Elinor Benjamin                                                                                                                                   Photo courtesy of The Western Star

59 East Valley Rd
Corner Brook, NL A2H 2L4
Email: Elinor Benjamin
Website: www3.nf.sympatico.ca/ebandrr/tales
Phone: (709) 634-8890

Elinor is a retired library administrator, and has been telling traditional folktales, fairytales and myths in schools, libraries and other venues to listeners of all ages for around twenty years. She first discovered storytelling when she decided to take in a storytelling workshop with Laura Simms instead of the regular "How to run your library good with no money" sort of sessions she was supposed to attend at library conferences. Her friendship with the legendary Newfoundland fiddler, storyteller and bon-vivant, Emile Benoit, and further library conference sessions with Rita Cox and Bob Barton sealed the deal.

From there, she pursued storytelling through extensive reading, listening to audiocassettes of other storytellers while driving to visit libraries in remote outports, and occasional escapes off island to attend workshops with the Storytelling School of Toronto, Laura Simms, Jan Andrews and Jennifer Cayley, Cathy Miyata, Lynda Howes, Marilyn Peringer, Katherine Grier, Dan Yashinsky and Kevin McKenzie - to name only a few of the wonderful tellers who have influenced her telling.

After 22 years with the Newfoundland Public Libraries, Elinor left to work with Learning through the Arts in schools in Western Newfoundland for six years. In 2001, she received a "Mentorship Award" from the Royal Conservatory of Music for her work with Learning through the Arts.

Living near L'Anse aux Meadows and having a bit of Norse DNA, she especially enjoys Norse myths and folk tales, but loves stories from all around the world. Although living in Newfoundland for nearly 30 years, her roots go so deep in Nova Scotia, she wonders why she does not have webbed feet or six toes. Her biggest geneaological thrill was discovering that her 2nd cousin 5 times removed was the Baptist missionary Silas Tertius Rand, who, though a failure at collecting souls for the Baptist persuasion, collected and translated a rich treasury of oral history and literature from the Mik'maqs of Nova Scotia, and produced a wealth of ethographic material including a Mik'maq dictionary

In 2005, she received a Canada Council grant to travel to Ireland, and told at the Dublin Yarnspinners and the Sean Dunne Literary Festival in Waterford. She has performed at the Ottawa Storytellers' Festival, the St. John's Storytelling Festiva and the Brockville Festival of Storytelling. One of the greatest pleasures of Elinor's 22 years as a library administrator was hosting all the writers, illustrators and storytellers who toured Newfoundland during the TD Canadian Children's Book Week Tour, from its inception to the present. To her great delight, she was selected for the tour in 2003 and visited Montreal and townships.

Elinor has been involved with Corner Brook's long-standing March Hare Poetry Festival for many years, acting as host and storytellers\ at the children's program" The Mad Hatter's Tea Party and was made March Hare Special Honouree in 2008. She also enjoys attending and participating in the Trails, Tales and Tunes Festival in Norris Point, NL.

She loves being a member of SC-CC and served as SC-CC's Administrator for two years and and has been the webmaster for a number of years. She tells stories to audiences of all ages, gives workshops for elementary grades - adults and is willing to travel.

Nov 2008