OTTAWA – While this year continues to be anything but ordinary, fans of the Ottawa Children’s Storytelling Festival eagerly await the opportunity to escape to, and delight in, the world of stories.

With this in mind, the Ottawa Public Library and the Ottawa StoryTellers are partnering to launch the 26th edition of the Ottawa Children’s Storytelling Festival, which will be held online Nov. 16 to 21, for kids aged 0 to 12.

“Inspired by the success of the Storytelling Day presented at the Nepean Centrepointe branch in recent years, this full week festival is greatly expanded, and provides children with an opportunity to hear from a wide variety of storytellers from Ottawa and across Canada,” Ottawa Public Library (OPL) staff released in a statement Nov. 2. “With nearly 30 tellers, including Indigenous tellers, these tales will elicit laughter and joy, excitement and empathy, as well as a sense of shared experience.”

Storytelling events are organized by age group and a variety of sessions will be available in both English and French. Some tellers’ events have been pre-recorded and, after the event has finished, will be available ‘on demand’ on YouTube until Dec. 7. Others will tell their stories in real time on Zoom and Facebook Live.

Bring your family or friends and:

• Find out why it’s so noisy on Zoom with Selina Eisenberg’s beautiful felts and puppets.  
• Let Louise Profeit-Leblanc of the Nacho N’yak Dun First Nation of Mayo teach you why it is important to listen attentively and then listen to Sharon Shorty’s traditional tales from the Yukon.  
• Join Michael Kusugak from Nunavut as he talks about the stories behind his books, Baseball Bats for Christmas and Northern Lights, the Soccer Trails. 
• Come along with Rubina Sinha as her words allow your  imagination to dance into places that are both real and magical, or sail with Sara Abusarar on a sea of stories. Or… blast off into space with Marie Victoria Robinson! 
• Discover the perfect place to find your pearl with Jacqui du Toit or join Ruth Verger-Stewart for tales of muddy messes and chocolate melts. 
• Visit the Festival web page for the full schedule and more details.

“The OPL is proud to partner with the Ottawa StoryTellers, who have been working to support the Ottawa community since 1999,” staff said. “Their mission is to promote the art of storytelling among young people, to nurture and inspire both beginning and experienced storytellers, and to provide tellers and listeners of all ages with opportunities to come together to share and enjoy stories.”

“I go to the Storytelling festival to be enraptured, startled, delighted, scared and filled with laughter,” festival coordinator Ruth Stewart-Verger said. “The stories will bring together children and families across our city and beyond. The listeners and tellers will have different backgrounds – Indigenous, non-indigenous, and immigrant. Their stories bring familiar themes, new ideas and an opportunity for families to bond as they share literary treasures.”

The festival is a great opportunity for all children and youth to enjoy the benefits of storytelling, whether they are attending school from home or in a classroom. So, parents and teachers, mark your calendars for the week of November 16th! For all of the details about our Tellers and the storytelling sessions, please visit https://biblioottawalibrary.ca/en/kid-zone/storytelling-festival.