Linda Poland

Founding Member and Performing 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.