Everyone loves a good story, as the saying goes, and I think this year’s Jardin de Contes au Printemps has something to please everyone.
This virtual storytelling event is the French program of the Winnipeg International Storytelling Festival. It’s on until June 30th and it’s also completely free! Individuals, schools, and families can enjoy 39 online stories, told by 16 incredible storytellers, 24 hours a day.
Here are just five of the storytellers performing at this year’s festival:
Storyteller and world-traveller Myriame El Yamani draws her inspiration from people she has met all over the world. Travelling between the salty scents of Acadia, the multi-ethnic Montreal of today, the secrets of her grandmother from the Vendée, and the colours and arabesques of the Maghreb, Myriame says that the stories choose her, she doesn’t choose the stories.
Rob Malo (TiBert le Voyageur) is a storyteller with a passion for Franco-Manitoban and Métis history and culture, and also an author, musician, juggler, performer, historical interpreter, humourist, and community organiser.
Montrealer and musical storyteller Saulo Giri tells his stories in French, English, Spanish and sometimes Esfragnol. He believes that storytelling is a tool for development and growth, allowing the living memories of the world’s ancestors to be heard.
Saint-Boniface-born Marie-Ève Fontaine loves to tell stories. An actor and puppeteer, she recently played the role of Clémence in the tv series, Le monde de Gabrielle Roy,
Singer-songwriter, columnist, lecturer and poet Alexandre Belliard is the founder of “Légendes d’un peuple”, a vast historical and song-based project about Francophone America, from New France to the present day.
Image: Myriame El Yamani telling the story L’odeur du poulet farci, festival website.
Catherine Fisher, blogger
