Hey kids want to help solve a mystery? Reminder

North Bay Public Library
News Release

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Thursday, July 9th at 10:30 a.m. AGENT STORY Laura Thomas will be counting on you to help her complete a mysterious storytelling mission!

A top-secret story in the Library Auditorium.
For ages 3 to 8.

Admission is free.

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North Bay - BC author and children’s storyteller Laura Thomas, also known as Agent Story, is bringing her love of stories to North Bay this month. Thomas will kick off her “Agent Story: Great Canadian Mysteries” storytelling tour at the North
Bay Library on July 9th.

Midway through her tour—which makes stops in Powassan, Orillia and all thirteen
Sudbury libraries—Thomas will spend a week at Canadore College teaching a writing and storytelling course for Artsperience 2009. Thomas’ course is called “Crafting Stories for Children” and it promises to be a unique experience for North Bay residents who are eager to write stories for kids.

“This is a rare opportunity for me too,” said Thomas. “I get to put everything I do as a parent, writer, teacher, and storyteller into one action-packed week. The best part, though, will be getting to know a whole new group of people who are just as fascinated by legends, folktales and children’s literature as I am.”

During the 30-hour course, participants will spend their mornings exercising their performance skills in a storytelling ‘boot camp,’ and their afternoons playing with short stories and poetry, the two kinds of fiction writing that are most relevant in the children’s book and magazine market.

“Boot camp aside,” said Thomas, “this is a course for beginner writers. I am eager to help those folks who have always dreamed of writing for children but who aren’t sure where to start. This course will definitely be a first step toward publication or performing as a storyteller.”

Driving Thomas to help adults become better storytellers is her two-fold desire to keep the oral tradition alive and to create space for local stories to be passed on to future generations.

“There is something about a parent sharing a real-life story with a child, a teacher making up a story on the fly during class or hearing a story in your first language about something that took place in your hometown that Hollywood can’t match. Mass-produced stories maybe entertaining, but local stories told by someone you know and love—those are the stories that really help kids connect with their little corner of planet Earth.”

Thomas’ course runs from July 13-17, 8:30am to 3:00 pm. There are no prerequisites, just a desire to connect with kids through stories. To register call 474-7600 ext. 5420 or visit www.canadorec.on.ca. To find out more about Laura Thomas, please visit
www.AgentStory.net.

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