Archivist, folklorist, teacher, singer and storyteller, Anita Best is a true renaissance artist in the Newfoundland folk / traditional scene. She has recorded on numerous albums, and has two of her own – The Colour of Amber (with Pamela Morgan) and Crosshanded, an a capella recording of twelve traditional Newfoundland ballads. While it is her singing which has made her famous, she remains a much-sought-after storyteller and has toured extensively telling and singing. Anita Best was the host and writer of a local CBC radio series, A Little Ball of Yarn, in 1995-96 which celebrated storytelling, and for years she ran a local concert series that combined music, readings, recitations and storytelling. For some time now, she has been preparing the stories of her father-in-law Pius Power Sr., an acclaimed storyteller from Placentia Bay, for publication. Best is from Placentia Bay herself, and tells stories from that region and other regions of Newfoundland.

Based in Corner Brook, Elinor Benjamin has been one of the great forces and sources of storytelling on the west coast of Newfoundland for more than fifteen years. She performed in libraries for many years, while working in the provincial library system’s administration. Now a full-time storyteller, she works for the school board promoting arts in the classroom. She has told stories across the island and across the country. In 2003, she toured Quebec for Canadian Children’s Book Week.

Chris Brookes is an award-winning independent radio producer whose documentary features are heard in the U.S.A, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, England, Sweden, Finland, Canada and The Netherlands. He has also produced documentaries for network television, and is a published author and playwright. He seems to be obsessed with narrative, which makes him keep telling stories in hopes of one day getting them right.

Davy Cooper is an author, folklorist, storyteller, and member of the Shetland Folklore Development Group and the Shetland Amenity Trust. Davy is known for his repertoire of local traditional tales and stories taken from the Norse history of the Shetland Islands. He has published a book of Viking stories, and is regarded as an authority on local folklore, helping to educate locals and visitors on local legends, beliefs, and traditions. As he puts it, "it is so important, particularly in an age of computers and digital TV, to revitalise our traditions of folklore and storytelling." Davy told stories on the St. John's waterfront at the 2005 Viking Fair and Market, and we are pleased to have him back in Newfoundland.

Originally from the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland, Ford Elms is an accomplished storyteller and set dancer. His recitations of anything from Roald Dahl to Rudyard Kipling are always a favourite part of folk club open mic. He has told Newfoundland stories locally and at the Vancouver Folk Festival. Ford will host our opening Folk Night performance at the Ship Pub, and will act as one of the judges for the $200 Tall Tale Competition!.

Eleanor Dawson hails from Bay Roberts, Conception Bay. She has been singing all her life. One of the founders of the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival, Eleanor has a particular interest in traditional singing and has been a regular performer at local folk festivals. She is currently one of the hosts of the monthly ballad session at the Crow's Nest.

St. John's-based Darka Erdelji is originally from Slovenia. She holds a Master of Arts in Puppetry from DAMU (Prague, Czech Republic). As well as designing puppets for theatrical use, she also uses them for storytelling. She has presented her adaptations of traditional tales in Newfoundland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic.

Mary Fearon has been performing professionally since 1997. During that time, she has performed and ran workshops at a variety of festivals, schools and other events both here in Newfoundland & Labrador and in Australia. Her interest in traditional Newfoundland material inspired her to co-develop the book, Over The Big Fat Waves; A Collection Of Newfoundland & Labrador Rhymes, Songs and Language Games.

Gary Green has been telling stories for a number of years. He has told tales of the sea and local history to passengers aboard the schooner J&B, a tour boat operating mainly out of St. John's, NL and briefly out of Halifax, NS. Gary has performed at the Cape St. Mary's Festival and on television as part of the series Legends and Lore of the North Atlantic. He has presented to groups of children and seniors and is a valued contributor to the St. John's Storytelling Circle.

Dale Jarvis is a performer, researcher, writer and storyteller in St. John’s. As a storyteller, he has performed locally and at national and international storytelling festivals in Cape Breton, Montreal, Toronto and Whitehorse. He has also taught storytelling workshops from Red Bay, Labrador, to Calgary, Alberta. Since 1997, he has been spooking tourists and locals alike as host of the St. John’s Haunted Hike. The founder and driving force behind the St. John’s Storytelling Circle, Dale will join forces with visiting teller Dan Yashinsky for a late night performance of ghoulish and ghastly tales by candlelight in the Newman Wine Vaults

Actor, writer and director, Andy Jones is one of Newfoundland’s best-loved and most renowned performers. With the theatre collective SHEILA'S BRUSH, he worked to preserve, promote and adapt several Newfoundland tales, most notably Jack Meets the Cat, which was also an award-winning radio play. The script has been published in Dan Yashhinsky’s collection At the Edge: A Book of Risky Stories. He co-wrote with Philip Dinn Jack-Five-Oh, a storytelling play which marked the 50th anniversary of Newfoundland’s entry into Canadian confederation, and which continues to tour. An accomplished storyteller, in the more traditional sense, Jones has taken his work with local “Jack” tales into schools. In 2003, he and Dinn published Peg Bearskin, their adaptation of a traditional tale from Placentia Bay. Andy will act as our host for our second annual Tall Tale Competition.

Widely known and highly respected on the island as a teller of traditional and community tales, Alice Lannon lives in Southeast Placentia. She has told stories at festivals, workshops and special heritage events, and credits her gift as a storyteller to her grandmother. Alice's performance was a highlight of our first two festivals; we are delighted to welcome her back this year.

Nelson Michaud a d'abord enseigné aux enfants, leur a conté des histoires de TiJean. Sa voie était alors toute tracée et comme tous les chemins mènent à Dalhousie (Nouveau Brunswick), il n'a pu s'empêcher de continuer les histoires. Si vous n'avez jamais goûté à la soupe à n'a importe quoi, il vous manque quelque chose. Et peutêtre, en écoutant bien, pourrezvous découvrir pourquoi le diable a perdu son pacte dans la Baie des Chaleurs. Nelson commence aussi à faire des ateliers de contes dans les écoles du Nouveau Brunswick.

Alice Moores was born in Labrador, and has lived there all her life. Alice grew up listening to stories and hearing music in her home and became interested in telling stories about four years ago. She believes that storytelling is a great way to preserve the history of our province, as well as it being a part of our culture. Alice works as a heritage presenter at Red Bay National Historic Site, and has been one of the people involved with developing a storytelling-based interpretation program for the site, sharing stories about Basque life in 16th-century Labrador. In addition to telling stories, Alice enjoys music, plays the guitar, sings, and volunteers with several groups within her community. She also enjoys spending time with her three children and her four-year-old grandchild.

The Nippik Inuit Drummers, (Inuktitut for 'The Human Sounds or voice of Inuit Drummers'), were founded in April, 2006. The Nippik Inuit Drummers represent Inuit culture from Labrador within the urban context of St. John's. The group chooses to present traditional symbols of their distinct Inuit culture with aspirations of making it visible to a wider audience. It is hoped, that in the struggle for recognition of their distinct culture, they will reinforce historically and rooted Inuit traditions and values, advocate use of their native language, Inuktitut, and revive dying traditions. The Nippik Inuit Drummers perform mainly traditional Inuit music which includes throat singing and drum dancing. (website)

Jim Payne has been a professional performing artist and writer for over 20 years starring in RISING TIDE THEATRE'S REVUE series and numerous other productions. Long known as a leading performer and collector of Newfoundland traditional music (JIM PAYNE & FERGUS O'BYRNE, CROWD OF BOLD SHAREMEN, SODS & RHYMES), he is one of the province's most appreciated songwriters with songs like Wave over Wave to his credit. He also runs his own music company, SingSong, the largest folk music label in Newfoundland. He is also a storyteller of considerable reknown, and a step dancer and instructor and caller of traditional Newfoundland set and square dances. He has performed extensively on radio and television both in Canada and abroad, and has toured throughout North America, the US, Europe, Japan Australia and even Antarctica. (website)

Tobias and Gerard Pearson were born in Merasheen, Placentia Bay, to Aggie Wilson and Cecil Pearson. Their grandmother, Kate Wilson, was a powerful traditional singer who passed her songs to the boys and their mother. Tobias and Gerard also learned the old songs from their father, whose origins were in Petit Forte, Placentia Bay. The brothers have performed at various folk festivals in Newfoundland. As well, Tobias has performed at traditional music gatherings in Boston and New York. Gerard's lovely tenor voice and Tobias's sense of humour place them in high demand at folk festivals and ballad sessions. They will perform traditional murder ballads in a special late night session of murder ballads in the Newman Wine Vaults.

Helen Fogwill Porter was born and grew up in St. John's, Newfoundland, where she still lives. She has been writing professionally for thirty-five years and has published across Canada and overseas. She writes fiction, non-fiction, poetry, humour, drama, and criticism. Most of Porter's work is set in St. John's; she is keenly interested in regional speech. Helen has just completed her second novel, Finishing School. She is a favourite recitationist at the monthly St. John's Storytelling Circle, and we are delighted to have her at the festival for the first time this year.

Multi-instrumentalist and storyteller, Kelly Russell has been performing professionally since 1975. He was an original member of such landmark groups as FIGGY DUFF and THE WONDERFUL GRAND BAND. He has worked closely for many years with legendary fiddlers Rufus Guinchard and Emile Benoit, learning, recording and documenting their unique music. He has also been active in reviving the art of storytelling and recitation; inspired by his late father, Ted Russell (creator of The Chronicles of Uncle Mose - Tales from Pigeon Inlet), Kelly performs at local events and festivals. A cultural ambassador, Kelly has performed in such countries as England, Ireland, France, Sweden, Denmark, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, Spain, the USA and many times across Canada. Kelly will be one of the performers featured in this year's school outreach program, bringing his tunes and recitations into local schools. (website)

Anita Savoie. De son père, qui, soir après soir, faisait rêver les gens avec ses contes des Mille et une nuits Anita a eu la piqûre. Elle a décidé, maintenant qu'elle est grandmère, de prendre le chemin de la parole conteuse pour notre plus grand plaisir. Elle a participé aux Parlures d'Acadie 2006. En 2007, elle a présenté des spectacles durant la Semaine du patrimoine et de la fierté française dans les écoles. En 2007, elle a conté au Festival de conte De Bouche à Oreille et aux Fêtes de la Nouvelle-France ainsi qu'à deux soirées en France. Tout récemment elle a participé au 3ième Festival Internationale du conte et de la Parole en Acadie.

The Telling Theatre.  Imagine how you would feel if you were the King of Denmark in the 700th century with gold, glory and a big reputation. Your only problem was a 500-pound ugly and fetid troll, named Grendel, killing your men at random. Maybe you would call it a true nightmare, but storytellers 1300 years later call it the magnificent beginning of a great story. The almost true story of Beowulf has developed into a deep personal engagement for performing artist Jesper la Cour Andersen. For 1 ½ years he recounted the story on the scene of the crime, at the edge of the Sacrificial Bog, only a few hundreds yards from the original ruin of King Hrothgar's hall, near Copenhagen, Denmark. After choosing an old watering-can as his instrument, Troels Kirk Ejsing began his engagement in Jesper's story, incorporating music and sound effects. Join Jesper and Troels as you sit face to face around a Viking longship. The distance between the action and the audience is minimal - you feel like you take part in the thrilling tale - and who knows, maybe suddenly you do. (website)

Kira Van Deusen. Traveling in Siberia's forests, tundra, and steppe over the last 15 years, Kira connected with indigenous traditions, stories, and people - their lives, history, spirituality, and sense of humour. She delights listeners with adventures in worlds we do not see with the eye, accompanied by her evocative original cello and vocal music. More recently she had the privilege of hearing Inuit elders recount the ancient legend of "Kiviuq" in Nunavut. With their permission she now shares that exciting story with listeners as well. She has also organized several of Vancouver's "Epic Weekends". (website)

Dan Yashinsky is a well-known Canadian storyteller, author, and community organizer. He received, in 1999, the first Jane Jacobs Prize to honour his contributions as a storyteller to enhance Toronto's cultural life. Dan founded the Toronto Festival of Storytelling (in 1979) and co-founded the Storytellers School of Toronto. He also began the longest-running open session in North America: 1,001 Friday Nights of Storytelling (in 1978). Dan has performed at festivals in Israel, Wales, England, Germany, Brazil, Austria, France, the U.S., Singapore, and Ireland, as well as all across Canada. In 2003 he was the Storyteller-in-Residence at Queen's University, Education Department, and was the Toronto Public Library's 2006 storyteller-in-residence. As well as pursuing his own career as a storyteller, Dan has done much to encourage the renaissance of storytelling in all parts of Canada. (website)