summer reading 2025
A Rainbow of Stories -
listen. look.
taste.
smell.
touch.
The world is a feast of colorful experiences & stories. Come listen to a tale and see all the colors of the world!
Summer Reading Programs are general 60 minutes in length and appropriate for youth, young adult & adult audiences. Please email me for more info.
*** I also can tailor a program to fit another theme you might be working with.
more youth programs
ALL CREATURES WILD & WONDERFUL - Let’s explore the wild and wonderful world of our furred, feathered & finned friend of the animal kingdom through stories!. Come and join the grand adventure and enjoy a feral mix of tales about our favorite ferocious and funny animal friends.
Hocus Pocus; Magic Tales for Believers - Do you believe in magic? Most children do believe until they forget and many adults have forgotten. Whether or not you believe, come away for a spell and celebrate what you remember or conjure up what you have forgotten. Storyteller, Tracy Chipman will have a rabbit’s hatful of fascinating tales to tell about this mysterious and yet quite average phenomenon, MAGIC. Kids, it’s okay to bring your parents. This is no illusion…see you there or you may be turned into a toad. It will be SUPERnatural!
East of the Sun, West of the Moon - What lies East of the Sun and West of the Moon? Only the icy snell north wind knows. This rich Scandanavian program features northern European tales, from east of the sun, and west of the moon.
|| Peace, Shalom, Salam || - A rich heart picked grouping of stories for all ages from many cultural traditions expressing the simple, powerful and sometimes seemingly illusive experience - peace.
Harvest! - A colorful, down to earth exploration of all things summer & harvest with tales from around the world.
Night Moves - For thousands of years as the evening lengthens folk have gathered and shared tales of creatures and the mysteries of the night. This program offers a peek into the dark night to see and hear more. (tales of owls, bats, stars and perhaps even a ghost tale or two).
In Flight - Winged, feathered, living from pole to pole, migratory and stationary - our blessed birds of the world. Prepare to fly into the skies and enjoy folklore, myths and wondertales of our fine feathered friends.
adult programs
here’s a collection of programs I’ve done in the past.
And there's always more to explore, so if you have something in mind, let's talk.
The Stories in the Stars ~ Look up! The sky is singing with stories. Stories that have charmed and held captive the imaginations of humans for thousands of year!
Eagles, Blue Gills and Bears, Oh My - Tales from the 45th Latitude: Nature Stories from the northern hemisphere.
Wisconsin Tales - A mix of folklore, legend and personal narrative from this gem of a state!
Stories for Change - stories as change to deepen our relationship with the living world, with 'other' and with ourselves.
Into the Woods - a mix of fairy tales and folklore from the collection of the Brother's Grimm.
Celtica - Stories to enchant and delight from the Celtic corners of the planet.
Wild Women Tales - An homage to the feminine through stories from around the world, throughout time.
Memento Mori - Stories from the wide arc of humanity about the experience we can not escape - death!
Islands Away - an oral storytelling program sharing stories from the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The stories were collected by Ms. Chipman during fieldwork with The Hebridean Folklore Project in the 1990s.. This program shares the sense of place of these remote islands & the richness of Scottish Gaelic culture. All stories told are shared with permission by the oral tradition bearers.
As It Was Told to Me - Before there was printed material and books, stories were transmitted orally and the world was a much different place because of that. This program explores oral tradition and includes a few good tales that were told to me, some perhaps having never been written down.
{ Winter Tales } Storytelling was made for winter..
TALES FROM THE HEART - Love in all it’s forms through the lens of myth and lore.
May the Road Rise to Meet You ~ Tales from Ireland : A winning collection of tales from fairy lore to the old wild myths.
workshops
BE ASTONISHED. TELL ABOUT IT. (this can be adapted to a writing workshop as well)
In her poem, Sometimes, poet Mary Oliver offers us this:
Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
Following these simple yet powerful words through the medium of oral storytelling, we will come together in a playful way. The class will include explorations of active listening, reflection, vocal expression, and the co-creative craft of oral storytelling. With local storyteller, somatics practitioner, and author, Tracy Chipman.
***
THIS LAND – THESE BODIES - being bodies writing
Please join storyteller, author & somatics practitioner for a somatic based, creative writing class: THIS LAND – THESE BODIES – being bodies writing.
In this emergent class we will let go of work-a-day, mind-centered ways and tap deeply into the sensorium of our bodies, listening powerfully with landscapes that claim us. Together we will playfully explore, discover, write and share our experiences.
Can you let the mind soften into the body and let your body be your guide to discovery?
What might your body wish to harvest through deeper connection with self and the land?
How might your life shift if you were fully present in your body, writing as a playful, sensory process of discovery?
***
Storytelling 101 - Enjoy the breadth and depth of storytelling experiences from world myth, to local legend, folklore from the corners of the globe to personal narrative of a seasoned traveler and teller. Performance and/or workshop.
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Re-Member Your Wild & Bespoke Imagination~
Dig deep into the imaginal with this retreat experience exploring imagination through storytelling and Yoga. (I'm also a Certified Yoga Teacher)
