Women’s Storytelling Festival: In-Person Storytellers – Part I

Laura Deal

Laura Deal, storyteller and poet, is the 2024 recipient of the JJ Reneaux Emerging Artist Award. Recordings of her work have appeared on Story Story Podcast, the Apple Seed on BYU Radio, and Story Borealis on KBBI Radio, as well as her CDs, The Diffendaffer Taffy Cafe and Other Stories and Simple, Clever, and Wise. She’s the author of The Newcomer’s Guide to the Invisible Realm, and Marbles: New and Collected Poems.

Read more about Laura here.

Linda Gorham

Linda Gorham has engaged international audiences of all ages with interactive global folktales, distinctive Greek myths, and notably twisted fairy tales for over 35 years. Additional programs showcase Linda’s extensive research and personal insight into the African American experience. To round out her repertoire, Linda shares personal and family stories she learned while sitting on (and sticking to) her grandmother’s plastic covered couch. Each performance is infused with Linda’s unconventional humor and her signature ‘sophisticated attitude’.

Read more about Linda here.

Tobey Ishii Anderson

Ever since Tobey Ishii Anderson’s Japanese grandma uttered the words: Mukashi, mukashi… a long time ago… Tobey has been held captive by the wonders of stories. As a Peace Corps volunteer in Asia and International School teacher, Tobey has lived in numerous countries throughout the world. She had the good fortune of gathering stories from diverse cultures. Tobey belongs to the South Sound Story Guild in Olympia, Washington and the Asian American Storytellers in Action.

Read more about Tobey here.

Andrea Kamens

Andrea Kamens is thrilled to return to the Women’s Storytelling Festival! Based in Boston, MA, and Zooming everywhere, she tells and teaches traditional, original, Jewish, and first-person stories that tremble with truth. Andrea’s a feature coordinator at The Story Space, volunteer for Northeast Storytelling (NEST), and founding director of ASST’s global online Youth Standing Strong Camp. Andrea is a religious school teacher, writer, mom of five, and decades-long community connector who believes every season is beach season.

Read more about Andrea here.

Amanda Lawrence

Amanda Lawrence enjoys sharing folktales, ghost stories, and personal narratives. She was a finalist in the Story Slam at the 2018 National Storytelling Festival and has been a featured teller at the Stone Soup Storytelling Festival and other events across the Southeast. She is also a regular teller at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina. She co-founded and co-directs the Georgia Mountain Storytelling Festival, now in its 11th year.

Read more about Amanda here.

Miriam Nadel

Miriam Nadel has told folktales, personal stories, and original stories for almost 35 years. Some of her favorite venues have included The Washington Folk Festival, the C&O Canal Visitor Center, Better Said Than Done, a Hollywood art gallery, a Las Vegas nightclub, and a campground in the Empty Quarter in Oman. She collects hats, paper dolls, and stories about ancestors with criminal records. All of her stories are true, whether or not they happened that way.

Read more about Miriam here.

Aimee Snow

Aimee Snow has been an actor and storyteller since childhood. She grew up in Northern Virginia and after stints in Tennessee, Texas, and Florida, returned here to put down roots. She has been seen on numerous local stages in community and professional theatre. She is currently on an extended hiatus from acting while she raises her 10-year-old son, Beckett. By day she is a federal employee and by night she can be found in her pajamas by 9pm because she’s a single parent in her late 40s. Her interests include cycling, watching sports, trivia, crossword puzzles, and double checking the latest facts her son picked up from YouTube.