The Second Annual Lee Palmer Storytelling Celebration and Summer Reading Kickoff featuring Storyteller Diane Edgecomb & Celtic Harper Margot Chamberlain, giveaways and refreshments.
The Second Annual Lee Palmer Storytelling Celebration and Summer Reading Kickoff will take place on Saturday, June 28 at 1:00pm in the Library's Auditorium. The event will feature Parent's Choice award-winning Storyteller Diane Edgecomb accompanied by Celtic Harper Margot Chamberlain.
Publishers Weekly has called Ms. Edgecomb, "A virtuoso of the spoken word? an entire cast rolled into one." She will perform Fairies and Fireflies: a gathering of Summer Solstice Tales - a magical event of story and harp music to celebrate the Summer Solstice. From a wild ride through the air with a fairy band to a mysterious encounter with the Spirit of the Birch Grove who teaches a young girl how to dance, tales of this magical time of year will enchant young and old. Enjoy stories of the power of Song, Fireflies and Honeybees along with the Lilt of Harp Music.
The event will also feature giveaways, refreshments and the chance to sign up for the Library's annual Summer Reading Program!
About Diane Edgecomb and Margot Chamberlain
Master storyteller Diane Edgecomb and Celtic harper Margot Chamberlain have been featured on NPR and at storytelling festivals, coffeehouses and theaters throughout the country. Diane is known for her unique style of storytelling, where she embodies the various characters and scenes in a tale, bringing each moment alive. For this she has won the National Oracle Award for Storytelling Excellence in the Northeast as well as five Storytelling World Awards. Harper Margot Chamberlain has performed with numerous early music groups including LiveOak, Quadrivium and the Revels. Her versatile approach to harp and song brings an underlying poetic weave to support each tale.
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The Lee Palmer Storytelling Celebration is organized by the Friends of the White Plains Public Library in honor of their dear friend and member Lee Palmer.
In an interview with Palmer, she said that in 1966 she noticed an item in the local paper. The head of the children?s department of the White Plains Public Library was offering a program on storytelling. It piqued Lee?s interest and she attended the five session workshop. Right after Lee told her story for her ?final exam,? she was asked to stop in to see the Library?s Director. On the spot, she was offered a job as a storyteller in the children?s room. So began a twenty-five-year career, sharing stories with generations of White Plains children.
Over the course of those 25 years, Lee honed her natural storytelling skills as an active member of Anne Izard?s Westchester Storytellers Guild. She also studied storytelling at SUNY Purchase, taught by the groundbreaking Sesame Street Workshop. After her final required performance for that course, she was ? again on the spot ? invited to spend a day on the set of Sesame Street, where she was delighted to meet its famous residents, especially Big Bird. We are sure he remembers her well.
?The art of storytelling creates enthusiastic readers by enhancing imagination, improving vocabulary, and refining communication skills through human connection,? said City of White Plains Mayor Thomas Roach. ?Lee Palmer understood the power of human connection honing this unique skill over twenty-five years for the benefit of White Plains children. The Lee Palmer Storytelling Celebration is the perfect way to honor the value and joy Lee brought to so many lives.?
Lee retired from the White Plains Public Library in 1991, but not really. She has remained very active in pursuits related to children, stories, books and libraries. When we asked Lee why she thinks storytelling is important for children, we think she inadvertently gave us her secret recipe for creating generations of dedicated readers here in White Plains. She said, ?To see a book, to hear the story told by somebody else, and then to think, ?I?m going to take that book home.??
AGE GROUP: | Teens | Families | Children | Adults |
EVENT TYPE: | Storytime and Early Literacy | Performing Arts | International and Multicultural | Fun and Games | Educational Presentations | Books and Authors |
