Kate Lawrence: Story Wise

If you haven't already caught up with the adventures of Kate, perhaps its time. Our members are all unique and work with stories in many wondrous ways. For the past few years Kate has been sharing her passion for personal storytelling and her wish to see others (especially women) find their voice and shape their stories through workshops, individual coaching and by providing supportive spaces to tell. Kate facilitates the only all women story gatherings in Melbourne that we know of.

Alongside all this, Kate has created a series of podcasts from stories she collected at the sessions recorded at the Holgates Hotel in Woodend, she created and toured a one woman show Fantastic Feminist Folk Tales and she presented  at TED x Bendigo.

AND ... while doing all this, Kate has held a leadership role for Storytelling Australia Victoria as vice president for over 4 years. In 2018 alone, while wearing her SAV hat Kate curated Peace of Heart in Macedon, an evening of stories to mark World Peace Day, as well as advising and supporting emerging member storytellers.

Visit Kate's website and while you're are there, sign up to the newsletter and you can follow events and enjoy her thoughts.

Here she is on personal storytelling.

Sometimes people make glib comments about personal storytelling being indulgent, self serving and self absorbed. This can be taken on by some of the people I work with who say, even as they are drawn to personal storytelling, that they feel too self conscious or feel it is too self-centred, to share their stories.

This is thinking that must be examined and debunked if we are actually to tell our stories in ways that enable us to develop and fully use our voice as a means of self expression, and be helpful for others.

Exploring, understanding and expressing who we are, what we believe and feel is a core task of living. We are meaning making machines, but unless we reflect, and consciously share our experiences, in thoughtful and meaningful ways, we risk being reactive, and unconscious, and relating to ourselves and therefore each other in superficial ways.

If we are feeling self conscious when we tell, then we are ironically, doing exactly what we are afraid we would be doing - we are making the story all about us. It is when we share our story with the sole purpose of offering it, and the meaning making we have done through our story, as a gift, that we then step into our voice and express ourselves in the age old and sacred way of human communication. It is an act of leadership, and we are hungry to be lead, we are hungry to explore behind the masks we all wear, to feel, and grapple with what it means to be human.

This is an act of trust, trust in ourselves that our voice is worthy, trust in the audience that what we offer will resonate with at least one person who is listening, and we share as a gift and so ensure we are trustworthy, telling the right story for that time place and audience.

Deepavali at the RAW Garden

It will be three years since we started celebrating Deepavali in the RAW Garden and every year, those of us who were not raised with this tradition, learn a little more through story.

Deepavali has become the final event in our calendar at RAW.

We thank Durgah Devi Palanisamy for facilitating our gatherings throughout the year and friends, Fionnuala Smyth and Daniela Bücheler-Scott who have also held the story space. And of course we thank Mariam Issa who invited us into the Garden all those years ago.

Gatherings will resume in February 2019 and Daniela and Dee are working on a plan for the year. No doubt that will include International Women's Day in March and rumour has it, there maybe some special guests.

A huge shout out to Tatiana who has documented so many of our gatherings. Her glorious photographs are enjoyed by all. Tatiana has also photographed several of our storytellers for their publicity and websites. Visit Tatiana's website HERE.

RAW events are hosted on the first Sunday of the month, beginning in February and running through to November.

We create the events on our Facebook but for those of you who are not on Fb, we post reminders on this blog and you can always check in on our website calendar.

We look forward to seeing the regulars the garden in 2019 and greeting new faces.

Off to Udaipur

You will remember readers that in July we posted an invitation to connect with Rananjay Singh Bhandari who was seeking to meet with storytellers in Australia for the Udaipur Tales Storytelling Festival. We congratulate one of our members, Durgah Devi Palanisamy from Deelightful Tales. Dee is heading off in November and no doubt she will return full of stories.

Safe travels Dee

And while we have your attention, if you are interested in accessing the Storytelling Australia Victoria support package to attend the inaugural conference of the Federation of Asian Storytellers, it is still available!!!!

click on poster to enlarge

The Hobyahs

For those of you who enjoy reading around and about the makings and movement of traditional tales.

The Hobyahs  is a poplar tale with many Australian trad tellers. One of our members, JB Rowley, sent through this article which some of you will find interesting. Even if you are not usually drawn to the old stories, have a read, this could change your mind.

The author suggests that the Hobyahs was collected in Australia in the 1800s by folklorist, Joseph Jacobs however it was first published in More English Fairy Tales (in the UK in 1894) (digital version HERE). So can it be said to be an Australian story or not?

JB is inclined to believe that the story has Scottish roots, as when Jacobs was working on More English Fairy Tales, he was living in the United Kingdom. He writes that he collected the story in Perth but doesn't specify whether he means the Perth in the UK or the Perth in Western Australia. JB is of the opinion that if Jacobs was meaning Perth in Australia, he would have said so.

If you wish to read more, there is an extensive piece about Jacobs written by Mabel Kaplan on the Australian Folklore Network page, published in 2003.

And while discussing traditional stories and antecedents, perhaps, if you are not already a member, you might be persuaded to join the Australian Fairy Tale Society. Founded in 2013, the AFTS focuses on '... collecting, preserving, discussing, sharing and creating Australian fairy tales'. The AFTS Conference (sometimes in Melbourne and sometimes in Sydney) is worth keeping an eye out for. This is a day of literary, visual and performance presentations. If you are in doubt that there is a fairy tale tradition in Australia, the AFTS may cause you to reconsider.

 JB was recorded in 2014 telling her preferred version of the Hobyahs.

MEMBERSHIP TIME

 Greetings story folks. This is your friendly reminder.

MEMBERSHIPS ARE DUE

We now use Eventbrite to make it easy for you to JOIN HERE. 

We offer a range of memberships, services and concessions.

• Individual Membership - $30.00 
• Individual Concession Membership - $20.00

• ​Family Membership - $30 (Up to 2 adults and 4 children)
• Group Membership - $30
• SAV Tellers page photo and bio listing - $20
• ​SAV Coaches page photo and bio listing - $20

Membership to SAV

·      Entitles you join the committee, vote and have a say in the direction of the organisation.

·      Receive expressions of interests to participate in our annual public events. These may include: World Storytelling Day, folk, community and literary festivals, World Peace Day.

·      Discounts to SAV events.

·      Apply for SAV scholarships or bursaries. Currently we support members to attend: The Sydney International Storytelling Conference and Federation of Asian Storytellers Conference.

·      Members are also invited to share any news, ponderings and events to our blog.

·      If you are a working storyteller, you can list yourself publicly on our website and all enquiries for tellers are shared to this list.

·      Be part of a warm, creative and welcoming community of people who enjoy oral storytelling in all its guises.

We encourage you to check that you are subscribed to our blog as this remains an important platform connecting us. The SAV blog is reserved for members only, however we use Facebook to share as much news about storytelling in Victoria as we can harvest.

Please visit our website and refresh yourselves with our values and purpose.

We value your membership and support.

And while we have you attention, we would like to acknowledge the work of the SAV committee who volunteer time to keep the wheels greased and the engine running of Storytelling Australia Victoria.

REMINDER FABLED NIGHTS FRIDAY OCTOBER 19

Only two more Fabled Nights left for the year.

This one is a bit special (well they're all special), as one of our number is heading off to work in Antarctica.

Diver Matt McArthur is one of our hosts, urn boilers and room arrangers. Its the practical support offered by the Storytelling Australia Victoria team that make it possible to relax and enjoy the evening of tales.

Matt tells all sorts of stories but his interest in science communication and the history of human activity in Antarctica means he has some pretty unique stories to tell.

Here he is at The Moth Melbourne Grand Slam 2018 with his story When worlds collide - the seal meets a monkey. Visit Diver Matt's website and learn more about what he has on offer.



WHEN: Friday 19th October 7.30pm - 10.00pm
WHERE: Newport Community HUB 13 Mason Street, Newport
COST: $5.00 or $3.00 (Storytelling Vic and Newport Fiddle and Folk Club members). No Booking required.

*WHEEL CHAIR ACCESS
* FABLED NIGHTS is an inter-generational event. Children welcome at parent/carers discretion.

Fabled Nights in Newport is a partnership event with Hobsons Bay Libraries and is supported by the Newport Fiddle and Folk Club.

PARKING: There is free parking at the rear of the building. Coming from Mason Street, turn left at Durkin Street then left into the car park. Entry to the HUB is from the park.

Come along, bring a story to share or ears to listen. Fabled Nights is a place to experiment and have a go at telling a tale for the first time. And we are a friendly bunch.

Federation of Asian Storytellers

To the best of our knowledge there are now two federations uniting storytellers across Europe and Asia: FEST (Federation for European Storytelling)  and FEAST (Federation of Asian Storytellers). Perhaps one day, those of us in the Australia Pacific region will unite - FEAPST!

FEAST and FEST differ in many ways and in others, are similar. The European organisation is for organisations in Europe, not individuals.

The Asian organisation is open to organisations, individuals and non-member countries (countries not defined as 'Asian').

You can follow the links we have given you and explore for yourselves what these groups do and what they are planning.

Storytelling Australia Victoria decided to support the growth of the Federation of Asian Storytellers by joining as a non-member country and we have made a generous donation towards supporting storytellers from developing Asian countries to attend the first conference and towards memberships.

Storytelling Australia Victoria has friends and members with deep roots in Asia. And many of us working in schools and preschool centres have broadened our knowledge of traditional stories from across Asia to acknowledge the background of our listeners.

Storytelling Festivals are blossoming across Asia - in Thailand, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Tamil Nadu and Singapore, drawing tellers from around the world together in story. Australian based storytellers are increasingly participating and connecting with colleagues to the north.

***AN OFFER FROM FEAST
Support to attend the inaugural conference in SINGAPORE 23rd 24th November.

As an institutional member of FEAST, Storytelling Australia Victoria can offer a discounted rate for a couple of our members to the upcoming Storytellers' Conference.

Keynote: Margaret Read McDonald
Workshops: Dr Wajuppa Tossa, Ariyo Fardh Zidni, Sheila Wee, Jeeva Raghunath, Alicia Dongjoo Bang, Ng Kok Keong as well as Christine Carlton (Australia), Craig Jenkins (UK) and Giovana Conforto (Italy).

The conference program is available HERE.

Timing is tight. So if you are a member of Storytelling Australia Victoria and you are interested in attending this conference and accessing the discount, please:
Email: storytellingvic@live.com.au 
Subject: FEAST

The world of storytelling, connection and support just keeps growing!