Introducing Samuel Smith, a fresh voice in the realm of Appalachian storytelling, hailing from the enchanting town of Mountain City, Tennessee. For the past 25 years, Samuel has dedicated himself to educating young minds as a high school Spanish teacher, nurturing a love for language and culture in his students.

Now, he embarks on a new adventure, weaving tales that celebrate the vibrant tapestry of Appalachia. With a heart that finds solace in nature’s embrace, Samuel has spent countless hours exploring the untamed wilderness, traversing rugged trails and scaling lofty peaks. His passion for the great outdoors has ingrained in him a deep understanding of the region’s essence, inspiring him to share its untold stories with a wider audience.

Samuel’s storytelling prowess lies in his ability to breathe life into the ordinary people who have called Appalachia home. His narratives showcase the resilience, struggles, and triumphs of these extraordinary individuals, capturing the essence of their spirit and the unique cultural fabric that defines the region. Although new to the world of storytelling, Samuel’s dedication and enthusiasm shine through in every word he shares. With a genuine love for his craft and an unwavering commitment to honoring the traditions of Appalachia, he beckons listeners to join him on a captivating journey through time and into the hearts of the people who have shaped this remarkable corner of the world.

smithse9@etsu.edu

Jack is from Dorchester SC where he serves as Poet Laureate of the county. He has been telling stories for over 25 years in venues both large and small across the America. 

The Storytelling Arts Center of the Southeast by jury declared Shealy – the Bold-Faced Liar Champion.

With a twinkle in his eye, Shealy said, “of course I embellished the truth slightly.” The Mountain Xpress said in their opinion “Shealy exaggerates more than slightly.” The Tribune revealed that this upstanding local had been caught lying. It doesn’t matter if he is recalling a tale from his childhood, telling a story based on the Good Book or spinning a yarn you will be delighted listening to him stretch the truth all out of proportion.

Western North Carolina and East Tennessee

(828)581-4603
story@wallaceshealy.com
https://WallaceShealy.com

• Age Groups: Adult Audiences; Family Audiences; High School/Young Adult; Middle School; Senior Adults; Upper Elementary;
• Story Types: Bible/ Spiritual/ Sacred; Character Education; Family / Personal; Folk Tales / Fairy Tales/ Fables / Tall Tales; Ghost/ Scary; Holidays; Humor; Myths; Original; With Magic;
• Workshops: Business / Corporate; Educators; Librarians; Organizations; Religious Groups; Storytellers; Students;

Catherine Yael is a native of Asheville and spent much of her life in Western North Carolina– most recently in Waynesville. She is a product of a private Catholic girls’ academy education and degrees granted by 5 public and private universities: UNC-Asheville, Mars Hill University, UNC-Greensboro, NC State University, NC A&T University, and the Seminary at Beacon University, encompassing programs from concert piano, 20th Century European History and Political Science to Counseling and Theology. Catherine is a lifelong learner currently enrolled at ETSU to study Appalachian heritage and storytelling in spring 2020. She is celebrating her 48th year as a deliverer of human services, presently as a community mental health therapist in Johnson City. A singer of blessings and liturgy at her Shul, she is expanding proficiency in Hebrew and Yiddish and plans to serve the Israeli Defense Forces through the Sar El volunteer program in spring 2020.

Read more on her website

Joy is a graduate of ETSU’s Storytelling Certificate Program. 
Life has brought her from the tenements of Manhattan, to the 11th floor of a housing project in The Bronx, to the north shore of Eastern Long Island, and (finally, inevitably) to both Jonesborough, TN. and Leesburg, FL. (her forever homes).
Joy tells fairytales and folktales, reflecting themes of hope, love and forgiveness—and personal stories taken from the full and adventurous life she was blessed with.

Delanna Reed is a storyteller, teacher, mentor, and scholar. She began her teaching career and discovered storytelling in 1985 as a MA student at the University of North Texas. In 1999, after teaching communication and performance for 13 years, she brought her performance experience to the Master’s Program in Storytelling at East Tennessee State University. While teaching full time, Delanna completed her PhD in Cultural Studies in Education from the University of Tennessee in 2012.

Experienced in coaching students in dramatic performance, Delanna’s expertise is in guiding fledgling storytellers in character development and delivery skills. Her favorite courses to teach at ETSU encompass the basics of oral performance, including vocal delivery skills. Whenever possible, she offers electives in oral history collecting and performance. Delanna has told stories for children and adults in schools, conferences, festivals and at historic sites. She enjoys telling folktales, fairy tales and ghost stories from Appalachia, Texas and around the world. She particularly enjoys humorous stories and stories of strong women. Her favorite stories touch upon the sacred, explore relationships, and expand our understanding of humanity.

reeddk@etsu.edu

James (Jim) Priesmeyer is a retired Builder. During the course of his career he built businesses and buildings. The companies/organizations he helped build include a professional theater company, a stage rigging company and a historic preservation organization. The building projects included both commercial and residential with an emphasis or historic restorations. Jim grew up in a sleepy relaxed beach town in south Florida. Delray Beach is now unrecognizable to any native. Jim also lived on Florida’s gulf coast. He spent more than half of his life in North Carolina, mostly in the rural western mountains. He strives to be a student of history and the people who make it. Jim highlights individuals who have been part of the making of history, frequently without recognizing their own contribution. Jim would rather listen than talk. As he puts it “We are all part of history, big or small. By spending my time listening I’m given an opportunity to later share an experience as an observer, hopefully in a humorous mild mannered way.” Jim has lived in East Tennessee for about ten years and feels like he has finally gotten on the right side of the mountain.

Founding Member

Linda Poland, Jonesborough’s Resident Storyteller, also called “The Jonesborough Flame,” teaches storytelling at the John C. Campbell Folk School and is a founding member of the Jonesborough Storytellers’ Guild. Using her talents as a storyteller she was one of the first in the country to use of the art of storytelling when developing tours to share a town’s history. She has created award winning historical storytelling tour programs and directed Tennessee Humanities oral history projects throughout Tennessee and beyond. Because of these accomplishments she was officially honored in 1997 with the title of Resident Storyteller for the Town of Jonesborough, TN. This was and is quite an honor since Jonesborough is the home of the International Storytelling Center and the National Storytelling Festival. A Resident Storyteller is like a public minister in a foreign court that uses the art of storytelling to craft stories about people and places they represent.

Linda not only teaches storytelling, but she conducts a variety of workshops throughout the country that incorporate the use of storytelling for “Opening Doors for Change,” “Empowerment Through Stories,” and “Building Teams and Enhancing Teamwork Through Stories.” She has both original and traditional material, which enables her to custom design programs to fit any agenda. Her repertoire includes a multitude of stories collected over the years while traveling, teaching and telling.

There’s so much more to tell…for instance, Linda was born in a Florida avocado grove two weeks early and delivered by her father. That’s perhaps one of the reasons people who know her think that she steps to the toot of a different flute…but that’s another story.

In 2016 when Betty Ann Polaha signed up to audit a storytelling class, she never dreamed that three years later she would have earned a storytelling certificate and would be named Outstanding Storyteller Performer at East Tennessee State University.

Betty Ann was always a storyteller coming from a large family with lots of women who sat around the kitchen table telling stories. Betty Ann always thought they were just gossiping but upon moving to Tennessee she discovered that her relations were actually storytelling and that it was a genuine art and a career choice she wanted to pursue.

In 2017 Betty Ann became a member of the Jonesborough Storyteller’s Guild where she performs all kinds of stories that are impactful, poignant and purposeful. Her personal and original stories have unexpected comedy and her original ghost stories will have you on the edge of your seat.
Betty Ann was chosen to tell stories at the 2017 ETSU Donor Dinner where she told railroad stories to over 150 people. She also performed a one women show about the immigrants who came to work at the steel mills at the National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem Pa. Betty Ann tells wherever she gets the chance whether it’s a story slam, school, nursing home, civic group or most recently at the bedside of hospital patients.

Videos can be see at
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Betty+Ann%E2%80%99s+Story+Creations

ahalop1@hotmail.com

Since 1990, Leticia’s storytelling has enlivened audiences and educators across the U.S. in classrooms, libraries, and at festivals, fairs and conferences. Being a professionally trained musician, she masterfully intertwines song and music into her storytelling.

Leticia offers education-based programming in classroom based residencies, educator professional development, integration-based programming — all customized to fit your needs and audience. Leticia also knows how to connect the arts to the Common Core State Standards.

Sherrie grew up in Jonesborough with a large extended family hearing stories of farm life and old family values.

Her Granny Dunn and other special family members had a major impact on her life. After a successful career in accounting, project management, and marketing Sherrie had the desire to convert her business communications skills so she could share her treasured stories about her family.

Her personal and poignant stories had a wider appeal and Sherrie now shares them on stage

Cynthia Millhorn is an accomplished storyteller who ignites imaginations and hearts with her thoughtful, intriguing tales of human nature, myth, and spirituality.
Cynthia skillfully creates original fables, reimagines folktales, retells factual histories, and crafts inspiring personal stories that move and entertain audiences of all ages.
Her full-length theatrical storytelling shows blend storytelling, acting, and audience engagement in an innovative avant-garde fashion that has garnered artistic and academic acclaim.
Two of her original shows:
Daughters (Grimms Fairytales deconstructed, grounded, and reimagined)
And
Botticelli Babes (a comedic and compelling romp through women’s history)
Were featured in
The Atlanta Fringe Festival, the Asheville Fringe Festival, and have been showcased at a variety of art venues and theatres.
A performing member of the Jonesborough Storytellers’ Guild, Cynthia’s storytelling work focuses on educating, inspiring, healing, and entertaining audiences of all ages. 

The Conservatory by Cynthia & Co.
Master’s of Communication and Storytelling Studies
323.477.5392
theconservatorybycynthia.com

“Once upon a time,” my Grandfather would read to me, and I was totally enchanted. These fairy tales made perfect sense to me. The world that I lived in was full of magic: blossoms pushed out of the dead ground, rainbows spanned the sky, and every chicken provided a wish bone. Sometimes as I grew up, the line between fairy tale and my life became blurred. In Indiana I, too, was a princess awaiting discovery.

I was off on a grand adventure into the unknown. After my mother died when I was twenty, I graduated from college, sold everything I owned, and bought a one-way ticket to California for graduate school. No fairy tale heroine ever met more colorful characters than I did in Los Angeles in the 1970’s.

My first teaching job took me appropriately to the “Land of Enchantment.” As I taught Communication Education on the Indian pueblos, I learned about storytellers and stories which formed the texture of their culture. After several years, I went to another magical land famous for a castle, Hearst Castle. I taught at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo for twelve years: performance of literature, storytelling, and readers theatre. The more I taught about storytelling, the more my passion grew to become a teller and share the wonderful stories, no longer commonly known, with new generations. Fairy tales still made the most sense to me. They provided a world view consistent with my own. Many events could not be explained except through magic. People, even the most unlikely people, often surprised me with their goodness and strength. Every one, regardless of status, struggled and had to overcome challenges which were often overwhelming. Help comes from the most unexpected places. Kindness is never ever wasted. The ones who can never repay you and cost you your last resources are often the best people to help.

Motherhood altered my dream, from a theoretical to a practicing storyteller. The addition of a little listener brought forth all my need to share, to open worlds, to enchant with “Once upon a time.” I told stories in parks, churches, schools, and at birthday parties. My daughter’s birthday parties had themes of great stories: Cinderella, The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland.

My adventure finally brought me to the heart of the art: Jonesborough, Tennessee. Fairy tales are the best way for me to connect hearts, to encourage dreams, to grow faith. As George MacDonald said, “My imagination was baptized and converted by reading fairy tales, the intellect came later.”

I am celebrating the magic of storytelling in Jonesborough, reminding listeners by colorful re-telling of the excitement, wisdom, and joy found in fairy tales from all over the world.

Kiesa Kay, poet and playwright, learned the art of storytelling from her mother, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers. She found fairy tales and creation myths in boxes of books from an auction. Her works have been performed in venues in seven states, including Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, Berea College in Kentucky, and La Mama Experimental Theater in New York City. Kiesa penned her memoir, Tornado Alley, in her writing retreat in the south of France. She recently created a video series on Transforming Trauma through Creative Expression.  She loves stories that build strength. Kiesa leads writing workshops and has mentored 12 writers in bringing their books from concept to completion.

kiesakay@gmail.com
828-357-7434 

Emily finally realized what connects her various work in veterinary medicine, classroom teaching, and magazine publishing—it’s communication, and it’s storytelling. So she recently completed her Master’s studying both at ETSU. She currently splits her time writing, researching, performing, crafting, medicating cats, baking for her loved ones, and hanging out with her partner in their cozy hometown of Johnson City, TN.

Vianna Isbister is a dynamic multi-hyphenate performer and academic with a B.A. in Theatre and an M.A. in Communication and Storytelling Studies. Her work bridges the gap between the spoken and the unspoken, blending performance art with academic insights to craft narratives that resonate. Her work will be featured at the 2025 National Storytelling Network Conference and as author of a book chapter in Memorial Art in Rhetorical Discourse in 2026. She has performed with Night Owl Circus Arts (NOCA), East Tennessee State University (ETSU), Jonesborough Storytellers Guild (JSG), and online with Artists Standing Strong Together (ASST) to name a few. Vianna’s performances seek to connect with the hearts and minds of audiences across the spectrum as she is always excited to make new connections!

Some folks say that Judy was just naturally born talking and has never quit. She inherited her love of words and books from her writer mother and her appreciation of tall tales from her Father. Her inspiration for her “down home” stories come from a multitude of different, and possibly strange, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends and her earthy rural grandparents. Judy is a national award winning storyteller and has told stories from backyard picnics, to the “White House” on Pennsylvania Avenue. Whether sharing folk tales, fables, spiritual, historical, motivational, chilling stories or her heartwarming “Down Home Tales”, Judy’s warmth and energy shine through, having you laughing one minute and holding back a tear the next. She has traveled halfway across the world in search of finding and telling the perfect story. In addition to being a storyteller, Butterfly is also a professional clown, teacher and children’s entertainer. She may don a costume and include a touch of magic, face painting, balloons, music or puppets and ventriloquism in her stories, to the delight of her younger audiences. Butterfly’s Fun Company includes a long list of characters.

www.jbutterflyfarlow.com

Laurie Herlich loves living in rural northeast Tennessee, where Story is everything. She writes flash fiction and cozy mysteries in a converted garden hut situated in her backyard. Laurie is a regular contributor to www.christiandevotions.us and won a Selah award in the online devotion category as well as a first place for unpublished novella in the Foundation Awards. She is also a contributor/performer for Jonesborough, Tennessee’s StoryTown NPR Radio Show/Podcast, and is a story teller with the Jonesborough Storytellers Guild.

email: laurie@stoneknot.com

After many years of teaching elementary school,
Evelyn Edwards was retired and needed something to do. She made a phone call and talked with Dr. Sobel at ETSU who gave her good advice and welcomed her to take a storytelling class. Thereafter, there was one storytelling class after another, and by 2020 she amassed the required courses and earned a certification in storytelling. (With two graduate degrees in education, she did not pursue the ETSU storytelling masters.)

She joined JSG in 2020 and became a performing member in the summer of 2021. What a wonderful experience storytelling with the guild has been!
She has concluded that storytelling people are friendly, encouraging, and the kind of people everyone wants as friends!

Evelyn likes to tell stories to children and adults. She is always amazed when she looks at an audience of either grown-ups or youngsters because of their responses to stories. It’s magic to be telling a story, looking at the expressions of listeners, and to realize they are ready to hear what you have to say!

She enjoys volunteering with CASA, Sullivan County Imagination Library, teaching children at church, and naturally, volunteering at the Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough. Evelyn hopes to take classes in Appalachian Studies at ETSU sometime in the near future.

She would also like to be involved in storytelling projects in area elementary and secondary schools. “I am proud to be considered a performing member of Jonesborough Storytellers Guild,” she said.

email: edwardsev@hotmail.com
phone: 423-3848-6266

With a twinkle in her eye, Judy Donley describes her stories as “practically true…at least in my mind!”

She grew up in a large family of 12 children in Massachusetts who, with encouragement from their father, would share stories at the dinner table. “What did you learn today?” or “What did you do today that was interesting?” were common questions from Dad. The answers were sometimes funny, sometimes informative, and sometimes even scary. But it was part of their life…a way of communicating in those formative years. Looking back, she is thankful for her fascinating and close family and also for the many friends who have enriched her life by instilling in her a love of telling stories.

Her life has literally been full of adventures that she is looking forward to telling from the stage…such as joining the U.S. Air Force, marrying her husband, Jeff, who later joined the Navy. After she finished serving in the Air Force, she and her husband shared many escapades. She has lived in many states including New York, Maine, Maryland, and Alaska, and also Scotland and Guam. She and Jeff have always enjoyed traveling, which took her to many other states and countries.

But no matter where she has lived or traveled, she found that every place has its own beauty and magic. Every place offers adventures – all you have to do is reach out and experience it…and she did. She has flown airplanes, rode on motorcycles, gone scuba diving and sailing, worked at several airports and for a couple of airlines, and even built a robot.

When not telling stories, Judy author of her book “You’re Not from Around’ Here, Are You?” a collection of stories where Judy traversed from one place to another, exploring cultures and histories and embracing a sense of adventure. The book is available on Amazon.com.  Judy also is immersed in art. She is an award-winning artist and enjoys painting in a variety of media such as watercolor, pastels, oil, pen & ink, and acrylics.

artistwriterteller@mailfence.com
artistwriterteller.com
423-480-8932

“Guerry has performed her stories in concert, for conventions, cruises, festivals, church services, student groups of all ages, and house concerts.  

Themes include folk tales, fairy tales, personal stories, tall tales, roasts,  humor, and fantasy.  

Guerry believes the beauty of this very personal communication shines as it moves through healing, joy, learning, and community building.”