Ancient art of storytelling alive and well
Traditions of storytelling date back thousands of years. It is as old as language itself. By this social medium, traditions and history have been preserved, handed down from generation to generation across centuries, long before Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press radically changed the volume, flow and dissemination of information.
The storyteller kept history alive. And, whether the tales were spun in jest by thespians to amuse the royal court or, otherwise, presented as lyrics by traveling troubadours, they held audiences engaged and entertained.
Stories – fact, fiction or myth – define a people. Submerged or interwoven in comedy or tragedy, stories describe the hopes and fears; the standards and mores of a people. Each story, like a beam of light, illuminates and reveals that which a thousand words could hardly describe – the culture and ways of civil society.
Palaver acknowledges the important historical role of storytelling and each year seeks to gather and present storytellers and their stories as a cultural experience.

PALAVER STORYTELLING
Storytelling takes the audience to a different place, to live the moment and to sense the emotions of characters, real or fiction; to place of empathy.
Storytelling is itself a process of sharing. And the storyteller, in the moment, brings the audience into the process, to share recollections and emotions with the group. The participants, individually and collectively, share a common experience of empathy with characters. They laugh at the trickery of Bre’r Anancy and anger over that which forced lovers to dash themselves to suicide over the Jamaican cliffs at Lovers’ Leap.
Palaver accepts that storytelling is an experience where that which is invaluable is carefully passed from generation to generation. It is an experience to be shared, even in reverence.
Palaver 2017 presents some great stories on Saturday August 12, 10.am – 5.00 pm, at Wasaga Beach Area 4.