Mythology The 9th episode of Story Wok in October brings to you stories from the ether world. What better theme to end the Season Two of Story Wok than with mythological stories. Stories that are embroidered into every aspect of our life be it Art, festivals, beliefs or way of living. And just in case you have missed listening to any of the previous episodes...worry not, for this episode will give you a capsule hearing of Ace your story segment from all the previous episodes.  Episode Hosts and Producers:Anamika Bhati An educator working with children nurturing their creativity by bringing stories to life through drama, role-play and activities ensuring engaging and holistic learning. Someone who believes that stories are the best way of connecting and communicating with each otherShelly Verma is a teller of tales who grew up in India listening to stories of kings, queens, animals, gods and goddesses from folklore and mythology. She carries these stories in her mind and her heart no matter where she is. Her repertoire includes stories from around the world but her main focus is using these stories to create awareness about the pressing issues of our times and be a part of the change. She believes in stories that inspire social change, give voice to the unheard and make the unseen noticed. You can find her stories on Facebook @Storyteller.ShellyVerma or Instagram @verma.shelly Shubha Das is an Early Educator turned professional Storyteller who particularly enjoys indulging in and retelling folktales. She specializes in Malayalam classics, and stories based on cultural heritage with a contemporary edge. For her, stories are a piece of art, and hence, she believes in performing them in a manner that leaves an aural and visual imprint with linguistic hues in the minds of her audience.  Featured Tellers: Ahn Sook Kim, Korea, A Storyteller and studying Korean folktales and classical literature at Kon kuk university. Ambujavalli Nagarajan -- an IT professional turned storyteller-trainer and public speaker -- strongly believes that good stories spread healthy happiness. She is known for the performance elements that she weaves into her stories. Ayushi Agrawal is an expressive art practitioner. She enjoys the creative world stories open up for her and her participants in their art -based self explorations. Parvathy Eswaran is a storyteller by Passion and by Choice and believes that stories are there all around us in plenty as free as the air we breathe and we as storytellers can be the channel to spread them. She believes that storytelling is an important educational tool and conducts workshops for teachers on the techniques of storytelling. She also conducts workshops for children and adults on the art of storytelling. She has performed in many spaces including National Storytelling Network (USA), FEAST (Singapore), Chennai Storytelling Festival, Under the Aalamaram festival. Her journey in storytelling started at Kathalaya, after a 25 year stint in the corporate. She is a part of the creative storytelling group Katha Krafters. Write to us at feaststory@gmail.com | storywok@gmail.comFor details of upcoming events visit our website www.feast-story.org

The 9th episode of Story Wok in October brings to you stories from the ether world. What better theme to end the Season Two of Story Wok than with mythological stories. Stories that are embroidered into every aspect of our life be it Art, festivals, beliefs or way of living. And just incase you have missed listening to any of the previous episodes...worry not, for this episode will give you a capusle hearing of Ace your story segment from all the previous episodes. Mark your calendars! 24th October 2022!

When sun retires it engulfes us in darkness the moon sheds light and provides life to our earth. Making sure to touch every corner with its rays. Similarly, on storywok we share stories to liven up your life when ever and where ever you need it. Albeit being much smaller then the sun, the moon is the fifth largest of its kind in our solar system. And fret not our stories will cover every inch of the moon as we journey from one end to another.  In our Miso segment listen to a story as wonderfully narrated by Anabelle Castano from Spain to share a Korean folktale about a brother and a sister that turn into sun and moon. . In Dim Sum, the adult segment join Deeptha Vivekanand as she tells us a story about Brihaspati’s wife Tara being strong and bold in making her choices and has a child through Chandra!  In our tandem story segment Fortune Cookie we have Prakrati Agrawal and Nandita Sankaran with a beautiful story in Hindi and English, a story about Chandra and his curses and why he weans off and waxes of a king's love for music.  Now that we have all the steps to take in preparing for storytelling it’s time to be ready to tell to an audience. Geeta Ramanujam from India is going to help and guide us on how to rehearse and incorporate everything we have learnt so far in our segment Ace the Story during the interview. Not to miss is our Pantry discussion by the episode producers about the Moon and then followed by FEAST offerings in the month of Oct.  Episode Hosts & Producers: Anamika Bhati - An educator working with children nurturing their creativity by bringing stories to life through drama, role-play and activities ensuring engaging and holistic learning. Someone who believes that stories are the best way of connecting and communicating with each other. Meenu Sivaramakrishnan, a performance storyteller from India. I truly believe that stories are an experience that are not only entertaining but also enriching. And of course, what better way to connect with people than Stories! Nidhi GujralNidhi started her professional journey as a management consultant in the corporate sector. But eventually her love for finding and collecting stories everywhere around her led her to change her career path completely!She stepped into professional storytelling in the year 2019 out of passion for books & children. Thus, Pip & Squeak was born.Since then, she has used her stories to advocate literacy, create thinkers, incite creativeness, and make learning fun by often coupling it with engaging activities & crafts to provide an experience that delights kids and parents alike. Find her stories on (https://www.instagram.com/pip_nd_squeak/) & (https://youtube.com/c/PipSqueakstories/) Our Expert Segment   Geeta Ramanujam Geeta Ramanujam a Master Storyteller, Trainer, Author, and Academician is the founder and Director of KATHALAYA'S INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF STORYTELLING - offering 3 levels of Certified courses in Storytelling with accreditations to Universities in USA, UK & Sweden.For over 35 years she has traveled to over 43 countries with her performances and trained over 93,493 people in the Art of Storytelling. She has been mentioned by The Honourable Prime Minister of India for her contribution to Storytelling recently. Geeta is the pioneer of the Storytelling Movement in India. She has published a book 'Tales from the World’ recently by Penguin Random House, India. www.kathalaya.org Featured Tellers Anabelle Castaño Anabelle Castaño is a bilingual storyteller, archaeologist and museum educator from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She interweaves her three professions and works on building bridges between material and immaterial culture through traditional stories from all continents.When a world pandemic isn’t going around, she works at the Ambrosetti Ethnographic Museum performing, organizing storytelling sessions, doing guided tours, researching and consulting for other institutions. She's a member of FEAST and since 2019 she’s part of the storytelling committee for the Buenos Aires International Book Fair -which has hosted for 25 years a storytellers' international meeting-.Nowadays you can find her online telling folktales, offering workshops on storytelling, online resources, repertoire and oral traditions and developing content for various projects.For more from Anabelle, contact her at: anabelle.cas@gmail.com  or www.anacas.com.ar Deeptha VivekanandDeeptha Vivekanand has been an educator for a few years and Professional Storyteller for many more. She performs for audiences in schools, colleges, and corporate organisations. She is also a Storyteller-in-Residence in a private school in Chandigarh, India, where she helps teachers use storytelling as pedagogy. Deeptha loves to tell stories about stories, strong women, and political satire. Prakrati Agrawal Prakrati Agrawal loves telling stories that make me laugh and learn at the same time. Story Wok is produced by FEAST ( Federation of Asian Storytellers), our focus is on spreading Asian stories, celebrating the tellers from the Philippines in the East to Turkey in the West and the storytelling communities that lie in-between. Write to us at feaststory@gmail.com | storywok@gmail.com For details of upcoming events visit our website www.feast-story.org

Rains...rains...and more rains! When most parts of Asia are under the spell of rain, what better theme than "Splish Splash Splosh" for this episode of Story Wok.Also, today being the 4th birthday of FEAST, we bring to you the stories from the 4th book of FEAST anthology "Splish Splash Splosh", told by the authors themselves.The Dragon King who lived in the Luoyang River created trouble for the people. Crossing the river became difficult…even dangerous. Guan Ying heard about this and wanted to help. Who is Guan Ying? Will she be able to help? Listen to this Chinese folktale retold by Lynn Kirk in the Miso segment for children.An old man and woman led a happy life in a beautiful countryside. One day, the old man began to follow a tiny red bird which took him deeper and deeper into the woods. What did he find? Was it something magical? Listen to this folktale from Japan retold by Meher Gehi from India, in the Dimsum segment for adults.In the Fortune cookie, the multilingual segment, listen to an interesting folktale from Malaysia authored by Jumaini Ariff, adapted and told today by Debjani Bhaduri and Shelly Verma in Bengali and English.Episode Hosts and Producers:Shubha Das is an Early Educator turned professional Storyteller who particularly enjoys indulging in and retelling folktales. She specializes in Malayalam classics, and stories based on cultural heritage with a contemporary edge. For her, stories are a piece of art, and hence, she believes in performing them in a manner that leaves an aural and visual imprint with linguistic hues in the minds of her audience.Parvathy Eswaran is a storyteller by passion and by choice, believes that stories are there everywhere just like the air we breathe and we, as storytellers act as a medium to spread and bring the stories to you. Meenu Sivaramakrishnan, a Performance Storyteller, Educator and Voice Artist from Bengaluru, India, truly believes that stories are an experience that are not only entertaining but also enriching. After a decade in the IT industry, she quit to pursue her passion and love for performing Arts. She began her initiative called “KATHA GALATTA - Unleash Ur Joy Thru’ Stories” to rekindle the joy of discovering characters and revive the love for oral storytelling. She also facilitates courses based on the art of storytelling at Manipal Academy of Higher Education. You can find her stories on Facebook @KathaGalatta and Instagram @kathagalatta.meenuFeatured Tellers:Lynn KirkLynn has been telling stories for over 25 years in Asia and the UK. She has a magical Story Apron to suit early years/lower primary age children and can incorporate simple drama/puppetry/crafts to extend the stories she tells to cover all ages. Lynn truly believes the power stories have and how they can change one’s life.Meher GehiOnce upon a time, a mother began telling tales to her 6-month old child and ended up falling in love herself! After seeing her daughter's eyes sparkle while listening to stories, Meher Gehi decided to sprinkle this joy to other kids in her community. Today, she is a certified professional storyteller, story educator and voice artist. Her storytelling comes alive through her expressive eyes & voice. She loves to infuse her storytelling with her deep love for music, theatrics & spirituality. She has performed & conducted sessions at prestigious schools & venues in Mumbai (like Bombay Scottish School, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum etc) and India. Having performed at national and international storytelling festivals, she can have you travel different worlds through her tales... Ready? To watch her unique storytelling style, head straight to her channel - Meher Gehi Jumaini AriffJumaini pursued her love for the literary arts and became a published author in 2013.Jumaini performs as ‘Nek Selampit’, the Folktale Storyteller , a unique, highly energetic character who is witty and filled with Lampung charm. Effectively bilingual in English and Malay, Jumaini enjoys performing Asian folktales, fables and legends for audiences of all ages. In 2017, Jumaini became the first storyteller to be recognized for her efforts in reviving the Malay language through storytelling and was appointed Malay Language Ambassador of Singapore by the Malay Language Council(Singapore). Since then, she works with various institutions to pique interest of students in Malay through the art of storytelling.Debjani BhaduriA decade ago, by sheer coincidence, Debjani came to know about the art form Storytelling. Since then she has been sharing stories across all age groups to spread happiness and joy.She loves retelling folktales, mythological accounts and authored classics lacing them with contemporary thread and adding a hint of humour.She believes stories could be the best way for skill development and she has been training teachers to teach concepts through stories and coaching corporate professionals soft skills through stories.Shelly VermaShelly Verma is a teller of tales who grew up in India listening to stories of kings, queens, animals, gods and goddesses from folklore and mythology. She carries these stories in her mind and her heart no matter where she is. Her repertoire includes stories from around the world but her main focus is using these stories to create awareness about the pressing issues of our times and be a part of the change. She believes in stories that inspire social change, give voice to the unheard and make the unseen noticed. You can find her stories on Facebook @Storyteller.ShellyVerma or Instagram @verma.shellyStory Wok is produced by FEAST(Federation of Asian Storytellers ), (https://www.feast-story.org/ ). Our focus is on spreading Asian stories, celebrating colors from the Philippines in the east to Turkey in the west and the story telling communities that lie in between.Write to us at feaststory@gmail.com | storywok@gmail.comFor details of upcoming events visit our website www.feast-story.org

Mark your calendars, August 24th, 2022, when Episode 7 of Story Wok, Season 2 , brings you stories from the Feast’s very own book ‘Splish Splash Splosh, the 4th book in the FEAST anthology

Mark your calendars, July 24th, 2022, when Episode 6 of Story Wok, Season 2 , brings you stories of "Dreams/ Reality". Listen to our stories and decide for yourself.

SHOW NOTES FOR EPISODE 5, SEASON 2Foot Tapping Tales the theme for this episode is focused on how to enhance your stories by using Music. Music can not only give life to your story but also help increase audience engagement and set their mood.The jungle animal are in danger, who can help what will the jungle king do? Is he strong enough? Can he save them? Or will he flee too? Listen to this story in our Miso segment as wonderfully narrated by Virginia Kokkinou from Greece. In Dim Sum, the adult segment join Janaki Sabesh as she tells us a story about a man named Hathaman and his journey to discover the secret to obtaining superpowers. What trials must he face in order to become Super Hathaman? Find out! In our tandem story segment Fortune Cookie we have Rona Mentari and Nidhi Gujral with a beautiful story in Bahasa and English, a story of a king's love for music. Every story has a music opportunity, you just have to look in the right place and find the right music for the story. Rebecca Lemaire is going to help and guide us on how to incorporate music in our stories in our segment Ace the Story during the interview.Not to miss is our Pantry discussion by the episode producers about Music and then followed by FEAST offerings in the month of July. Episode Hosts & Producers:Anamika Bhati - An educator working with children nurturing their creativity by bringing stories to life through drama, role-play and activities ensuring engaging and holistic learning. Someone who believes that stories are the best way of connecting and communicating with each other.Dharanya Srinivasan - A puppeteer and storyteller working with children and stories in various mediums like puppet shows, role play, oral telling and writing. Instilling love for reading is her passion project. Prakrati Agrawal - I love telling stories that make me laugh and learn at the same time.Featured TellersJanaki SabeshJanaki writes, performs, and lives through stories. Her distinctive and authentic style of blending narration, music, and movement is loved by children, youngsters, corporate professionals, teachers, and everyone alike. Janaki has authored ‘The Jungle Storytelling Festival’ (2018), a picture book for children published by Tulika Books, and co-authored 'Paati's Rasam'(2021), published by Karadi Tales. Wearing a variety of hats (and totally in love with it!) of an accomplished actor, voice-over & theatre artist,  experienced marketer, facilitator, and the Chief Fun Officer at her own storytelling initiative 'Golpo Tales', she also brings people together through intimate storytelling experiences around food, music, and nostalgia. Janaki finds complete joy in transforming mindsets through storytelling.Nidhi GujralNidhi started her professional journey as a management consultant in the corporate sector. But eventually her love for finding and collecting stories everywhere around her led her to change her career path completely!She stepped into professional storytelling in the year 2019 out of passion for books & children. Thus, Pip & Squeak was born.Since then, she has used her stories to advocate literacy, create thinkers, incite creativeness, and make learning fun by often coupling it with engaging activities & crafts to provide an experience that delights kids and parents alike. Find her stories on (https://www.instagram.com/pip_nd_squeak/) & (https://youtube.com/c/PipSqueakstories/)Rebecca LemaireRebecca is an international storyteller and trainer. She tells stories in English, Spanish and French wherever the wind takes her. Her passion is to look into people’s eyes, and travel with them through stories, whether in a prison, a Tibetan monastery in the Himalaya, a festival, a theatre, or a library. Rebecca gives storytelling workshops and training online and in person, in groups or one-to-one. She also works with stories as a way of initiating conversation and healing around topics such as death and grief. One of Rebecca’s specialities is to use sound and music to support her storytelling. Storytelling is a form of communication that goes way beyond words; it is a heart-to-heart interaction, and that is why she loves it! More information about Rebecca Lemaire here: www.rebeccalemaire.comRona MentariRona grew as a storyteller in Indonesia. She fell in love with stories since she was kid. Now, her passion and vision is spreading goodness and joy through storytelling. She has unique storytelling performance by using traditional Indonesian style and her little guitar.Virginia KokkinouVirginia is a storyteller and a professional translator with substantial and broad experience.Story Wok is produced by FEAST ( Federation of Asian Storytellers), our focus is on spreading Asian stories, celebrating the tellers from the Philippines in the East to Turkey in the West and the storytelling communities that lie in-between.Write to us at feaststory@gmail.com | storywok@gmail.comFor details of upcoming events visit our website www.feast-story.org

Mark your calendars, June 24th, 2022, when Episode 5 of Story Wok, Season 2, brings to you 'Foot Tapping Tales' be ready to swirl and twirl so be ready for a musical ride.

A wise person once said,”Laughter is the best medicine”.Laughter is an expression that knows no boundaries. Despite age gaps or cultural differences, people from all over the world and all walks of life know how to let out a laugh.So says Kausar Karimi ,Nidhi Gujral and Shelly Verma who also happen to be the hosts of our brand-new episode.And so for the next hour or so in Episode 4, let’s laugh together.Get ready for “Giggles and Guffaws” !Sprinkle some silliness and let your heart be lighter with the stories we have lined up for you in Miso, Dimsum and Fortune cookie segments, a hearty spread of 3 tales told by 4 FEAST tellers. Jeff Gere(Hawaii) will tickle you silly with a story from Indonesia called “Odin and the Pinoy Bird”. Debjani Bhaduri(India) telling of an old Tamil folktale will send you into raptures. And Richa Sinha(India) and Meenu Sivaramakrishnan (India) multi-lingual story told in tandem in Bhojpuri and English will send your heart singing and laughing at the same time.In our special “Ace your Story” segment, we chat with Antonio Rocha(USA), to find out all about using emotions while telling stories.He also shares an interesting advice on how important it is to distance oneself from the stories and find that perfect emotional balance while telling stories. Us podcast producers raise a cacophony in our Pantry segment twisting our tongues inside our mouths.Great for those looking to engage better with your audiences, a great ice-breaker game and also to loosen your tongue(we mean in the literal sense!) before telling stories.Featured tongue twisters:Kachcha Papad Pakka PapadRed Lorry Yellow LorryCan you can a can as a canner can can a can?Tikki Tikki Tembo-no Sa Rembo-chari Bari Ruchi-pip Peri Pembo (From the book “Tikki Tikki Tembo”. It is a 1968 picture book written by Arlene Mosel and illustrated by Blair Lent.)Featured StorytellersJEFF GERE Jeff Gere blends talents as painter, puppeteer, and mime into performances which have electrified audiences in Hawaii for 30 years. Jeff's physical energy, morphing elastic face and voice characteristics make his shows events. Jeff becomes his stories!DEBJANI BHADURIA decade ago, by sheer coincidence, Debjani came to know about the art form Storytelling. Since then she has been sharing stories across all age groups to spread happiness and joy.She loves retelling folktales, mythological accounts and authored classics lacing them with contemporary thread and adding a hint of humour.She believes stories could be the best way for skill development and she has been training teachers to teach concepts through stories and coaching corporate professionals soft skills through stories..RICHA SINHARicha Sinha is the Founder of TheStoryMunch and a Festival curator. With her delightful stories in Hindi, English & Bhojpuri, she aims to increase the Happiness & Emotional Quotient of people.MEENU SIVARAMAKRISHNANMeenu Sivaramakrishnan, a Performance Storyteller from Bengaluru, India, truly believes that stories are an experience that are not only entertaining but also enriching. After a decade in the IT industry, she quit to pursue her passion and love for performing Arts. She began her initiative called “KATHA GALATTA - Unleash Ur Joy Thru’ Stories” to rekindle the joy of discovering characters and revive the love for oral storytelling.Featured Storytelling ExpertANTONIO ROCHAAntonio Rocha has performed his dynamic and unique fusion of mime, spoken word with realistic sound effects and his tenor voice from the USA to New Zealand covering 20 countries across 6 continents in venues such as The Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian, and Festivals in the US, Singapore, India, Taiwan and more. Antonio has many recordings, a picture book, is a two time TEDx presenter and amongst his many awards received, he has earned the coveted Circle of Excellence Award by the National Storytelling Network for his "exceptional commitment and exemplary contributions to the art of storytelling. www.storyinmotion.comHOSTS:Kausar KarimiKausar loves to travel and go for hikes and walks. She enjoys the outdoors and tries to look for stories that she comes across through her travels. Her motto is “There is a tale at every turn” and that keeps her interested in people and places. Not afraid to try different things, Kausar is a Speech and Drama instructor who uses stories to bring out the creative expression in the kids. She loves a good dramatization of folklore and often uses props and puppets to express herself.Nidhi GujralNidhi started her professional journey as a management consultant in the corporate sector. But eventually her love for finding and collecting stories everywhere around her led her to change her career path completely!She stepped into professional storytelling in the year 2019 out of passion for books & children. Thus, Pip & Squeak was born.Since then, she has used her stories to advocate literacy, create thinkers, incite creativeness, and make learning fun by often coupling it with engaging activities & crafts to provide an experience that delights kids and parents alike. Find her stories on (https://www.instagram.com/pip_nd_squeak/) & (https://youtube.com/c/PipSqueakstories/)Shelly VermaShelly Verma is a teller of tales who grew up in India listening to stories of kings, queens, animals, gods and goddesses from folklore and mythology. She carries these stories in her mind and her heart no matter where she is. Her repertoire includes stories from around the world but her main focus is using these stories to create awareness about the pressing issues of our times and be a part of the change. She believes in stories that inspire social change, give voice to the unheard and make the unseen noticed. You can find her stories on Facebook @Storyteller.ShellyVerma or Instagram @verma.shellyStory Wok is produced by FEAST(Federation of Asian Storytellers ), (https://www.feast-story.org/ ). Our focus is on spreading Asian stories, celebrating colours from the Philippines in the east to Turkey in the west and the story telling communities that lie in between.Write to us at feaststory@gmail.com | storywok@gmail.comFor details of upcoming events visit our website www.feast-story.org

Mark your calendars, May 24th, 2022, when Episode 4 of Story Wok, Season 2 , brings to you stories which will make you 'Giggle and Guffaw' and make you roll on the floor.

Nature Narratives, the theme for this episode resonates with that of Earth Day 2022, ‘Invest in our planet’. The stories and the discussions revolve around conservation of Nature. An elephant who lived in the foothills of the Himalayas lost the twinkle in her eyes. Did she find it back? Listen to this story in our Miso segment as narrated beautifully by Ramya Iyer  from India. One man’s trash is another’s treasure, says, Mindy Neo through this wonderful story In Dim Sum, the adult segment.Our Fortune Cookie is a beautiful tandem storytelling in Malayalam and English by Sarita Nair and Shubha Das. “You have to make your telling your telling, bringing in your unique sensibilities to the telling”, advises the expert, Roger Jenkins in the segment Ace the Story, where we have our producer Parvathy Eswaran interviewing Roger Jenkins. Don't miss the interesting and lively conversation among the episode producers, about Nature, in our pantry discussion, followed by FEAST offerings in the month of May. Episode Hosts & Producers:Dharanya Sreenivasan is a puppeteer and storyteller working with children and stories in various mediums like puppet shows, role play, oral telling and writing. Instilling love for reading is her passion project.Meenu Sivaramakrishnan is a performance storyteller from India, truly believes that stories are an experience that are not only entertaining but also enriching. And of course, what better way to connect with people than Stories!Parvathy Eswaran is a storyteller by passion and by choice, believes that stories are there everywhere just like the air we breathe and we, as storytellers act as a medium to spread and bring the stories to you. Featured TellersRamya Iyer is a professional storyteller and writer. She believes in the strength of a warm, holding and healing space. She finds herself working towards bringing people closer to themselves and connected to each other through story and expression. In her story work, she works with children and adults. She seeks to contribute to helping people transform, heal and live fulfilling lives. She is fascinated by the magic that every moment, every day, every person's story holds, and intrigued by dreams. Her storytelling initiatives is called ‘The Bright Lamp Storytells’. She is trying to live a fulfilling life one breath, one step, one day at a time.Mindy Neo enjoys connecting with adults and children through the ancient art of story. She loves insights and lessons best when they’re wrapped in funny or poignant stories. She tells traditional tales as well as true stories from her own life. She also tells stories of biodiversity and conservation and hopes that through storytelling people might have a deeper sense of humanity and appreciation for biodiversity.Sarita Nair, Sarita Nair adorns various hats, that of a Performance/Therapeutic Storyteller, a Theater practitioner/ facilitator and of a curator. She is the founder- of Heritage Stories & Performing Arts (HSPA). HSPA is an initiative established with an intent to celebrate cultural heritage, share and transfer heritage knowledge through stories and performing arts. Itihaas ke pannon se...a live storytelling avenue, on the HSPA Facebook page is her tribute to our freedom fighters, where she brings to you stories of unsung heroes who sacrificed their lives to gain India her freedom, since the year August 2020. Shubha Das is an Early Educator turned professional Storyteller who particularly enjoys indulging in and retelling folktales. She specializes in Malayalam classics, and stories based on cultural heritage with a contemporary edge. For her, stories are a piece of art, and hence, she believes in performing them in a manner that leaves an aural and visual imprint with linguistic hues in the minds of her audience.Roger Jenkins  is a Singaporean storyteller, a co-founder and Director of FEAST. He has narrated nine audiobooks for Storytel (including adult, youth and children’s fiction, sci-fi and non-fiction titles.) He is a trained audio-describer who makes live performance accessible for vision-impaired audiences, and is an award-winning poet. ’Not Just at Bedtime! Tips and Tales for Parent Storytellers’ is a two hour video for anyone who wants to bond with their audience, and is available on the website rogerjenkins.com.sg.  Story Wok is produced by FEAST ( Federation of Asian Storytellers), our focus is on spreading Asian stories, celebrating the tellers from the Philippines in the East to Turkey in the West and the storytelling communities that lie in-between.Write to us at feaststory@gmail.com | storywok@gmail.comFor details of upcoming events visit our website www.feast-story.org

Mark your calendars, April 24th, 2022, when Episode 3 of Story Wok, Season 2 , brings to you stories around the theme 'Nature Narratives'.

This is a very special episode, for, we are celebrating World Storytelling Day 2022. World Storytelling Day is a worldwide celebration of Oral Storytelling celebrated each year on March 20 and the goal is to celebrate the art of storytelling with as many people as possible, both listeners and storytellers. Each year World Storytelling Day has a theme around which the storytellers tell their stories. The storytellers are free to choose their stories, but most of them try to connect to the theme.The theme of World Storytelling Day 2022 is “Lost and Found”. It was inspired by all that we lost in the past years, and the hope of stories inspiring us to find it back again.Taqarrabie from Indonesia enthusiastically narrates an Indonesian story for the children and young at heart. Do you know that a pair of slippers lost something? Listen to this beautiful story in our Miso segment to know what the pair of slippers finally found. In Dim Sum, the adult segment, we bring to you the story of Iravaan, one of the lesser known stories from Mahabharatha, the great Indian epic, wonderfully narrated by Meera Venkatesan. Pure love found and lost just in a day!!Our Fortune Cookie is a beautiful Malay story of how perseverance and a kind heart can bring back what one lost. Juriah Atan and Kausar Karimi seamlessly narrate this story not in one but two languages, Malay and English. “Mapping of a story is non-negotiable and is a must” says Rituparna Ghosh in the segment Ace the Story, where we have our producer Shubha interviewing Rituparna. She shares some tips on how to go about mapping a story.Last but not the least, wouldn’t you like to know what we producers ‘lost and found’ . Listen to our pantry discussion and also to know the Feast offerings in the month of April. Episode Hosts & Producers:Prakrati Agrawal, a storyteller and an edutainer, loves telling stories that make one laugh and learn at the same time. Shubha Das particularly enjoys indulging in and telling folktales. For her stories are a piece of art and hence,believes in performing it in a manner that leaves an aural and visual imprint with linguistic hues in the minds of her audience.Parvathy Eswaran: A storyteller by passion and by choice, believes that stories are there everywhere just like the air we breathe and we, as storytellers act as a medium to spread and bring the stories to you. Featured TellersTaqarrabie is a filmmaker, author, and storyteller who is passionate about spreading Indonesian stories and her own original stories in Bahasa Indonesia, Minangkabau, and English. She was introduced to the universe of oral telling by her parents when she was little, and she began her journey as a teller in 2017. Bie has performed at various storytelling festivals, libraries, events, hospitals, and schools for children and adults. She also has given basic storytelling workshops for teachers, parents, and students. She loves costume parties if you'd like to invite her to one!Meera Venkatesan is a professional performance storyteller, trainer and learning consultant with a love of words and a deep desire to create meaningful learning. She has combined these passions to carve a space in applying stories to cement learning. She spearheads content with Anahata United efforts, an NGO providing career guidance to children. She specializes in creating story based curriculums for Social Emotional Learning, Communication skills, Languages, STEM and many more. She is a part of the creative storytelling group Katha Krafters who specialize in training, and curating performances for adults and children. She has participated in both online and offline storytelling festivals.Juriah Atan, is a storyteller from Singapore. As an educator and workshop facilitator, she uses stories to engage participants. She has told stories to all age groups, from preschoolers to seniors. She loves stories with a touch of humour. She tells stories in English and Malay.  Kausar Karimi loves to travel and go for hikes and walks. She enjoys theoutdoors and tries to look for stories that she comes across through her travels. Her motto is “There is a tale at every turn” and that keeps her interested in people and places. Not afraid to try different things, Kausar is a Speech and Drama instructor who uses stories to bring out the creative expression in the kids. She loves a good dramatization of folklore and often uses props and puppets to express herself.Rituparna Ghosh:You can describe her as a story digger, story charmer, story gatherer, story extractor, story spotter…she is anything but just a storyteller! An international storyteller and a TEDx speaker Rituparna is the Founder of Your Story Bag, a Storytelling, Training, and Consulting company. She works with listeners, children, adults, organisations, not-for-profits, and corporates helping them harness the power of stories. Rituparna produces two podcasts called Golpo, Stories from Around the World, and What’s in Your Story Bag. She believes that Storytelling will be the strongest currency in the world and she is actively engaged in making it a sustainable career in India.  Story Wok is produced by FEAST ( Federation of Asian Storytellers), our focus is on spreading Asian stories, celebrating the tellers from the Philippines in the East to Turkey in the West and the storytelling communities that lie in-between.Write to us at feaststory@gmail.com | storywok@gmail.comFor details of upcoming events visit our website www.feast-story.org

Mark your calendars, March 24th, 2022, when Episode 2 of StoryWok, Season 2 , brings to you stories around the theme 'Lost and Found', celebrating World Storytelling Day.

In Episode eight of Story Wok, we give a sneak peek into week 2 of the FEAST FEST 2021, happening this Oct with 68 unique themes, 51 shows in 24 languages from 23 countries. The FEAST FEST 2021 promises to be a dream come true for story loves around the world. It’s happening from the 15th to the 31 Oct. This episode delights its listeners with three stories by its producers which are aligned to the three streams at the Fest. The story in the multilingual genre is being told by Roger Jenkins and Shereen Saif. The Kids Stream flavour is given by Ritu Vaish, and Rituparna Ghosh covers the adult stream category. Purchase your FEAST FEST pass on www.feast-story.org/2021-FEAST-FESTEpisode Host & Producer:Ritu Vaish: Ritu Vaish has have been an educationist designing, developing and delivering English skill development courses and curriculum for over three decades. She mostly uses flannel board to tell stories. As a podcaster, she has a weekly story podcast: Story Prism.FEATURED TELLERS :Roger Jenkins - Roger Jenkins is a Singaporean storyteller, a co-founder and Director of FEAST. He came to storytelling via theatre which explains his style that combines both a strong sense of the theatrical with a relaxed, conversational manner-born of his work in improvised comedy. He has a keen interest in promoting accessibility – he is a trained audio describer for the blind and has a deaf tandem-storytelling partner.  Shereen Saif - Shereen is a Dubai based Indian-born artist with a practice that spans dance, theatre, storytelling, voice acting and installation art. She is known for her physical storytelling style that integrates elements of music, dance and theatre with a repertoire largely consisting of traditional Indian tale.Rituparna Ghosh -A story digger, story charmer, story extractor, Rituparna is anything but just a storyteller! She is the Founder of Your Story Bag, a Storytelling, Training and Consulting company. She works with listeners, children, adults, businesses and organisations helping them harness the power of stories. Rituparna produces 2 podcasts called Golpo, Stories from Around the World and What’s in Your Story Bag. Ritu Vaish - Ritu Vaish has have been an educationist designing, developing and delivering English skill development courses and curriculum for over three decades. She mostly uses flannel board to tell stories. As a podcaster, she has a weekly story podcast: Story Prism.-------------------------------Interviews with:-1) Japanese-Korean storyteller Alton Takiyama-Chung, grew up in Hawaii and tells Hawaiian legends, Asian folktales, ghost stories, and historical tales like those of the Japanese-Americans in WWII. He performs across the USA and internationally and is also a former Chairman of the National Storytelling Network, the organization of US storytellers.2) Interview with the team of ‘Bright Birbal And Tactful Tenali’Sowmya Srinivasan loves books, reading and storytelling and has been using all these loves to develop creative thinking in children from 2008! She is also a psychologist who enjoys integrating storytelling, creative communication and social emotional learning through modules and interactive programmes for all ages.Richa Sinha is a story enthusiast from Jharkhand, India, who intends to increase the happiness and emotional quotient of people with her optimism and zeal.Nandita Sankaran a storyteller from Bangalore, India,Engages kids with stories in different languages. Her sessions are interactive: packed with games, quizzes and activities. andita Sankaran a storyteller from Bangalore, IndiaPrakrati Agrawal from Bangalore, India, has been telling stories for more than a year with fun games & activities. She loves to solve and ask riddles to baffle her audiencePoonam Joshy from Bhopal, India, is a passionate storyteller, music and rhythm flow in her stories, mesmerising both children and adults.3)Ticketing Information :  Mangalam Senthil: C Mangalam Senthil is a Tedx Speaker, Performance Storyteller & Story Listener, Kolam fanatic, trekker, and a runner.Story Wok Producers: The podcast is produced by 6 producers.Krupa Vinayagamoorthy (Singapore)Meher Gehi (India)Ritu Vaish (India)Rituparna Ghosh (India)Roger Jenkins (Singapore)Shereen Saif (Dubai)Story Wok is produced by FEAST ( Federation of Asian Storytellers), our focus is on spreading Asian stories, celebrating the tellers from the Philippines in the East to Turkey in the West and the storytelling communities that lie in-between.Write to us at feaststory@gmail.com | storywok@gmail.com

In Episode Seven of Story Wok, let's dive in & get a sneak peak into week 1 of the FEAST FEST - possibly the largest STORYTELLING FESTIVAL OF THE YEAR - happening this Oct’21 with 160+ tellers, 51 shows, 24 languages and performers representing 20+ countries. The FEAST FEST 2021 promises to be a storytelling bonanza over 17 days from 15 to 31 Oct! Savour 3 stories narrated by 3 Storywok producers ie. Meher Gehi, Shereen Saif & Krupa Vinayagamoorthi, that reflect the 3 unique streams at the FEST - multilingual, kids and adult. Listen to interviews by a few performers from the fest to get a glimpse into each of these streams.Purchase your FEAST FEST pass on www.feast-story.org/2021-FEAST-FESTEpisode Host & Producer:Meher Gehi - Meher Gehi is a certified professional storyteller, story educator and an aspiring voice artist. Her storytelling comes alive through her expressive eyes & voice. She loves to infuse her storytelling with her deep love for music, theatrics & spirituality. She has performed & conducted sessions at prestigious schools & venues in Mumbai & across India. Smitten by wanderlust, she can have you travel different worlds through her tales... Ready? To watch her unique storytelling style, head straight to her channel - Meher GehiFEATURED TELLERS :-------------------------------Meher Gehi - Meher Gehi is a certified professional storyteller, story educator and an aspiring voice artist. Her storytelling comes alive through her expressive eyes & voice. She loves to infuse her storytelling with her deep love for music, theatrics & spirituality. She has performed & conducted sessions at prestigious schools & venues in Mumbai & across India. Smitten by wanderlust, she can have you travel different worlds through her tales... Ready? To watch her unique storytelling style, head straight to her channel - Meher GehiShereen Saif - Shereen is a Dubai based Indian-born artist with a practice that spans dance, theatre, storytelling, voice acting and installation art. She is known for her physical storytelling style that integrates elements of music, dance and theatre with a repertoire largely consisting of traditional Indian tale.Krupa Vinayagamoorthi is an Australian storyteller based in Singapore. She is also the consulting director of the Federation of Asian Storytellers ( FEAST ). She is bilingual and enjoys telling stories to young children and adults in Tamil and English. She wears other hats as senior activity volunteer, administrator, interview coach, dancer, and visual note-taker.Interviews with:-1) Ng Kok Keong (Malaysia) - Multilingual StreamNg Kok Keong has been mesmerising his audience with stories since 2006. His storytelling passion coupled with his ability to tell stories in Mandarin, English and Malay Language has taken him all over Malaysia, South Korea, and other parts of Asia.2) Anna Manuel (Australia) - Kids StreamAnna is an educator, storyteller, and coach for creatives working with stories and children. She uses kamishibai mostly as an early literacy teaching tool. Currently based in Australia, where she performs and runs workshops, she has become a part of a revival of this story art form.  3)Aparna Jaishankar (India) & Meera Venkatesan (India) - Adults StreamAparna has researched on, and collaborated with, multiple artists to enunciate the beauty of Indic literature and our aural heritage through oral stories. Meera is a performance storyteller, and learning consultant, who is propelled by her belief in the power of stories in inspiring learning and growth towards a better tomorrow.  Story Wok Producers: The podcast is produced by 6 producers.Krupa Vinayagamoorthy (Singapore)Meher Gehi (India)Ritu Vaish (India)Rituparna Ghosh (India)Roger Jenkins (Singapore)Shereen Saif (Dubai)Story Wok is produced by FEAST ( Federation of Asian Storytellers), our focus is on spreading Asian stories, celebrating the tellers from the Philippines in the East to Turkey in the West and the storytelling communities that lie in-between.Write to us at feaststory@gmail.com | storywok@gmail.com

For our 6th episode of Story Wok, we travel to FEAST HQ - Singapore, our spotlight country this month, with producers Shereen Saif and Rituparna Ghosh. In a double interview with FEAST Director Roger Jenkins and Swee Yean, President of the Storytelling Association, we find out how Singapore became the centre of the contemporary storytelling movement. We also come away with some best practices that can benefit storytellers in fellow FEAST countries. As for stories, we’ve curated 3 from FEAST’s first anthology Food Tales from Asia. Ariyo Zidni (Indonesia) takes us to Bali to meet The Polengs – the good rice farmers who go on heavenly adventures. Srividhya Venkat (India) will tickle you with her tale of a stingy old couple who fight over their last laddoo while celebrated author Dr. Margaret Read MacDonald (USA) retells a Penan folktale about a squirrel and forest gecko who learn to share their food. In Pantry, us podcast producers will whet your appetite further by sharing our favorite food tales and talking about the many connections between food and stories. And finally, man of many talents, master storyteller Jeff Gere (Hawaii) joins us to spice things up in Tadka by talking about the importance of 4-D telling even in a 2-D medium like Zoom! Listen well. Featured StorytellersAriyo Zidni is the Co-Founder of Ayo Dongeng Indonesia and the initiator of Indonesia International Storytelling Festival. He is a storyteller and children's story writer who believes storytelling is a passion to share.Srividhya Venkat has been pursuing the art of storytelling in Singapore since 2015. She’s a volunteer at the local libraries and the Children’s Cancer Foundation. She is also the author of eight children’s picture books, including The Clever Tailor, which was inspired by a European folktale.Dr. Margaret Read MacDonald is author of over 67 books on folklore and storytelling topics, such as Peace Tales and Teaching with Story: Classroom Connections to Storytelling. She has travelled to over 65 countries sharing tales and offering her “Playing with Story” workshops. GuestsRoger Jenkins is a Singaporean storyteller, a co-founder and Director of FEAST. He has narrated nine audiobooks for Storytel (including adult, youth and children’s fiction, sci-fi and non-fiction titles.) He is a trained audio-describer who makes live performance accessible for vision-impaired audiences, and is an award-winning poet.  Swee Yean Wong was a former teacher whose students looked forward to their daily does of stories that she told to entertain and educate. She now performs for all audiences in schools, museums, libraries and carries out workshops for teachers, for senior citizens and organizations. She is currently the President of the Storytelling Association (Singapore). Jeff Gere, born on Halloween, lives in Honolulu. He created, hosted and produced Talk Story Festival, Hawaii’s largest storytelling celebration for 26 years in addition to a Story TV and Radio series. He tours Hawaii and teaches internationally. He also does shadow puppets and is always bubbling with projects and ideas. Podcast ProducersShereen Saif is a Dubai based Indian-born artist with a practice that spans dance, theatre, storytelling, voice acting and installation art. She is known for her physical storytelling style that integrates elements of music, dance and theatre with a repertoire largely consisting of traditional Indian tales.Rituparna Ghosh - A story digger, story charmer, story extractor. Rituparna is anything but just a storyteller! She is the Founder of Your Story Bag, a Storytelling, Training and Consulting company. She works with listeners, children, adults, businesses and organisations helping them harness the power of stories. Rituparna produces 2 podcasts called Golpo, Stories from Around the World and What’s in Your Story Bag.  Story Wok Producers: The podcast is produced by 6 producers:Krupa Vinayagamoorthy (Singapore)Meher Gahi (India)Ritu Vaish (India)Rituparna Ghosh (India)Roger Jenkins (Singapore)Shereen Saif (Dubai)Story Wok is produced by FEAST(Federation of Asian Storytellers ), (https://www.feast-story.org/ ). Our focus is on spreading Asian stories, celebrating colours from the Philippines in the east to Turkey in the west and the story telling communities that lie in between.If you are interested in Podcasting, check out our Podcasting for Storytellers webinar by Rituparna Ghosh at the FEAST store.Write to us at: feststory@gmail.com / storywok@gmail.com

What would the world be without Tom Yum Goong and Pad Thai?Not quite the same, says foodies and Story Wok producers - Krupa Vinayagamoorthy and Shereen Saif who also happen to be hosts of our brand-new episode.Here’s presenting Episode 5, our tribute to land that has gifted the world many flavours, wonders and of course, stories!Awaiting you is a spread of 3 Thai folk tales told by 3 FEAST tellers from 3 different countries. Dr Jongkit Wongpinit aka Dr Poom (Thailand) will warm your heart with an endearing tale of the Gourami fish. Bie (Indonesia) gets all animated with a fishy fable of two fisher friends and Priti Modyiyer (Singapore) gives good counsel with a story about giving credit when it is due.In our country special Entrée, we chit chat with Dr Wajuppa Tossa, Thailand’s first International storyteller, and find out about how the storytelling scene (both physical and digital) has blossomed over the years. She also shares an interesting bite about the art of co-telling. Us podcast producers raise a cacophony (or symphony as Krupa insists) in our Pantry segment sharing some ideas about using sound effects in storytelling. Great for those looking to engage better with your audiences, especially little ones.We round off this wholesome episode by quizzing FEAST Director Jeeva Raghunath on bilingual telling and collaborating with native storytellers. Featured StorytellersDR. JONGKIT WONGPINIT Jongkit Wongpinit, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at Surindra Rajabhat University, is a collector and researcher of local folktales. Inspired by her teacher Associate Prof. Dr. Wajuppa Tossa and professional international storyteller, and Jeeva Raghunath who gave her opportunities to tell stories, Dr Wongpinit began telling stories of her land, incorporating local folk tunes into her narrative. She tells children's stories throughout Vietnam, India, Malaysia, and Thailand. Her cultural exchange experiences have taken her to a variety of nations in Europe, America, and Asia.M.Q TAQARRABIE Bie loves to tell stories in oral-telling, books, and films. She is a member of Ayo Dongeng Indonesia, a storytelling movement and community in Indonesia and one of the co-founders of The Nest, a storytelling movement for teenagers and adults by Ayo Dongeng Indonesia. She also loves costume parties if you’d like to invite her to one.PRITI MODYIYERPriti Modyiyer is an enthusiastic, engaging storyteller in Singapore. She uses stories as a medium to inspire change in her workshops, at schools, in libraries and storytelling festivals. She is a Certified Coach with diplomas in training and development as well as a number of degrees in Management.GuestsWAJUPPA TOSSAWajuppa Tossa, holda a Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Drew University, Madison, New Jersey, USA. A retired associate professor from the Western Languages and Linguistics Department, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Mahasarakham University, Wajuppa is a full-time storyteller trained under Dr. Margaret Read MacDonald. She has been telling stories since 1995 to revitalize the use of Isan dialects and folktales among young people to engender pride in local cultural heritage. She has also successfully used folktales and storytelling in her teaching of English and literature. She was a featured storyteller in several International Storytelling Festivals in many countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, USA, Norway, Scotland, UK, Iran, South Korea, Italy, to name but a few. She has also produced several International Storytelling Festivals in Thailand with Mahasarakham University, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, Bangkok, and SEAMEO Regional Centre for Archaeology and Fine Arts – SAEMEO SPAFA as major co-hosts of the festival. She is the founder and president of the Folktales and the Arts of Storytelling Foundation (FASF).JEEVA RAGHUNATH Storyteller and author Jeeva Raghunath pioneered the storytelling movement in Tamil Nadu. Director of FEST and Kathaikalatta, Jeeva has performed in 27 international festivals, authored 15 books and translated 65. HOST: Krupa Vinayagamoorthy Krupa Vinayagamoorthy is a Australian Indian storyteller based in Singapore. She is also the consulting director of the Federation of Asian Storytellers (FEAST). She is bilingual and enjoys telling stories to young children and adults Tamil and English. She wears other hats as senior activity volunteer, administrator, interview coach, dancer and visual note taker.Shereen SaifShereen is a Dubai based Indian-born artist with a practice that spans dance, theatre, storytelling, voice acting and installation art. She is known for her physical storytelling style that integrates elements of music, dance and theatre with a repertoire largely consisting of traditional Indian tale.Story Wok Producers: The podcast is produced by 6 producers:Krupa Vinayagamoorthy (Singapore)Meher Gahi (India)Ritu Vaish (India)Rituparna Ghosh (India)Roger Jenkins (Singapore)Shereen Saif (Dubai)Story Wok is produced by FEAST(Federation of Asian Storytellers ), (https://www.feast-story.org/ ). Our focus is on spreading Asian stories, celebrating colours from the Philippines in the east to Turkey in the west and the story telling communities that lie in between.If you are interested in Podcasting, check out our Podcasting for Storytellers webinar by Rituparna Ghosh at the FEAST store.Write to us at: feststory@gmail.com / storywok@gmail.com

The fourth episode of the STORY WOK has a distinctly bookish flavour as hosts Roger Jenkins and Krupa Vinayagamoorthy have handpicked three tasty tales from the banquet that is ROYALS, WISE AND OTHERWISE, FEAST’s second collection of Asian folktales published in 2019.Lynne Kirk (Hong Kong) tells a heavenly love story from China; Richard Dian Vilar (Philippines) celebrates a gender-defying Princess from Mindanao, and Lavanya Prasad (Bangalore, India) has fun with a comic tale of a decidedly other-wise King hungry for a never-ending story!We catch up with Richard and a rising young Filipina teller, Simone Sales, and learn about the role of storytelling in Filipino culture, and it's appeal to young people there today.As a book was our starting point, when the podcast team gathered in our virtual Pantry for a quick coffee, cake and chat, we talked about how we transition from reading a story aloud (and thinking ‘Ooh great story – I want to tell that!’) to actually telling it in our own words. If you haven’t tried re-telling a story in your own words before (afraid to put the book down?!) you’ll find this very helpful. We also issue an interesting challenge – are you going to throw it back at us?!Finally, we managed to get Kiran Shah, a Singaporean who played a key role in encouraging the revival of storytelling in the Republic from 1999 onwards, to sit down in the clinic and talk about finding your voice. Not everyone is a loud and demonstrative performer – and Kiran shares thoughts on how to be a powerful yet quiet presence. She also discusses how to look after your voice (after you have found it!) and shares a comical cautionary tale about pre-performance eating habits!  As a Singaporean (with a Gujrati Indian heritage) now transplanted to the blue mountains of Australia, Kiran also has useful experience of performing in different cultural settings – and adjusting her telling accordingly.CONTRIBUTING STORYTELLERSLynne Kirk has been telling stories for over 25 yrs in Asia and the UK. She has a magical Story Apron to suit early years/lower primary age children and can incorporate simple drama/ puppetry/crafts to extend the stories she tells to cover all ages. Lynne truly believes the power stories have and how they can change one's life. https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynne-kirk-83182814/Richard De Vilar  He was a member of MSU Sining Kambayoka which utilized the “bayok” storytelling in chants that developed its distinct theater form. His theater practice was further enhanced as a member of the Kaliwat Performing Artists Collective that used theater and cultural action as tools for community development. Richard was a curator of Museo Dabawenyo and earned a degree of Masters in Anthropology from the Ateneo de Davao University. These provided a dynamic foundation of Richard as a . storyteller. He has performed in several storytelling festivals. Now, Richard is Butuan City’s Culture, Heritage and Arts Officer.Lavanya Prasad is an Electrical Engineer turned professional storyteller who believes she makes better and long lasting connections through stories than electrical wires. Her organization - Tale’scope has sessions that are always filled with music and movement. www.facebook.com/Taleescope Mail : Talescope.blr@gmail.com Youtube Channel :Talescope BangaloreGUESTS Kiran Shah was a social worker, Montessori Directress (in the U.S. and Japan) and early childhood trainer all over Asia before discovering storytelling 23 years ago. She has been involved in the revival of oral storytelling in Singapore and was the Founder President of the Storytelling Association, Singapore in 2006. She moved to Australia in 2008 but continues to participate in various storytelling conferences and festivals in Asia.  Simone Sales  is a young Filipina storyteller and storyteller. In 2014 she founded Mga Apo which comprises creators striving to keep the oral tradition alive. She believes everyone has a story to tell and that we must be cautious of the voices we may be neglecting or even overpowering with our own. She also believes that there is a time to tell your story, a time to listen to others' stories, and a time to actively shape the narratives.  HOSTS Roger Jenkins is a Singaporean storyteller, a co-founder and Director of FEAST. He has narrated nine audiobooks for Storytel (including adult, youth and children’s fiction, sci-fi and non-fiction titles.) He is a trained audio-describer who makes live performance accessible for vision-impaired audiences, and is an award-winning poet.  Krupa Vinayagamoorthy is an Australian storyteller based in Singapore. She is also the consulting director of the Federation of Asian Storytellers ( FEAST ). She is bilingual and enjoys telling stories to young children and adults Tamil and English. She wears other hats as senior activity volunteer, administrator, interview coach, dancer and visual note taker. Story Wok Producers: The podcast is produced by 6 producers:Krupa Vinayagamoorthy (Singapore)Meher Gahi (India)Ritu Vaish (India)Rituparna Ghosh (India)Roger Jenkins (Singapore)Shereen Saif (Dubai)Story Wok is produced by FEAST(Federation of Asian Storytellers ), (https://www.feast-story.org/ ). Our focus is on spreading Asian stories, celebrating colours from the Philippines in the east to Turkey in the west and the story telling communities that lie in between.If you are interested in Podcasting, check out our Podcasting for Storytellers webinar by Rituparna Ghosh at the FEAST store.Write to us at: feststory@gmail.com / storywok@gmail.com 

Story Wok’s 3rd episode focuses on India.When we think about stories from India, the epics like Mahabharat and Ramayan jump to mind. Every Indian has grown up listening to stories from the Panchatantra, while the wit and wisdom of Birbal and Tenali Raman make their stories hugely popular.So, in this episode there are three contrasting tales from the Mahabharat (Veena Seethepalli, India) Panchatantra (CS Radha, India) and a fun folktale from Punjab (Priyanka Chatterjee, India), in our Meso, Dim Sum and Fortune cookie segments respectively.For our entrée, we chat with a member (Prakrati Agrawal, India) of FEAST INDIA CHAPTER (FIC), the first Special Interest Group of FEAST.The Story Wok Podcast production team then gathers in the pantry to share some of their favourite sources for finding authentic Indian stories and we’ve listed these below for your convenience.And in the Tadka, the story clinic, there’s practical advice if you want to use props in your storytelling by Nupur Aggarwal(India)Here’s a list of authentic Indian story books referred to in the Pantry Shereen:Folktales from India by A.K Ramanujan, Penguin BooksThe Panchatantra - Teaching Tales of Old India, Retold by Narindar Uberoi Kelly, Hachette IndiaFor Indian MythologyThe Daughter from a Wishing Tree by Sudha Murthy, Puffin BooksShikhandi and other queer tales they don't tell you by Devdutt Pattanaik, Penguin BooksMeher:Sacked by Deepa AgarwalBooks by Sudha murthyFolktales retold & published by Karadi tales & TulikaKrupaTreasury of Asian Stories and Activities for Schools and Libraries - Cathy Spagnoli Link for purchase Ritu Vaish:Panchatantra by Vishnu Sharma  Link for amazonRituparna Ghosh: The World of Indian Stories - A teaching resource of folktales from every state - Cathy Spagnoli (Tulika) The Legend of Himal and Nagrai - Folktales from Punjab - Onaiza Drabu (Speaking Tiger)Shehzadi Mircha - Folktales from Punjab - Flora Annie Steel (Speaking Tiger) Episode HostsRitu Vaish has have been an educationist designing, developing and delivering English skill development courses and curriculum for over three decades. As a podcaster, she has a weekly story podcast: Story Prism.Roger Jenkins is a Singaporean storyteller, a co-founder and Director of FEAST. He came to storytelling via theatre which explains his style that combines both a strong sense of the theatrical with a relaxed, conversational manner-born of his work in improvised comedy. He has a keen interest in promoting accessibility – he is a trained audio describer for the blind and has a deaf tandem-storytelling partner. Featured Tellers:Veena Seethepalli is an educator, storyteller and volunteer who believes that mythology and cultural tales must be told to children to pass down wisdom. As a former preschool teacher, Veena often integrated stories into the curriculum. As a volunteer at government schools she teaches English and personal well-being narrating personal stories. Her travels, interest in Art and gardening find their way into her storytelling. CS Radha is a Carnatic Musician and uses her voice modulation, intonation, and gestures to tell stories and sing rhymes. She has lent her voice to over 500 animation rhymes, educational videos and presentations. Her YouTube Channel “Reach World Music” has songs from different genres and languages.Priyanka Chatterjee aka 'Golpodidi' is an International Story Consultant, an MBA (Gold Medallist), a Design Thinker, an Organic and Organisational storyteller, an Expressive Arts Practitioner and an alumna of International Institute of Storytelling, Emerson College, UK. She's the Director, Storytelling Education and Arts India Council. With 15+ years’ experience in Fortune 500 MNCs & leading Indian Media House, she founded 'Wild Strawberry' - an Art Exploration Organisation. Till date, 'Wild Strawberry' is tasted by 2.5 lakh children and 50,000 adults as Chatterjee has travelled the world with her story bag.Nupur Aggarwal works as a Teacher Trainer and Story Coach with schools in India, helping teachers leverage storytelling in classrooms. She loves adapting folktales and can be seen travelling across the country enthralling audiences with her skilfully told tales. Her telling style has been appreciated to be energetic, interactive and engaging.Prakrati Agrawal and Nandita Sankaran are a team of two passionate individuals, who with their similar interests in Indian mythology and their ancient wisdom of sages, started Story-Mitr in 2020.Prakrati Agrawal, BE in Computer Science and now a Montessori practitioner and Kathalaya certified storyteller. Nandita Sankaran was a practicing Chartered Accountant and a GST specialist and now a Kathalaya certified story teller.Together they have been successful in conducting online storytelling, games and fun activities for children, adults and senior citizens. They strongly believe that stories are all around us and each one has a story to share, they just need a listening ear. Story Wok Producers: The podcast is produced by 6 producers:Krupa Vinayagamoorthy (Singapore)Meher Gahi (India)Ritu Vaish (India)Rituparna Ghosh (India)Roger Jenkins (Singapore)Shereen Saif (Dubai)Story Wok is produced by FEAST(Federation of Asian Storytellers ), (https://www.feast-story.org/ ). Our focus is on spreading Asian stories, celebrating colours from the Philippines in the east to Turkey in the west and the story telling communities that lie in between.If you are interested in Podcasting, check out our Podcasting for Storytellers webinar by Rituparna Ghosh at the FEAST store.Write to us at: feststory@gmail.com / storywok@gmail.com

In Episode Two of Story Wok, let's travel to Malaysia and get a sneak peek into it's storytelling culture.Savour stories, that have featured in the FEAST Anthology of animal tales called 'Hiss, Roar, Squeak', narrated by authors cum storytellers themselves - Nor Azhar Ishak (Malaysia), Aparna Athreya (India) and Shalni Doshi (Singapore). Step into the pantry to know more about all that goes on 'behind the scenes' while editing an anthology - a candid conversation with the Editor of Hiss Roar Squeak, Deeptha Vivekanand.Meher & Ritu spoke to Fatimah Hassan, the Director of Asia's longest running storytelling festival - 'PINKS ie The Penang International Kids Storytelling Festival'. Hear her share the incredible story of it's inception & the journey so far.In the Story Clinic, Sheila Wee offers some fabulous insights for questions related to performance storytelling.Episode Hosts & Producers:Meher Gehi - Meher Gehi is a professional storyteller, story educator and an aspiring voice artist. Her storytelling comes alive through her expressive eyes & voice. She loves to infuse her storytelling with her deep love for music, theatrics & spirituality. She has performed & conducted sessions at prestigious schools & venues in Mumbai & across India. Smitten by wanderlust, she can have you travel different worlds through her tales... Ready? To watch her unique storytelling style, head straight to her Youtube channel - Meher GehiRitu Vaish is an educationist for 35 years. Her work has impacted children, university students, parents, and social institutions. She has developed a foundational curriculum for several schools and English skill development courses at state, national and international levels. She now hosts Story Prism podcast, telling engaging stories for children 2-10 years old.FEATURED TELLERS :-------------------------------Nor Azhar Ishak is a Malaysian award-winning children's book writer, illustrator, and storyteller who is passionate about literature, science, and art. He is also a professional educator and with 20 years of experience in conducting professional development workshops for teachers. He is based in NAI Art Studio, where he writes and illustrates books, produces works of art, and conducts training for learners of all ages. The studio also houses a children's picture book library and a storytelling center.Aparna Athreya, from India, grew up in a noisy family filled with wild stories. She worked as a software engineer but the stories never really left her. When she realized stories could transform people she shared her passion for stories with children and adults. She has been trained in several aspects of Storytelling, Counseling and Creative Pedagogy. Today, she uses storytelling to transform educators, children and organizations.Shalni Doshi has been a regular at the 398.2 Storytelling Festival since the first one in 2015. She has facilitated training workshops for teachers and the National Library Board in Singapore to train library volunteers in the art of storytelling. A workshop presenter at the 2nd Feast Conference in Bengaluru in 2019, Shalni loves sharing stories and having stories shared with her.Fatimah Hassan is the Director/Coordinator of the Penang International Kids Storytelling Festival. She is also the Manager of Special Projects, responsible for overseeing the Penang Education Council, an informal committee formed under the Penang State Government Executive Council for Education to facilitate continuous quality improvement for both formal and informal education. Story Wok Producers: The podcast is produced by 6 producers.Krupa Vinayagamoorthy (Singapore)Meher Gehi (India)Ritu Vaish (India)Rituparna Ghosh (India)Roger Jenkins (Singapore)Shereen Saif (Dubai)Story Wok is produced by FEAST ( Federation of Asian Storytellers), our focus is on spreading Asian stories, celebrating the tellers from the Philippines in the East to Turkey in the West and the storytelling communities that lie in-between.If you're a Storyteller interested in Podcasting, check out our Podcasting for Storytellers Webinar by Rituparna Ghosh at the FEAST Store Write to us at feaststory@gmail.com | storywok@gmail.com