Karen Sinclair and Karen Fee
The 27th annual Ottawa Children’s Storytelling Festival will run from November 22 to 27. The festival will be held online through the Ottawa Public Library’s website with limited in-person seating at the Odawa Native Friendship Centre.
While in-person storytelling provides the richest experience, “the move online in 2020 because of COVID-19 resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of families attending the festival,” said Festival Coordinator Ruth Stewart-Verger.
Listening to stories builds self-confidence and creativity, and teaches an appreciation for the arts. It improves memory and concentration‒woe betide a parent or grandparent who has tried to skip a paragraph or two in a favourite bedtime story. “But you didn’t say . . . !”
Proven to benefit children’s mental and emotional health, storytelling is also an effective way to transmit cultural knowledge, beliefs and values, and is a powerful tool for socialization.
Storytellers at this year’s festival reflect the experiences, wit and wisdom of Indigenous people, Francophones and Anglophones. By listening to stories from other cultures, children broaden their emotional intelligence and empathy, identifying what feelings they have in common rather than focusing on differences.
Jacqui Du Toit, Kitchissippi’s storyteller, actor and educator, describes a storyteller as someone who takes an audience on a journey, who bridges the gap between reality and imagination.
“They open the door and help the audience step into their imagination. Stories breathe life into children. And that’s what children and youth need right now! Stories that help them figure out what is happening in their world.”
Jacqui was born, raised and educated in theatre arts in South Africa. After moving to Ottawa in 2008 she found that she missed the diversity, colours and vibrancy of the arts community in Cape Town.
It was tough breaking into the Ottawa arts scene, especially for a non-white creator.
In an interview with the Ottawa Citizen in July 2020, Jacqui said, “I was only seeing one kind of theatre on stage . . . and that was white theatre. British white theatre. I didn’t see any Inuit, Indigenous, African or Caribbean theatre. I was so frustrated by what I was seeing and the rejections.”
Jacqui’s enthusiasm and love for her craft is infectious. “Imagination is limitless but we tend to shut it down as we get older.” Stories have existed since the beginning of time and storytelling in all its formats around the world enables “cross-pollination, a weaving of reality and imagination.”
For her, it always comes back to the beginning of time. “We can look at how to inspire the next generation,” to apply lessons learned not only from each other but from the “four-legged and winged creatures.”
Jacqui’s tales of that Trickster Rabbit – Traditional stories from her South African homeland, will be presented on Tuesday, November 23 at 12:30 p.m.
The festival will be available for free on the Ottawa Public Library website’s Kids’ Zone. Contact the festival at 613-722-8402.
Karen Sinclair is a local author and storyteller, and Karen Fee is a storytelling grandmother. Both are members of Ottawa Storytellers.