The Thriving Art of Storytelling at SLOLio What’s the first thing that pops into your head when you hear “storytelling” – children’s bedtime stories, yarns spun around a campfire, romanticized days of yore, or perhaps a wistful acquiescence of the “lost art” of storytelling?  I refuse those reductions. Storytelling is alive and thriving. We just need a modern day conceptualization of what storytelling is now, a realization that we are hearing and seeing stories played out every day. The written and certainly the visual forms of storytelling flourish, but with so many bells and whistles we forget that we are in fact being told a story. The ritualized, oral tradition of one person passing experience, history, drama, humor – life – along to another simply by talking, telling a story 'unplugged', may be less employed or maybe just less obvious these days, but it is far from dead and gone. It has naturally evolved, grown to literal epic proportions along with our technology. This is not a bad thing. It’s natural we push those boundaries. It’s what we do and the results are spectacular. We must be wise enough however to remember the source. The source must be kept alive and thriving, tended well in order to fuel the evolution. Just as the mother dough, the starter or patê fermentée, is the essence of all the wildly imaginative and delicious creations that evolve from its living core. It is the basic element collecting wild yeast and bacteria from the environment, sparking the magical, live process of fermentation, birth.  Such is a single person standing alone on a small wooden stage in front of an expectant audience, telling their story. And there are those who cultivate this, will not let it die; will not let the spawn of evolution turn round to destroy its own source. And these people are SLOLio.What exactly is “SLOLio?” Their website slolio.org provides the definition of an “Olio” first: a mixture or medley; a hodgepodge; a collection of various artistic or literary works or musical pieces; a miscellany. So SLOLio is then a gathering, an “olio” of true stories and story-loving people. A “story slam” as they coin it. Every month in downtown San Luis Obispo (SLO) CA, at a wondrous locale called Linnaea’s Café, very determined and committed people put on this live storytelling spectacular. One person after another on a small wooden stage, an excellent mediator and host, and a willing enraptured audience. All storytelling, all fresh, no notes allowed, each tale no more than eight to ten minutes. A theme is provided about a month ahead of time which storytellers use to inspire their tales, which must be true. Those are the only rules. The evening’s stories are recorded and available on their website.  I’ve been attending for about a half a year now and am amazed, touched, and laugh-out-loud amused each time. There are regulars who come to tell a story each month, and there are always new faces, those brave and daring souls who embark on this adventure for the experience, or perhaps because that month’s theme touched them somehow and they have a story they simply must tell. The stage is theirs for those few minutes and they get to tell their story, permitting us into their personal world, raw and exposed. It is an indescribably human experience. You pass these people every day of your life without ever knowing the amazing stories they have to tell, the experiences they have had. Every person in this world has a story. That simple realization shifts your perception just ever so slightly, but oh so significantly. To have that awareness, that delightful burst of an epiphany as you become a part of this true hodgepodge of humanity and hear what they have to say, is a singularly unique and profound experience.  Per the website, SLOLio was inspired by The Moth in New York City. The Moth organization was launched in 1997 by George Dawes Green, a poet and best-selling novelist who wanted to recreate storytelling nights he had with friends in his native Georgia. SLOLio carried the torch of this tradition all the way West to the California Central Coast. The host and organizer is Kirk Henning who is an incredibly dynamic speaker himself. When he talks, you just listen. He keeps the show running smoothly and takes care of the recordings as well.  This is an exceedingly special, inspirational experience and I am very grateful to have discovered it. The next event will be held January 15, 2014, at 7:00 p.m. at Linnaea’s Café located at 110 Garden Street, downtown San Luis Obispo, CA. The theme for this month is “The Big Sell.” I am already sold.  Image courtesy of National Novel Writing Month. |
Berkeley, CA (October 7 , 2013)—
Through the Young Writers Program, NaNoWriMo will also provide free resources and curriculum to more than 80,000 students and educators in 2,000 classrooms around the world. Additionally, 692 volunteer Municipal Liaisons will host write ins and events in 500 regions around the world. (For a full list of their regions follow the link to the website http://nanowrimo.org/ ).
“NaNoWriMo is an unbeatable way to write the first draft of a novel because it’s such a powerful antidote to that horrible foe of creativity: self doubt,” said Grant Faulkner, Executive Director. “NaNoWriMo is a rollicking conversation about all aspects of writing, and an invitation to dare to do that seems impossible. As many NaNoWriMo writers have discovered, the best way to learn to write a novel is by simply plunging in to write a novel.”
NaNoWriMo 2013: New and Powered Up
NaNoWriMo version 2013 boots up as an 8 bit adventure that encourages writers to "Power Up Your Story. Power Up Your Voice." This year's art comes courtesy of Jake Fleming, cofounder of Piasa Games. NaNoWriMo 2013 also offers a newly designed website. "We've redesigned our site to be more intuitive for both new and experienced users: it will guide them through the entire NaNoWriMo journey from start to finish. We've also integrated a responsive layout for phones and tablets, so writers can be inspired anywhere,” says Chris Angotti, Director of Programs.
The 2013 Published Author Line Up
An incredible lineup of authors will support writers participating in NaNoWriMo with letters full of wisdom and encouragement. These PepTalkers includes James Patterson, Lev Grossman, and Rainbow Rowell, who wrote the first draft of her criticallyacclaimed YA novel, Fangirl, during NaNoWriMo 2012. (For a full list of pep talkers, see the website http://nanowrimo.org/ ).
NaNoWriMo 2013 will also have five published authors take over its Twitter account as NaNoWriMo Coaches, answering questions and cheering on participants as they write, including Jason Hough, author of the New York Times bestseller The Darwin Elevator, first drafted during NaNoWriMo.
Expanded Programs
For the first time, Come Write In, a program that offers free resources and support to literacy related spaces, will expand beyond libraries and bookstores. Three hundred and ninety spaces, including cafes and community centers (and even an American style pizza restaurant in Japan), will become local beacons for creative writing through NaNoWriMo.
Debbie Millman, president of the design division at Sterling Brands, returns to run "30 Covers, 30 Days", which challenges designers to create a book cover for a participant's novel in progress in 24 hours. A celebration of the collaboration between design and writing, this program will inspire authors and provide prints for an Art of NaNoWriMo event in winter 2014.
National Novel Writing Month is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that believes stories matter. Through our programs, including the Young Writers Program, the Come Write In program, and Camp NaNoWriMo, we work hard to empower and encourage vibrant creativity around the world.
Press Contacts
Hannah Rubin
Editorial Associate
hannah_rubin@nanowrimo.org
http://nanowrimo.org/
No comments:
Post a Comment