ISSUED: 14 November 2018
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Speak Story Series, part of Shepherd University’s Appalachian Studies Program, presents Elizabeth Ellis on Tuesday, December 11, at 7:30 p.m. in Reynolds Hall. Admission is $12 at the door, with express entry for Speak season ticket holders, and free to full-time Shepherd students with a valid Rambler ID. Speak is for adult audiences. Mature youth are allowed at their guardian’s discretion.
Ellis grew up in the Appalachian Mountains in a family of storytellers. Her grandfather told stories he had collected in his travels through the mountains. Ellis’s aunt was a keeper of the old fairytales that she had learned from her Irish immigrant grandmother. When Ellis was a child, her closest friends were imaginary.
Ellis has mentored and coached storytellers around the nation for 40 years. She is the first recipient of the John Henry Faulk Award from the Tejas Storytelling Association. The National Storytelling Network honored her in 1997 with the Circle of Excellence Award, which is given to those recognized nationally by their peers to be master storytellers.
For more information about Speak Story Series, visit https://www.speakstoryseries.com/.
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