Micki Beck

P.O. Box 430
Apsley, ON K0L 1A0

Email/Courriel: Micki Beck

Micki's journey into storytelling started some fifty years ago with a study of storytelling in education .  This ignited a passion for the oral tradition which stayed with her as the mother of five and grandmother of seven,as well as  in her work as a teacher and later as a librarian (which also involved booking professional storytellers for school  and library events). 

A firm believer in the value of apprenticeship she spent many years experimenting with, and learning about, her craft.  As a result she can claim experience in just about any venue and has great respect for the talent and versatility of her peers.As an unpaid apprentice she tried the dramatic impact of music, props, mask and costume for stage performances.  She told to T.V. cameras with no visible audience for response.  She accepted the challenge of telling story after story midst the screams and groans of haunted house and orchard. She told stories in busy shopping centres and at town festivals as well as the usual venues such as schools, libraries, book stores and by camp fires.

As a professional she has told at major storytelling festivals and has been on tour in the U.K.  Dinners, luncheons, universities, galleries and conventions have been added to her list of  experiences.  These days she knows her strengths and weaknesses and gladly recommends a fellow teller if she feels they would  serve a need better than she.

Having Celtic roots encouraged a love of that ancient culture and its mythology.  Love of literature led to the use of the oral tradition to introduce printed books. But her particular and abiding interest is in the folklore and folk tales of world cultures for it is there, she believes, that we discover our humanity .... the similarities that bind us all .... and the wisdom of the past that still stands true today.

Micki now runs a folk farm in the Kawarthas and holds a 'Gathering' for storytellers and musicians in July each year.   She has served as a juror for the Ontario Arts Council and has started and/or supported several new story telling groups in her area. 

Love of story never dies! 'I don't really understand the magic of storytelling.  I don't know how it happens.  I only know how to invite it and when the magic occurs it is wonderful!"

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Jan 2009