Ojai Storytelling Festival!
October 22-25, 2026
$10 Sends a child to the Ojai Storytelling Festival
$300 Feeds a storyteller for a week
$1000 Pays for a full day of storytelling assemblies
Story Swap Sundays
Come tell us YOUR story!
May 10 @ 7PM
Theme:
MUM
2026 Lineup
Mary Hamilton, Kevin Kling, Geraldine Buckley, Noa Baum, Lipbone Redding
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Mary Hamilton
2026
Master of Ceremonies
Mary's early adventures in the storytelling spotlight led to a note on her report card, trips to the confessional, and smiles of delight on the faces of her 3rd grade classmates. When it was Mary's turn to stand in front of her class and tell what she had done over the weekend, she did not hesitate to describe how she rode her horse bareback. Carefully, she used her hands to demonstrate how she slid off the rump of her galloping horse, barely grabbing the tail. She showed them how she struggled to climb the tail, and then held tight to the mane to finish her ride. The story was most convincing, especially from a girl who owned no horse. While her classmates were thrilled, her teacher recognized a disturbing lack of truth in need of correction instead of talent in need of encouragement and direction. A note to Mary's parents resulted in reminders that telling stories was sinful. For years Mary confessed her sins and struggled to overcome her talent. Thank goodness, she failed. In 1983, after brief careers as a high school English teacher and a public library children's librarian, Mary embraced professional storytelling. With her ever-expanding repertoire, Mary delights audiences throughout the USA. She tells tales in a straightforward "just talking" style. Yes, she still uses her hands to help tell the tale. Today, when Mary takes the stage, the show unfolds in the hearts and minds of her audiences - just as it did for her 3rd grade classmates so many years ago. Mary entertains audiences of adults, families, or children with Kentucky tales, world folk & fairy tales, plus a few myths, legends, true stories, and original fiction. She has told stories at storytelling festivals, performing arts festivals, conferences, universities, theatres, libraries, museums, schools, and private gatherings. Mary's storytelling is also listed in the Kentucky Performing Arts Directory, a juried directory of Kentucky's finest performers. The Kentucky Humanities Council presents Mary's work through their Speakers Bureau, which offers her presentations "The Art of Storytelling" a look at the art form, "Liar, Liar, Storyteller" a romp through Kentucky's tall tale telling traditions, and "Feeding Nightmares" a visit with the creepy tales from Kentucky folklore. While nothing can take the place of live storytelling where teller and audience share the same space, relating and responding to each other, you can watch Mary tell stories in informal videos posted to her YouTube Channel. Mary’s recordings have won several awards. Alligators, Bees & Surprise, Oh My! Folktales Revived won a Storytelling World Honor Award in the category Storytelling Recordings, Sisters All…and One Troll won an iParenting Media Award, a Parents’ Choice Gold Award and a Storytelling World Winner Award for storytelling recordings. Mary’s adaptation and retelling of “Stormwalker” on Some Dog and other Kentucky Wonders was named an Honor Title in Storytelling World Awards, Stories for Pre-Adolescent Listeners category. Mary’s first book, Kentucky Folktales: Revealing Stories, Truths, and Outright Lies, a collection of twenty-six tales with each story followed by an essay that talks about the story and about some aspect of the art of storytelling, was published by University Press of Kentucky in 2012. Her book won an Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Award and a Storytelling World Winner Award in the storytelling collections category. Three of Mary's stories can be read in the anthologies, The Scenic Route: Stories from the Heartland; Best-Loved Stories Told at the National Storytelling Festival and Telling Stories: Fiction by Kentucky Feminists. Mary also teaches the art of storytelling to others. She has trained teachers, librarians, speakers, and her storytelling colleagues. Mary also offers individual and small group coaching. In addition to teaching teachers through workshops, Mary also encourages teachers to use storytelling techniques in their classrooms through her work as an artist in residence. From 1989 - 2021 Mary promoted storytelling in Kentucky classrooms through her service as a Kentucky Arts Council Teaching Artist. She is now available to contract artist residencies independently. Whether she is exploring stories with primary students, helping 4th graders write personal narratives, or teaching middle school students how to use the Artistic Response Process, Mary enjoys working with students and their teachers. The Kentucky School Media Association presented Mary with the 1999-2000 Jesse Stuart Media Award. This award recognizes creative development in any medium of service to Kentucky schools. Mary received the award, not for a specific story or story recording, but for her body of work in the medium of storytelling. Past Jesse Stuart Media Award recipients include children's author and poet George Ella Lyons, the Kentucky Educational Television Network, and Kentucky's largest newspaper, The Louisville Courier-Journal. Mary is the first storyteller to receive this award. In 2009 the National Storytelling Network honored Mary with a Circle of Excellence ORACLE Award, presented to artists recognized by their peers to be master storytellers who set the standards for excellence and have demonstrated, over a significant period of time, a commitment and dedication to the art of storytelling. Mary also counts herself among the many dedicated members of the National Storytelling Network and the Kentucky Storytelling Association . In 2016 the National Storytelling Network again presented Mary with an ORACLE Award – this time for Distinguished National Service. When asked, "Who is your favorite audience?" Mary's response hasn't changed since 3rd grade. "Whether I'm telling stories, teaching storytelling, or using storytelling in a classroom, my favorite audience is always the group in front of me." One thing has changed since 3rd grade. Instead of viewing herself as a sinner girl, Mary now proudly claims the title professional storyteller.
Noa Baum
The Washington Post describes Noa Baum as someone who "Spreads cultural truths that eclipse geopolitical boundaries...". Born and raised in Jerusalem, the performing bug bit Noa at a very early age when her father improvised perfectly tailored music on the piano to match the stories she made up and danced with her younger siblings. Noa holds a BFA in theater from Tel Aviv University, was an actress with the Khan Repertory Theater of Jerusalem and studied with acclaimed acting teacher Uta Hagen in NY. She holds a Master of Arts in Educational Theater and Drama Therapy from New York University (NYU) and received a Graduate Fellowship working in inner city schools from C.A.T., (Creative Arts Team) the Theater in Education Company of NYU. A sought-out performer, speaker, and trainer, Noa offers a unique approach to storytelling in communities and organizations. Since 1982, she has inspired and educated audiences of all ages with her performances, innovative keynotes, and transformative workshops. Since 1990 Noa has lived in the U.S. and tours internationally. She has presented in Turkey, Sweden, the UK, Canada, Australia, and Israel, as well as hundreds of venues in the US including: The World Bank, The Mayo Clinic, The Kennedy Center, The US Defense Department, US Securities and Exchange Commission, AARP, GWU Law School, Brandeis and Stanford Universities. Noa’s memoir “A Land Twice Promised – an Israeli Woman’s Quest for Peace” is a winner of the Anne Izard Storytellers' Choice Award, the LDS Publishing Professionals Association Award, and a Storytelling World Award. She is also the author of a picture book “How the Birds Became Friends” - winner of the Storytelling World Honors award - on the power of kindness to bring peace. Her audio recordings won Parents’ Choice and Storytelling World awards. Noa is a recipient of numerous awards from the National Storytelling Network, the Maryland State Arts Council and the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County, Maryland. Noa lives in the Washington, DC area and was voted by The Washington Jewish Week as one of the 10 most interesting local Jews.
2026
Featured Storyteller
Playwright, actor, author, storyteller and cultural advocate, Kevin Kling is hailed as a Minnesota state treasure. His work is infused with an innate sense of humor and reflects the life challenges he has surmounted, including a congenital birth disorder and partial paralysis from a near-fatal motorcycle accident. He has performed his stories and plays in libraries, school gymnasiums, The Kennedy Center, Off-Broadway, regional theaters, and storytelling festivals around the US. His international tours have included Australia, Europe, and Thailand. He has been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, The McKnight Foundation, The Minnesota State Arts Board, The Bush Foundation, and The Jerome Foundation. He is a McDowell Fellow and has received the Whiting Award, the A.P. Anderson Award, the VSA Jeahny, and the Eric Peterson Award. Kevin was named the Minneapolis Story Laureate in 2014. A frequent commentator for National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered”, Kevin now appears regularly on TPT's "Almanac" and was featured in the Regional Emmy Award winning PBS documentary "Kevin Kling: Lost and Found". He has authored five books, The Dog Says How, Holiday Inn, Big Little Brother, Big Little Mother and On Stage with Kevin Kling. Other writing includes commissions with the Minnesota Orchestra and the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. Kevin is especially proud of his work as a teacher, playwright and performer with Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, a company that creates art in the spirit of radical inclusion.
Lipbone Redding
Lipbone is a one-man orchestra who turns story into song and songs into birds. He has humble roots in North Carolina, and after several years in New York City, he began busking in the Manhattan subways and parks. He used these very public places to work on his original material. Uncompromisingly true to his own voice, Lipbone tells his life-story through his unique music. Vocals, guitar and…other stuff, Lipbone has a style that adheres to no style at all. Musical, upbeat and imaginative, sometimes soft and soulful, his story is peppered with vocal trombones and throat-singing birds, fantastic animals and a host of poignant characters. Lipbone engages the audience as if they are additional band members, and invites them to employ their voices, claps and dance moves for the greater good. When not on the road making music and friends, Lipbone is artist-in-residence at Oak Grove Retreat in Tarboro, North Carolina. In addition to a thriving commercial music career, Lipbone has been an active member of the yoga community, since 2003, performing for classes and offering concerts at healing arts centers around the world. In 2017 he began offering immersive experiences focused on breath, music and meditation.
2026
Featured Storyteller
With her trademark wit, warmth and humor, internationally known, award-winning storyteller and educator Geraldine Buckley has been involved in storytelling, speaking, performance poetry and conducting creative workshops for over thirty years in the US, Canada, England, Holland, South Africa, Spain and New Zealand. Traveling extensively, Geraldine shares folk tales and Greek myths (mainly in schools); conducts storytelling and creative/meditative workshops; performs true stories based on her own globe-trotting adventures at festivals, schools, theatres, house-concerts, prisons and conferences; and performs her educational, storytelling show “Tea In The Slammer” in the criminal justice departments of universities and in other settings. Recently, among many other places, Geraldine has performed as a featured teller at the National Storytelling Festival; TN, Timpanogos Storytelling Festival UT; Brandywine Storytelling Festival, DE; National Storytelling Network Conference, VA; Sounds of the Mountains Storytelling Festival, VA; Starburst Storytelling Festival, SC; Invercargill Arts Festival (in New Zealand). She was a teller in residence at Anderson University, Anderson SC, The International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough TN, and performed and taught at the State University of New York (SUNY) Fredonia. She also conducted workshops in prisons in New Zealand and Maryland and has told stories and conducted residencies in many schools. Until January 2010 Geraldine was a chaplain at the largest men’s prison in Maryland. Geraldine has won two prestigious Gold Awards from Storytelling World. She is also an accomplished speaker specializing in making her audiences laugh and think. Geraldine has an MA in Communication from Regent University and lives in Frederick, Maryland, 45 minutes from Washington DC.
Sufian Zhemukhov
Sufian Zhemukhov is an award-winning author and performer. His solo shows have been featured at the 2025 National Storytelling Festival, off-Broadway, and nationwide. NPR described his show Flirting Like an American as “a show about romance, culture, and one immigrant’s story” and his show From Russia Without Love as "an escapist James Bond parody." His story ‘Jesus in a Shoe Store’ has garnered a cool million views on The Moth, and the IFC Center in NYC featured his story ‘Blueberry Diplomacy’ as part of Short Attention Span Cinema. A Fulbright scholar and “Einstein visa” recipient, Sufian draws on his personal experience as a first-generation immigrant and college professor, which might be funnier than it sounds. His storytelling has earned the 2020 JJ Reneaux Emerging Artist Award from the National Storytelling Network, and his academic research won the 2019 Best Book Award from the International Studies Association.
2026
Featured Storyteller