PRESS RELEASE FROM NATIONAL STORYTELLING NETWORK:
The National Storytelling Network (NSN www.storynet.org) recently announced that Gwenda LedBetter of Asheville, NC is a recipient of the NSN ORACLE Lifetime Achievement Award. This award is presented to individuals in the storytelling community who have dedicated their lives to the art form of storytelling and who have demonstrated meritorious service to the National Storytelling Network, as well as to the community of storytellers at large. The individuals who are awarded are those who have expanded public awareness of the art of storytelling by virtue of their preservation of traditional art forms or the significant originality of their body of work.
Gwenda LedBetter, Story Lady is an 86-year-old pioneer of the festival-based American storytelling revival. She has dedicated 54 years (and counting!) to a storytelling practice that has reached across the country and the world. Gwenda’s career has included a nearly two-decade run as the Story Lady on television (1962-1978), five appearances at the National Storytelling Festival between 1978 and
(more)1998, teaching all four summers of the NAPPS Institute (1988-1991), performing for a week at the International Storytelling Center, and a 20-year touring career from the Deep South to New England to the Midwest. As a veteran member of the revival community and a community leader, she has served NSN and fellow storytellers in settings both large and small. For over five decades, she has championed traditional stories and storytellers and has created an indisputably significant body of original work.
LedBetter received her award at the National Storytelling Awards Ceremony on Saturday, July 23, 2016 at the Kansas City Marriott Country Club Plaza Hotel in Kansas City, MO.
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