The Tamiami Tale Tellers will present “Stories By Heart” at Tellabration 2024, a celebration of the art of storytelling for adults, teens and school age children. The Tamiami Tale Tellers, a local storytelling guild and member of the Florida Storytelling Association, has presented Tellabration locally for 30+ years. This year it will be held on Saturday, November 23, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Peace Community Church, 17671 Pine Ridge Road, Fort Myers Beach, 33931. Admission is free and open to the public, but donations will be accepted to support the use of the venue.
Tellabration is an annual event held the weekend prior to Thanksgiving in communities across the USA and in many other countries around the world. Our performance will feature eight storytellers who will perform a variety of stories, some funny, some poignant. Lisa Leonhardt will be our emcee and also a teller. The other tellers will be Mary Lou Williams, Joel Ying, Pamela Minton, Lynn Jaffe, Janice Beever, Mary Charles and Marilyn Graham.
Tellabration is the result of a dream of J. G. Pinkerton, who envisioned an international festival as a means of building community support for storytelling and of providing storytellers with a way of sharing their love of the art form with the community. The first event was launched in1988 by the Connecticut Storytelling Center. By 1997 there were Tellabration events on every continent except Antarctica. The tradition continues to the present day.
Storytelling is not reading aloud, but making the story come alive for the listener through verbal magery, vocal variety and all the tools of the actor’s trade.
The Tamiami Tale Tellers, an informal group of tale spinners, hold monthly meetings on the third Thursday of the month at 7 p.m. at All Faiths Church on McGregor Boulevard. The meetings are free and the public is welcome. Call (239) 849-7666 for more information.
