general information
Event Dates
Nov 15, 2008
Contact Information
508 N. Cusick Street
Maryville, TN 37804
Phone: 865-982-0981
Email Contact
places to stay
American Classic Suites - Maryville
thingstodo
“Two Telebrations Bring Storytellers to the Blount County Public Library"
Tellabration! for Elementary Children—Saturday, November 15, at 11:00 a.m.: The first Tellabration will be for elementary children and their parents in the Children’s Library.
For this free storytelling event, offered by members of Smoky Mountain Storytellers Association, storytellers will include Lovella Richardson, Janice Brooks-Headrick, Mary Peterson, Shirley Nicholson, Millie Sieber, and emcee Rick Love. They plan to tell The Ferocious Feline; God’s Well; Happy Birthday; Goodnight; I’ll Love You Forever, and an origami story.
Rick Love, emcee for this event, is also a teller of original stories, tall tales, historical fiction, spiritual, Native American and children’s stories. Drawing from his heritage of growing up in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, he crafts stories that present typical life in East Tennessee of the late eighteen hundreds through today, stories that transport listeners to another place and time.
Janice Brooks-Headrick enjoys sharing her life’s education by telling traditional tales, personal stories, wonder tales, spooky stories and the occasional tall tale. Her New York state background does not get in the way of her love of the mountains. Jan says, “Strange things happen in the Smokies….” She has performed in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and at numerous festivals in Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and New York. She is president of the Smoky Mountain Storytellers Association and a performing member of the Jonesborough Storytellers Guild.
Speech therapist Mary Peterson brings to the storytelling stage an Appalachian family history rich in the traditions of her Scots, English, and Germanic ancestry and a love of stories instilled into her consciousness by many hours of hearing her mother’s voice reading literary tales from the great classic collections. Hailing from Maryville, her specialty is humor and she particularly likes to use the vocabulary and colorful phrases of the Appalachian version of the Broad Scots dialect that was the language of her childhood. She will tell stories at the drop of a hat and has even been known to drop her own hat.
Lovella Richardson lives in Knoxville where she works as a Certified Financial Planner. She has been enthralled with storytelling for the last 23 years and has been telling non-professionally for more than 18 years. She likes to tell stories that hold a lesson for the listener: classic tales and personal stories. A former teacher, she has special stories for seniors, school children and church groups.
Millie Sieber grew up listening to her elders tell stories on her grandmother’s front porch. Today the Maryvillian tells stories from Tennessee and around the world, stories about ordinary people who do extra-ordinary things, HEroes, SHEroes and peace-builders. She tells true stories, as well as make-believe, and ghost stories. Her stories let listeners walk in someone else’s shoes and see life from another person’s point of view. Millie’s storytelling has fascinated adults as well as children from Georgia to New York state as well as Denmark and Sweden. Millie says, “Storytelling is too much fun to limit it to children!”
Alternate teller, Shirley Nicholson of Knoxville shares her storytelling skills weekly with clients of Lakeshore Institute. Her tales run the gamut from Cinderella Rap to a deep understanding of the history of Celtic folklore.
upcoming events
Nov 21, 2009
Standing Stone State Park 5-Mile Run
Hilham, TN
Nov 21, 2009
FCE Holiday Bazaar
Livingston, TN
Nov 21, 2009
Jonesborough Storytellers Guild Tellabration
Jonesborough, TN
Nov 21, 2009
Arts Third Saturday
Chattanooga, TN
Nov 21, 2009 - Nov 22, 2009
Centennial Holiday Show
Franklin, TN