Storytelling booms in the Northern Rivers

The Northern Rivers is set to see the world premiere of Totem, a collaborative storytelling event that will tour preschools throughout our region in October.

Totem tells the tale of a boy fascinated by all the little things in life – aka, bugs! – and is the newest addition to the creative library of professional storyteller, Leanne Logan.

“I wrote Totem in February, inspired by my collaborative storytelling work with children at Cawongla Playhouse last year,” Leanne explained. “Our focus was on the concept of ‘home’ and, given so many people in the wider community had lost their homes in the food, this concept seemed more relevant to explore than ever.”

Leanne said the deeper they went into ‘home’, the more obvious the connections were. “We could see lines weaving from our homes to the natural world - home to so many creatures and sentient beings - and of course to the Earth as home to us all.

“But in that mix I wondered where all the little, often unseen, creatures ftted in? Around that same time, the director of another preschool I work with said: ‘When are we getting an insect story?

The kids are nuts about them this year.’ So I wrote Totem, a story that celebrates insects and their vital role in the cycle of life, and incorporated the fact that it is often children who notice them more than anyone else.”

Totem is the 10th tale in Leanne’s residency lineup, which includes an array of captivating stories from goats and unicorns to snakes and space rockets.

“Audiences – adult and child – are hungry for oral storytelling,” Leanne told the Northern Rivers Times. “This year I am Storyteller in Residence at six Northern Rivers preschools. Next year it will be double that number. That means I’ll be telling stories every week to between one and two hundred children and educators. I can’t tell you how exciting this is!

Leanne said the boom in storytelling on the Northern Rivers mirrored a revival worldwide.

“Storytelling hubs are popping up everywhere, and there is good reason for this - stories transform us,” Leanne explained. “Through story we learn and connect. We hypothesise and wonder. And we tap into an age-old, proven knowledge transferral system that dates back millennia. My collaborative storytelling inspires children and educators to become the storytellers that we are all innately meant to be.”

And if recent feedback is anything to go by, Leanne’s onto something.

Melissa Leeson, Director of St Mary’s Community Preschool in Casino, said: “Storytelling honours the power of oral language and when Leanne delivers a story in their own versions of storytelling.” it becomes an interactive experience that speaks to the imagination of every child!”

Driving Leanne’s work now is a deep desire to grow the culture of oral storytelling within our educational settings.

St Mary’s educator, Kristy Murphy, added: ‘I just love the way Leanne engages the audience. It’s not one thing, but rather everything together that makes her stories so special.”

Bentley Community Preschool director, LeeAnne Gibson, agreed: “The children are invited to fll in parts with their own imagination, making them an important part of the story. After Leanne’s last story, a group of children gathered some resources for themselves and began singing the “Storyteller” song. I love how they utilize elements of Leanne’s Storytime into their own play, to become storytellers themselves.”

“To become storytellers themselves” is the theme across many preschools.

Coraki CWA Preschool Teacher, Suzie Carey, said: “Leanne’s stories provoke interest. The children will talk about her stories for hours and days afterwards. This provides the educators with an avenue to extend on the children’s voices following a storytelling session, and encourages the children to engage

“I hear preschool directors lamenting the fact that young educators coming out of training are lacking the skills of oral storytelling that were the norm 30 years ago,” Leanne said. “We are in a screen age where everything a child sees moves. Even reading a book is challenging for some children today. But with oral storytelling, you can use all sorts of props and unexpected elements to hold children’s curiosity and interest. It really is like waving a magic wand over them – they are mesmerized.”

According to Leanne, the key to great storytelling is simple - a good story and the confdence to tell it.

“Eight years ago, I would have described myself as a shy person. I was terrifed presenting stories at the preschool where I worked. But mastery of anything comes only with practise. I heard recently that it takes a decade to be a true master of any skill. Looks like I’ve got a couple more years to go! And the great thing is, in the meantime, many others are taking up the baton.”

Bentley Preschool Director, Lee-Anne Gibson, is one of those people. “I love the inspiration Leanne gives me to use different storytelling techniques and the confdence to try these.”

At the end of a storytelling session at Bentley recently, one fve-year-old told the group: “I’m going to be a storyteller when I grow up.”