 | Laxmi Balaji Laxmi Balaji is a storyteller from India, currently residing in Canada with her husband and 2 kids. She is a founder of a storytelling service named “Sagas-R-Us”. She is the recipient of 2023 the ‘Emerging Storyteller Award’ by the Storytellers of Canada organization (SC-CC), and an Apprentice teacher in the Parent Child Mother Goose Program. She started her storytelling journey when reading books with her elder one. She discovered that kids get excited if the stories are narrated with expressions and voice modulations instead of just reading them. After gaining fluency, she started telling stories at community centers and preschools in 2016. Since then she has volunteered storytelling at various events in schools and libraries. She has a sweet spot for telling Indian mythological stories and various folktales. She perfectly weaves stories in both the languages Tamil and English. She believes that in today's busy schedule, telling and hearing stories in a traditional way will enhance the imagination and calm the mind. |
| Stéphanie Bénéteau Stéphanie Bénéteau studied literature and education before discovering her true vocation as a professional storyteller, a career she has been pursuing full time since 1995. She has performed in English and in French, for children and for adults, in venues all over Québec, Canada, and Europe. She toured Ontario as part of the Canadian Children’s Book Week in 2002. Her show of erotic stories from the Arabian Nights was chosen to tour the Montreal Maisons de la Culture as part of the Conseil des arts en tournée. She won the Ours d’or, the audience award for the Contes Nomades in Ottawa. Her storytelling CD Dreaming Tall: Stories for Growing Girls won the Parents’ Choice Gold Award. She received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec to create her three long shows, Tristan and Iseult, Perseus and King Arthur and his Two Swords. She has created a unique storytelling workshop which she brings to students in underprivileged neighbourhoods. She has lectured at Concordia and McGill Universities, given workshops and training sessions at many professional conferences and mentored several young storytellers through the Regroupement du Conte au Québec, the provincial storytelling association. She has been director of the Festival interculturel du conte de Montréal since 2015. Stéphanie tells in a lyrical, feminine voice touched with humour. She brings ancient stories from the oral tradition back to life, with the goal of making them relevant to the twenty-first century. |
| Mariella Bertelli Mariella Bertelli, storyteller and librarian, is a bilingual storyteller, as comfortable in telling in English as she is telling in Italian, as much at ease telling rhymes to babies as she is telling stories to seniors. She has translated, adapted and told stories from Boccaccio’s Decameron and Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso and many Italian fairy tales. Her repertoire includes folk and fairy tales, literary, personal and original stories based on her background and life experience. Over the years she has collaborated with other storytellers to create shows that blend many of the visual and performing arts with storytelling – including the Bankelsang Project, Alice Then and Now, A Night at Boccacio’s, and three Toy Theatre shows: Masetto, Alibech, Cinderella or the little shoe. She has performed at National and International Festivals and events in Canada, the US, South Africa, Belgium and Italy for many years. |
| Pat Bissett Pat loves telling stories from two line nursery rhymes to Canadian historical epics with many world folk and fairy tales in between |
| Susan Ida Boucaud Susan Ida Boucaud, based in Toronto, Canada, can often be found listening to or telling stories at 1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling in Toronto, Ontario. She has and continues to share stories both in person—with children and adults—and online with adult audiences and has co-produced a variety of storytelling events. A retired social worker with a Master of Social Work and over 35 years of frontline experience, Susan now volunteers on several storytelling boards. |
 | Michael Boulger Michael Boulger has been telling stories since he first got in hot water with his mother. Later he realized he could engage children by improvising tales from their suggestions. He can be regularly found telling tales at bedtime and on long car trips. Once a year Michael gets off the couch to write and perform the next installment of his series called “Twelve Tales Told New” - stories inspired by pictures from a calendar. |
| June Brown June’s love of storytelling started in childhood when she heard her first ghost story around a campfire. The excitement she felt as the oral tale filled her imagination made her want to tell stories herself. Based in Toronto for the last forty years, she has told her tales to adults and children in libraries, schools, senior centers, museums, cafes, Rotary and Probus clubs, and Storytelling Festivals. June likes to use humor, music, props, and audience participation to keep her audience engaged. Her repertoire includes folktales, personal stories, legends, myths, and environmental stories. June is a member of the Storytellers of Canada–Conteurs du Canada, Storytelling Toronto, and the York Storytelling Guild. She is a regular teller at Toronto’s 1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling. |
| Jeffrey Canton Jeffrey Canton has, over the last three decades, shared original stories that dig deep into the strata of Toronto’s history as well as, with a little soft-shoe and a gay show tune or two, his own queer past. He’s a long-time member of the Queers in Your Ears storytelling collective. Most recently he appeared at the Hamilton Fringe with Marcus Peterson in “Coal from Hades: The Story of Les Mouches Fantastique” and as part of Myseum Intersections 2017 with “No More S#&%!”: Stories from the 1981 Toronto Bathhouse Raids”. |
| Natasha Charles Natasha Charles’ first storytelling performance was at six years old, recounting Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox to her mom. Entering the Toronto storytelling realm in 2014, Natasha has since performed in various storytelling events, including some Toronto Storytelling Festivals. She is a member of the York Storytelling Guild and The Ten Tellers. Natasha’s varied story cache includes fairytales and myths from both living and dead cultures. She is especially drawn to dark twisted tales with inhabitants from the gloomy realms of our worst nightmares. And cats, cats often run through her stories. You can find her in the Storytelling Toronto Directory. |
| Kesha Christie Kesha Christie is a phenomenal storyteller, speaker, and cultural educator renowned for her captivating performances that bring African and Caribbean folktales to life. As the founder of Talkin’ Tales, she has dedicated over a decade to using storytelling as a tool to inspire, educate, and connect audiences of all ages. A TED Talk speaker and host of Walk Good: African and Caribbean Folktales—ranked among the Best Caribbean Podcasts of 2024 by Feedspot—Kesha has graced major cultural events and festivals, seamlessly weaving humor, wisdom, and history into every tale. Passionate about preserving oral traditions, she also leads workshops on storytelling, public speaking, and leadership for youth and adults. Whether on stage, in classrooms, or through digital media, Kesha’s storytelling leaves a lasting impact. She is honored to be part of the Toronto International Storytelling Festival, sharing stories that celebrate resilience, identity, and the power of voice. |
Rita Cox Rita Cox is an award-winning, master storyteller who has performed across North America, in Europe, Brazil and the Caribbean, on stage, radio and television. She teaches courses, leads workshops and seminars, and performs for adults and children. She has been on the Board of Storytelling Toronto and has served as chairperson. Her stories have appeared in many anthologies and school readers. She tells stories from the Caribbean, Africa and around the world. Rita was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1997 and is a recipient of honourary degrees from York and Wilfred Laurier Universities and of the 1995 Black Achievement Award. On Oct 22, 2008 the City of Toronto dedicated a new park in honour of Dr. Rita Cox, community activist, librarian and renowned storyteller. |
Ruth Danziger Ruth Danziger is a storyteller, workshop facilitator and multidisciplinary artist. She has edited two collections of stories, Grandmother Spider and I Bring You a Story. She is a frequent teller at the Toronto festival of storytelling, regularly hosts the Story Tent for Storytelling Toronto and has told in venues that include Harbourfront, Village of Storytellers, the Mosaic Festival, Word on the Street, Afrofest, Parent-Child Mother Goose and Spiral Garden. She has participated in several multidisciplinary events including Love Stories from the Mahabarata and a new music version of The Handless Maiden at the Ada Slaight Theatre. She is a founding member of the improvisational voice collective Hathorah which performed at Nuit Blanche for several years. Ruth is a multifaceted storyteller who is adept at telling to young children as well as to adults. |
| Donna Dudinsky An award-winning documentary film producer, Donna Dudinsky gave up the world of film and television for the world of storytelling. She’s been telling stories professionally, in English and in French, for more than 25 years. Telling old tales to the young at heart, she specializes in folk tales from around the world, often blending music into her performances with a variety of French-Canadian folk songs and traditional ballads. Donna has told at storytelling festivals, schools, libraries, and concerts across Canada and was selected for Canadian Children’s Book Week. A frequent host and teller at 1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling and the StoryTent, an organizer of concerts live and online (including Toronto Tells and Dream in High Park), Donna works tirelessly to promote the art. During the pandemic, Donna was invited to perform at concerts in England, the U.S. and India. |
Ron Evans Ron Evans is a Chippewa-Cree Métis elder. He grew up in one of the last semi nomadic bands in western Canada and Montana. This was at a time when his people still survived by hunting, fishing, trapping and seasonal farm or ranch labour. He attended school when they were camping near a country school house, but much of his education was with his traditional elders. He does not regard himself as a storyteller but as a keeper of his people's lore, history and traditions which are told in the form of stories. |
| Howard Kaplan Howard is an occasionally performing songwriter who has found a comfortable home for his work among the storytelling community. He has been active in that community since the early 1990s, although he was already an active songwriter for about ten years before that. Many of his songs are narrative, some of those being retellings of historic events and some others being reinterpretations of ballads or traditional tales. Given his advancing age, he has decided to transition from obscure to semi-retired without ever passing through famous. He served for about eight years as the Secretary of 1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling in Toronto, and for an overlapping but not identical eight years he was in charge of our sound amplification system. He has a web site at www.thrinberry-frog.com, and there are a few of his songs available as audio files on Soundcloud. |
| Anna Kerz Anna is an accomplished storyteller with a wide repertoire of tales that touch the heart and tickle the funny bone. She is known for her family stories, many of which tell about her early years as an immigrant child in Toronto’s Kensington Market and about life-lessons learned the hard way. Anna tells to listeners of all ages in schools and libraries, at community gatherings and at various festivals. In schools she is happy to work with librarians and teachers from JK to grade twelve in order to prepare multicultural programming that supports and enhances the teaching of character traits as well as aspects of the Ontario curriculum pertaining to history, language arts or the various holiday celebrations. |
| Shayna Jones Shayna Jones (she/her) is an award winning actor, a playwright, a folklorist, and a multi-disciplinary spoken word artist specializing in the traditional oral storytelling of African and Afro-Diasporic lore. As a professionally trained performer, vocalist, and fine mover, Shayna has crafted performances for countless audiences across Canada featuring Afro-centric Folk History, Folklore, and Contemporary Experience. Learn more about Shayna and her work at: www.wearestoryfolk.com |
Lost Rivers The objective of Lost River Walks is to encourage understanding of the city as a part of nature rather than apart from it, and to appreciate and cherish our heritage. Lost River Walks aims to create an appreciation of the city’s intimate connection to its water systems by tracing the courses of forgotten streams, by learning about our natural and built heritage and by sharing this information with others. The Toronto Green Community started Lost River Walks to help us discover the fascinating world of the watershed beneath our feet. This site is the start of a field book on the lost streams of Toronto. Bits of our city’s history, both natural and built, are included. Those interested can take a virtual lost creeks walk, or better, use the information to take a self-guided tour. Come explore nature hidden under our city and along its ravines and byways. |
| Celia Lottridge Born in Iowa, Celia moved to Toronto in 1975. Before that she lived in many places including California, Kansas, New York City, Rhode Island and Boston. Celia is a teller of traditional and original stories to adults and children. She is a co-founder of Storytelling Toronto, co-founder and former director of the Parent-Child Mother Goose Program and author of many award-winning children's books including retellings of folktales and novels based on family stories. She has been telling stories in libraries, schools, community events and everyday life and teaching storytelling for decades but has gradually been focusing more and more on writing, traveling and enjoying family and friends. |
| Laurie Malabar Laurie enjoys telling fairy tales, folk tales and personal stories with a sprinkle of humour added to on-line and in-person audiences. Enchanting listeners of all ages in schools, libraries, community art events including the Toronto Festival of Storytelling, the Royal Ontario Museum, local Earth Day celebrations and corporate events, has been her delight. Workshops on building storytelling knowledge and skills with child care providers, primary, middle school, high school and college staff, continues to thrill her. A long standing member of Storytelling Toronto and the York Storytelling Guild, Laurie can be found most Friday nights telling stories at 1001 Friday Nights Of Storytelling in Toronto. |
| Nicholas Miceli Nick is a long time supporter of 1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling, and a former board member of Storytelling Toronto. His credits include appearances in The Toronto International Festival of Storytelling, and The Storytellers of Canada/Conteurs du Canada conference. He has published the storytelling CD Dragon on the Mountain. He has studied with Celia Lottridge, Marylyn Peringer, Mariella Bertelli and Geoffrey Canton. |
| Pete Moss Pete Moss is an acclaimed children's musician and child psychotherapist candidate who connects people of all ages with the natural world. Drawing inspiration from everyday birds, plants and weather, Pete’s playful, folksy style and sophisticated songwriting has been featured on CBC's Here and Now, Owl Magazine and City TV. With lines proclaiming “the sun, the moon, the stars are shining, in one dandelion” and referring to Chickadees as the “timbits of the sky”, Pete’s songs inspire empathy, wonder and affection toward living things. Pete’s work is grounded in the principle that building genuine relationships between young people and local environments encourages care as they grow. His goal is to shine a light on local living things that are often overlooked in media and creation. Red Winged Blackbirds, Milkweed plants and Juncos are brought to life through joyous, catchy, often emotionally impactful pieces. In addition to his work as a children’s musician, Pete offers guided hikes, nature play pop-ups and school programs in communities across Ontario. |
Dr. Moyo Mutamba Dr. Moyo Rainos Mutamba is a lecturer, musician, storyteller, consultant and community builder. Moyo is interested in understanding mindsets and structures of Othering as well as embodied responses to challenging Othering. He is also curious about the deployment of Black/Indigenous thought and praxis in imagining life-affirming futures and cultures of belonging for all. Moyo is the co-founder of Ubuntu Learning Village, a rural hub for embodied learning around food sovereignty, arts, cultural reclamation, and trans-local community-building, and the Ubuntu Free School (UFS), an Ubuntu-centred learning space for children located in Gutu, Zimbabwe. |
| Clare Nobbs Clare Nobbs has told stories for as long as she can remember. Her greatest storytelling influence was the mesmerizing, late Helen Porter. A member of Queers In Your Ears since 1997, Clare has told in libraries, at schools, conferences, and festivals across Ontario and as far away as Newfoundland. Clare is grateful for all the opportunities to explore and share tales of emerging into, living and breathing queerness with such a creative bunch of tellers. She is equally grateful to the family, friends, and allies who have supported QIYE since their very first performances. |
| Maria Ordonez Maria del Carmen Ordonez is a Canadian Ecuadorian Storyteller and Educator who tells stories in Spanish and English to families, children, and adults. Since 2007 she has been telling in Festivals, libraries, schools, and community events with the Parent Child Mother Goose Program. She joined Storytellers for Children and Storytelling Toronto. She loves to tell Folktales from Latin American Oral Tradition with strong women that value Nature. She is dedicated to collecting stories for children that foster human values and respect for Nature, and for all Indigenous and Black communities. Maria del Carmen is a Teacher Trainer for the Parent Child Mother Goose Program and has delivered several Storytelling Workshops in Spanish in Ecuador and in Kitchener Waterloo, as part of the project Newcomer Story Tellers in the Community. She believes that stories are the mirrors of our lives, and that storytelling is a deep personal journey. |
Otsistohkwí:yo Otsistohkwí:yo is Kanyen’kehá:ka/Mohawk from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory and is a second language Kanyen'keha/Mohawk speaker. She studied Kanyen'keha/Mohawk for 3 years at Onkwawenna Kentyohkwa, an Adult Mohawk Immersion Program in Six nations. She has taught for over 7 years in the Skaronhyase’kó:wa (Everlasting Tree School) as an Early Years teacher in the Kanen’shón:’a Early Years program – the first Canadian Indigenous Waldorf Inspired school. She is a trained Waldorf Early Years Teacher, a recent graduate of the New Adult Educator program, a member of WECAN’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access committee, and an affiliate of the Haudenosaunee and Waldorf Initiative (HAWI). Otsistohkwi:yo is a practiced storyteller of traditional stories in both Kanyen'keha/Mohawk language and english - to which she has been telling stories daily for over 7 years. Otsistohkwi:yo specializes in telling stories to children and families, but also tells stories to adults/youth. She provides training to other educators on how to use storytelling & song as a means of educating, teaching language, culture and healing. |
| Replay Storytelling Replay Storytelling is a live show based in Toronto, where people tell true personal stories from their own lived experience. We create a safe and open space for sharing vulnerable moments. These are our true stories replayed from the memories we hold. |
| Carol Ribner Carol Ribner M.A. started attending 1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling in 2016. She had recently retired from her job as a psychotherapist/ addiction counselor at an Ontario hospital where she often used metaphor and stories in an informal way withher clients. She has become a regular teller and MC at 1001 Friday Nights, telling personal stories often about her scientist father. She has also been a feature teller at Boston’s StorySpace and a co- presenter for OARS in the Water presented by the Healing Story Alliance. Carol co-produces the storytelling project “Her Voice Returns” along with Susan Ida Boucaud which offers on-line storytelling concerts focusing on women’s experiences and the “Feminine Principle.” |
Ronit Rubinstein As a playwright, Ronit Rubinstein's work has been produced and read across North America; as a storyteller, she has been performing on various Toronto stages for the past ten years. Currently, she is attempting to make those two pursuits meet in the middle with her first full-length solo storytelling show, Things My Dad Kept, which recently debuted at Replay Story Fest, and will have a full run at this summer's Toronto Fringe Festival. Like most of her stories, it is equal parts funny, sad, and Jewish. When she's not performing or writing, Ronit spends her time helping people do better on standardized tests, and cuddling the world’s most enthusiastic cockapoo, Moishe. |
Rubena Sinha Rubena Sinha is a storyteller based in Toronto, Ontario, who uses her extensive knowledge and experience of South Asian myth and dance to weave stories of life, love, heroes and demons. Using movement and text, Rubena creates a world in which the listener encounters talking animals, her family members, and Gods and Goddesses of the Hindu pantheon. Her stories are often interwoven to incorporate her own personal experience as an immigrant. Rubena’s work as a storyteller was honoured with a nomination for the Joanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize in 2025. Rubena also performs with Diana Tso as a duet telling the story of Monkey King and Monkey Queen. www.rubysinha.com |
Jamie Thompson Jamie Thompson is a member of the flute faculty of the Royal Conservatory, and is a founding member of The Junction Trio. Combining classical music with urban exploration, Jamie celebrates space with sound on his blog, Urban Flute Project. |
| Lynn Torrie Lynn Torrie is a Toronto storyteller with a passion for traditional folk tales and Canadian history. Her original adaptations have been told at festivals, schools, museums and online. When not telling stories herself, she teaches workshops in storytelling and coaches emerging tellers. She is a member of the York storytelling Guild and a regular host at Storytelling Toronto’s StoryTent, 1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling and StorySwap Canada. |
| Teajai Travis Teajai Travis is a multidisciplinary creative with a focus on storytelling. He is the current Multicultural Community Storyteller for the City of Windsor, the Executive Director of Artcite Inc., and the founder and director of Sacred Story Studio and The Windsor Storytellers Collective. As an arts educator, Teajai has created and curated a catalog of lesson plans that bridge multiple disciplinary arts with the expectations of the public school curriculum. For more than 10 years Teajai has worked as an education consultant and professional development workshop facilitator with multiple school boards, universities and colleges; local and abroad. With his wealth of experience, Teajai is now welcoming the corporate community to engage with his style of strategic and holistic leadership. He is now opening a limited amount of community building workshops tailored to enhance and transform the collaborative dynamic of any work environment. |
| Diana Tso Diana Tso 曹楓 is a theatre artist, playwright, storyteller and Dora award winning actor. She graduated from the University of Toronto in English Literature and Ecole Internationale de Théâtre de Jacques Lecoq in France. She’s worked with diverse theatres internationally for over 25 years. Performances include: Modern Times Stage Company’s The Cherry Orchard, Theatre Smith-Gilmour’s Les Misérables and at the 2017 Stratford Festival in Bakkhai and The Komagata Maru Incident. Upcoming 2026: performing in Theatre Smith-Gilmour’s ensemble of Pu Songling’s stories. As artistic director of Red Snow Collective, her productions focus on empowering women. Her plays, Red Snow (2012) and Comfort (2016) bring to light the resilience of women in war and Monkey Queen (2018) re-imagines mythology from the female perspective. Most recently her play, Carried by the River (2025), inspired by China’s one-child policy and the familial ties between mothers and daughters, premiered in Toronto. Her plays are available at https://www.canadianplayoutlet.com/products/the-monkey-queen-by-diana-tso |
| Heather Whaley Heatherhas been creating programs and performing storytelling and music to both children and adults for over thirty years in just about every venue you could imagine! Her past experience working in a mid-size library for 13 years in Children's and Youth services provided many opportunities to develop programming skills, which eventually led her out in the community to a full time career as a presenter & performer. Her presentations are designed to entertain, address themes and issues that appeal to various ages, meet grade level curriculum in schools and transcend all ages (including adults) and cultures, and preserve the dignity and heritage they embody. She is instrumental in initiating and coordinating community programs and in facilitating workshops for youth and teachers. |
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