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Welcome to
Healing Story Alliance
OARS in the Water
Wednesday, May 28th
7:00pm-8:30pm EDT
Hosted by Laura Simms & Regina Ross
Theme: Signal Fires
Join us for some reflective opportunities to share. Help us brighten the faces on Zoom.
OARS in the Water is a facilitated Zoom gathering that meets on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month at 7 pm Eastern Time. The Healing Story Alliance’s OARS in the Water offers a community listening space in which to share the experiences and stories that have emerged in turbulent times.
OARS co-hosts facilitate the evening and provide participants with a warm welcome and a meaningful theme which we hope will be healing, supportive and inspiring.
Format: A typical 90-minute meeting consists of a 20-minute, theme-based opening, followed by 20 minutes in breakout rooms, and then we reassemble for a whole group conversation.
NEXT AUTHOR INTERVIEW EVENT!
Join us for the next event in Healing Story Alliance’s series where authors are interviewed about their writing processes and the healing power of storytelling. Storytelling, unique among all narrative arts, engages listeners in a profound way, deepening our understanding of what healing means and how it functions.
In this session, noted storyteller/author Laura Simms will interview Dan Yashinsky about his award-winning book “Suddenly They Heard Footsteps”
Audience participation is encouraged, with opportunities to ask questions and share observations inspired by Dan’s work and the interview. This event benefits The Healing Storytelling Alliance, dedicated to promoting healing through the art of storytelling.
About the Author
Dan Yashinsky is a well-known Canadian storyteller, author, and community organizer. He received, in 1999, the first Jane Jacobs Prize to honour his contributions as a storyteller to enhance Toronto’s cultural life. He also received a 2009 Chalmers Arts Fellowship from the Ontario Arts Council. Dan founded the Toronto Festival of Storytelling (in 1979) and co-founded the Storytellers School of Toronto. He also began the longest-running open session in North America: 1,001 Friday Nights of Storytelling (in 1978). Dan has performed at festivals in Israel, Sweden, Norway, Holland, England, Wales, England, Germany, Brazil, Austria, France, the U.S., Singapore, and Ireland, as well as all across Canada. He is the editor of four acclaimed collections of Canadian storytelling (Next Teller – A Book of Canadian Storytelling; Ghostwise – A Book of Midnight Stories; At The Edge – A Book of Risky Stories; Tales for an Unknown City) and the author of Suddenly They Heard Footsteps – Storytelling for the Twenty-first Century (Knopf Canada), which won the 2007 Ann Izard Storytellers’ Choice Award, and Swimming With Chaucer (Insomniac Press). His recent books include: children’s book The Golden Apples (Running the Goat Books & Broadsides), which received a starred Kirkus review; and I Am Full – Stories for Jacob (Signature Editions).
About the Interviewer
Laura Simms is an internationally acclaimed storyteller, writer, and educator, advocating engaged storytelling as compassionate action for personal and community transformation. In these unprecedented times of climate change and increased aggression, she offers in-depth classes coaching, and powerful performances of stories that address the most pressing issues of our times with dignity, and joy.
NEWS! The Book upon which this concert is based has won a Storytelling World Award!
ABOUT the Healing Story Alliance Website
This website offers resources, guidance and practical applications for storytelling, revealing and reflecting the many facets of healing story in the world today and in the past. In addition to bibliographies, and links, there is a library of articles on Healing Stories and Storytelling. Our acclaimed Journal, Diving in the Moon: Honoring Story, Facilitating Healing, is available from 2013-2017 as an e-journal on the HSA website.
All authored writing on the Healing Story Alliance website is the copyrighted property of its author. These resources are intended for not-for-profit educational use. Any commercial use of resources on this website must be arranged directly with the author of the text or video.
Many are drawn to our site in search of answers or resources for dealing with the pain and tragedy of turbulent current events in the personal, social and global realms. This interest is addressed in our compilations of stories which we encourage you to explore.
- Healing Treasures: Stories intended to precipitate conversation, and guide teaching and healing with participants.
- Stories We Live: Personal stories and methods for gathering and applying life experiences as healing references.
- Stories for Children in Crisis: Compiled by Laura Simms, includes stories, articles, and links, drawn from years of research and professional work with children.
- Stories for Peace: storytelling in pursuit of peace and understanding.
- Healing the Earth: featuring stories contributed by storytellers working in environmental settings or on educational projects with an environmental theme.
HSA was a long standing Special Interest Group of the National Storytelling Network. In 2022 it became fiscally sponsored by Story Arts Inc, a NY state 501(c)(3) arts organization dedicated to the fine art of storytelling and to its educational applications. Story Arts is directed by Heather Forest. As a subsidiary project of Story Arts Inc., HSA functioned as a not-for-profit arts organization under Story Arts Inc.’s fiscal umbrella while establishing it’s own not-for-profit organization in New York State. In January 2023 HSA Inc. received IRS recognition as an independent 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Healing Story Alliance Inc is now an NSN Collaborative Partner.