Season 9: Episode 160
In another of our occasional series looking at the work of American storytellers, we meet the award winning Laura Packer.
Based in Minnesota, Laura has over 25 years of storytelling experience and was recently inducted into the United States National Storytelling Network’s Circle of Excellence - a select group of storytellers determined by their peers to be standard bearers of the art, and masters at the craft.
You can find Laura online at https://laurapacker.com/
Please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast where you can join our Patreon support page for free or pay a small amount each month to help our work.
About our guest
Laura Packer is a Minnesota-based award-winning performing storyteller with over 25 years of experience and a skilled consultant, coach and teacher that is dedicated to helping her clients and students find their voices and most authentic selves.
She is the author of From Audience to Zeal: The ABCs of Finding, Crafting, and Telling a Great Story which won a Storytelling World Honors award in 2020; and the creator of the storyseeds card deck of prompts to ignite creative sparks for storytellers. Packer began sharing stories as a child, inspired by her librarian mother and writer father. She holds a degree with honors in Folklore and Mythology from Boston University. Her stories range from traditional folktales and myths to modernized, personalized, or fractured traditional tales as well as original fiction, ghost stories, and historical or literary tales.
Laura has been a featured performer at the National Storytelling Festival Exchange Place Stage and at various festivals including the Texas Storytelling Festival, the South Carolina Storytelling Festival, the Minneapolis Storytelling Festival, Tellebration and the Three Apples and Tejas Storytelling Conferences, amongst others. Select awards include “Best in Fringe” Kansas City Fringe Festival, Minnesota Gram Slam Winner, “Best New Producer” Indianapolis Fringe Festival, J.J. Reneaux Emerging Storyteller Mentorship Grant from the National Storytelling Network. Laura was recently inducted into the United States National Storytelling Network’s Circle of Excellence a select group of storytellers determined by their peers to be standard bearers of the art, and masters at the craft. She is a current board member of StoryArts of Minnesota, a past board member for the League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling and a past board member of the National Storytelling Network. Her teaching experience includes the National Council of Teachers of English; The Power of Words Conference; National Storytelling Conference; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; The Writers’ Place; New England Folk Festival; Northlands Storytelling Conference and the Tejas Storytelling Conference.
Laura performs regularly in in person and online events and she offers free live storytelling for everyone each Monday and Wednesday on her Facebook page.
https://laurapacker.com/
https://www.facebook.com/laurapackerstoryteller
Laura Packer is a Minnesota-based award-winning performing storyteller with over 25 years of experience and a skilled consultant, coach and teacher that is dedicated to helping her clients and students find their voices and most authentic selves.
She is the author of From Audience to Zeal: The ABCs of Finding, Crafting, and Telling a Great Story which won a Storytelling World Honors award in 2020; and the creator of the storyseeds card deck of prompts to ignite creative sparks for storytellers. Packer began sharing stories as a child, inspired by her librarian mother and writer father. She holds a degree with honors in Folklore and Mythology from Boston University. Her stories range from traditional folktales and myths to modernized, personalized, or fractured traditional tales as well as original fiction, ghost stories, and historical or literary tales.
Laura has been a featured performer at the National Storytelling Festival Exchange Place Stage and at various festivals including the Texas Storytelling Festival, the South Carolina Storytelling Festival, the Minneapolis Storytelling Festival, Tellebration and the Three Apples and Tejas Storytelling Conferences, amongst others. Select awards include “Best in Fringe” Kansas City Fringe Festival, Minnesota Gram Slam Winner, “Best New Producer” Indianapolis Fringe Festival, J.J. Reneaux Emerging Storyteller Mentorship Grant from the National Storytelling Network. Laura was recently inducted into the United States National Storytelling Network’s Circle of Excellence a select group of storytellers determined by their peers to be standard bearers of the art, and masters at the craft. She is a current board member of StoryArts of Minnesota, a past board member for the League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling and a past board member of the National Storytelling Network. Her teaching experience includes the National Council of Teachers of English; The Power of Words Conference; National Storytelling Conference; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; The Writers’ Place; New England Folk Festival; Northlands Storytelling Conference and the Tejas Storytelling Conference.
Laura performs regularly in in person and online events and she offers free live storytelling for everyone each Monday and Wednesday on her Facebook page.
https://laurapacker.com/
https://www.facebook.com/laurapackerstoryteller