trainers in

Vietnam and Myanmar for shorter terms. When she discovered storytelling in 1998 in

Singapore, there was no looking back.

Together with now FEAST Director Sheila Wee, she started Singapore’s first storytelling

company to revive the art of oral storytelling with a particular focus on bringing folktales to

the fore. She si particularly interested in Asian folktales. She co-organised storytelling

conferences, storytelling courses to promote professional development, raise the profile of

storytelling and to nurture future storytellers. She was the Founder President of the

Storytelling Association, Singapore in 2006 and is happy to note that it continues the good

work by a younger generation. She continues contributing to the Association via Zoom. She

has conducted numerous storytelling workshops for students, teachers, parents and even

military officers. Her performances have taken her to many countries, attending conferences

and festivals in Thailand, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Australia, Malaysia and Iran. She has

performed in schools, libraries, parks, tents, trains and enjoys telling stories to anyone,

anywhere!

Kiran moved to Australia in 2008 and soon became an accredited professional member of

the Australian Storytelling Guild, NSW. She is currently its Vice President and co-convenor

of the Sydney International Storytelling Conference 2023. She co-hosts the Blue Mountains

Story Circle which meets monthly online.

Kiran’s relationship with FEAST has taken many forms. She edited the first 2 FEAST books

– A Feast of Stories- food tales from Asia and Royals- wise and otherwise. She has been a

mentor for adults from Japan, India and Italy. She has also been on the team to train

storytellers in FEAST’s Foundation Course in Oral Storytelling in 2023. She has participated

and presented workshops at all 3 FEAST Conferences in Singapore (2018), Bangalore

(2019) and Jakarta (2023).

Kiran says..“I wish to mention the wonderful mentors I had in my storytelling journey in my early days.

My first teacher was Cathy Spagnoli (who sadly passed away in October 2023), who led me

to explore stories from my Indian heritage. Margaret Read MacDonald and Anne Pellowski

were 2 other wonderful teachers. Then there were so many fellow storytellers whom I learnt

so much from. Zoom has allowed me to connect with storytellers from all over the world and

it is a continuous joy to listen to their stories and to learn from them.”



When not storytelling, Kiran enjoys bushwalking, working in her garden and cooking the

seasonal produce! Right now, chillies and chokos are in great abundance.

Priti - a Storyteller, Empowerment Coach, and Executive Leadership Trainer. She is passionate about leveraging the compelling force of stories in all her life roles. She finds joy in crafting engaging tales that serve as catalysts for meaningful change. She believes that she has a vibrant narrative style in her storytelling. She likes to think that she captivates audiences through her storytelling prowess, whether at libraries, schools, or storytelling festivals, both in-person and online, though she is quite aware that it is the story that does the most of the work and she along for the ride. 

She establishes authentic connections with her audiences, workshop participants and ‘coachees' and do her best to ensure that her storytelling performances, coaching sessions are enjoyable and leave a lasting impression. With first hand experience in it, she is a big believer in the transformative power of experiential learning. Therefore it is important to me to ensure that her workshops are hands-on, practical, geared towards fostering personal growth and most of all - fun! 

As an ICF certified coach, Doctor in Naturopathy, certified Fire-walk instructor and Empowerment coach, she enjoys integrating her diverse experiences into her coaching sessions and corporate workshops and sometimes key notes. Her credentials include various certifications in 'Training and Development’, NLP, and lots of others that are complemented by traditional degrees in management. Her work is dedicated to empowering individuals and companies through the art of storytelling and experiential learning. She trusts this will create a lasting impact on the personal and professional development of everyone and she feels lucky to work with and eventually this beautiful world we live in.” 

Christine Carlton is an Australian Storyteller, and Educator who has performed and facilitated workshops throughout Australia and in New Zealand, Canada, the USA, Europe and Asia. She finds joy in the transformative power of stories, which not only entertain but also challenge, inform,

and delight both storytellers and audiences.

With over 35 years of experience, Christine has conducted workshops for diverse groups, including children and adults, and has lectured on Story and Drama in Education at the University of Western Sydney. In addition to group workshops, she provides individual coaching and mentoring

for those eager to enhance their storytelling skills.

Actively participating in and supporting FEAST, Christine has shared her expertise by offering a learning capsule in 2021 titled ‘The Storied Gallery - Stories Inspired by Art’ and conducting a workshop on ‘Spontaneous and Playful Storytelling’ at the 2023 FEAST conference in Jakarta,

Indonesia. She has also been a guest coach and mentor for FEAST, demonstrating her interest in nurturing and supporting developing storytellers. She is delighted to again be invited to be involved in the mentoring program for adult tellers in 2024.

Christine has played a pivotal leadership role as the Convenor of the 'Weaving Stories Together' Sydney International Storytelling Conferences. The conference for adults highlights the power of oral storytelling, fosters cultural exchange, and showcases the practical application of storytelling across diverse settings. She is currently the President of the Australian Storytelling Guild, NSW.

One of her favourite special projects that she initiated and developed for students was a four to six- week storytelling unit culminating in a whole school Storytelling Festival. This initiative significantly contributed to literacy development, performance skills, the promotion of the oral art of storytelling, and the nurturing of students' self-esteem.

Christine loves the opportunity for cultural exchange through the sharing at zoom story swaps with FEAST members and also the Australian Storytellers story swap and is delighted that FEAST and the Australian Storytelling Guild NSW will be collaborating on a storytelling performance opportunity in 2024.

Krupa Vinayagamoorthy is a storyteller and coach based out of Singapore. 

After abandoning her life as a software engineer, she discovered storytelling in 2015 and has not looked back since. She has served as an office bearer of Storytelling Association (Singapore) for two years. She is passionate about bringing Asian storytelling and storytellers to the world through her work as Consulting Director of the Federation of Asian Storytellers (FEAST).

As a bilingual storyteller, Krupa tells to children, teens and adults. She aims to facilitate highly practical workshops.