Anyone who has watched a master storyteller mesmerize an audience without benefit of set, props, or musical score, has wondered, -How do they do that?- The trick, this anthology tells us, is in the material. And each of the 40 contributors should know. They are some of America's most popular storytellers, each of them sharing a story guaranteed to work in front of the most demanding audience. In addition to a delightful story, each teller has included tips for unlocking the story and telling it in performance. This multicultural collection includes stories from Africa, India, ancient Greece,...

Ask a storyteller a question and in response you get a story. The interviews in this handbook are packed with well-chosen anecdotes, metaphors, and parables illuminating the art of storytelling as it is practiced today in many varied settings. Rather than representing the opinion of a single author, this comprehensive guide to storytelling features interviews with more than 50 storytellers, including teachers, librarians, authors, musicians, actors, clergymen, and full time professionals.

Hey, did you hear the one about the lady who had her beehive hairdo sprayed so hard that spiders started to nest in it? Of course you did, it happened to your next-door neighbor's cousin. Or was it your cousin's next-door neighbor? Folktales are not the exclusive domain of the past. They're alive and kicking in urban legends, those stories that are told as true, but always as happening to a friend of a friend. We hear them in conversation and recognize them on the Internet. In this collection, you'll encounter stories about stupid criminals, scams and conspiracy theories, students clever...