Live on ZOOM, through interviews and audience Q and A, we will explore together writers’ insights into the unique and powerful relationship between storytelling and healing. Through discussions with a wide array of authors from different disciplines and perspectives, we will deepen our understanding of what healing means, how it functions, and how storytelling can play a central role in the healing process.
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.