“Promoting the art of the raconteur”

Tickets are on sale today for Asheville Unchained (with Neil Gaiman)

The Unchained tour comes to Asheville on Sunday, Sept. 16. Its star is Neil Gaiman, author of short fiction and graphic novels (including The Sandman and Coraline), and husband to ineffable woman, Amanda Palmer.

But, awesome as Gaiman may be, this tour (which claims to be “promoting the art of the raconteur”) includes much more. George Dawes Green, founder of storytelling network The Moth, put the tour together. Its mission statement asserts that “the telling of unscripted, personal, porch-style stories is one of the great arts, and that nights of storytelling are vital to any vibrant and healthy community. Our mission is to bring brilliant raconteurs, along with musicians and writers and other artists, to towns large and small across the South — and eventually across the continent. We’ll champion the local and home-grown: independent bookstores, community gardens, performing cafes. We’ll advocate getting offline and off the grid, and wherever we go we’ll celebrate the pleasure and inspiration of raconteuring.”

Green got the idea while on a book tour through small-town Georgia, and was surprised to find that there are still independent book stores. Inspired by what he calls “noble bastions against the electronic media,” he bought a Bluebird school bus and loaded it up with authors, storytellers and musicians (his raconteurs). After a successful run in Georgia and North Florida, the tour was expanded to include the Southeast.

Performers (along with Green and Gaiman) include: Moth GrandSlam champion Peter Aguero and actor/poet/performance artist Edgar Oliver. The musical act is Rachel Kate and Joel T. Hamiliton from Charleston.

Unchained stops in Asheville on Sunday, Sept. 16. The performance takes place at Diana Wortham Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 and are on sale through the Diana Wortham website.

Learn more about the Unchained tour here:

Unchained from Matt Perry on Vimeo.

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About Alli Marshall
Alli Marshall has lived in Asheville for more than 20 years and loves live music, visual art, fiction and friendly dogs. She is the winner of the 2016 Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize and the author of the novel "How to Talk to Rockstars," published by Logosophia Books. Follow me @alli_marshall

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