Get to know your storyteller! Leading up to our event on April 5th we’re bringing you brief bios of our speakers. Here’s Suzanne!

Suzanne is an instructor in Drama in Education at Brock University. She is retired from teaching drama for 38 years in secondary school. Her roots of storytelling are from her hometown of Parrsboro, Nova Scotia on the Bay of Fundy, where story telling is a natural ‘way’ for many in daily life. She was a founder of the Parrsboro storytellers group. Currently she belongs to the Hamilton Storytelling Circle. Recently, writing short stories to tell has become a part of her repertoire as well.

Join us on April 5th at the First Unitarian Church to hear Suzanne and others tell true stories from their own lives, live without notes! Doors open at 7. Advance tickets available online (here!) or at The Cannon.

Check out the beautiful new poster for our upcoming event – another gem from Chris White and Ariane Klassen, the dynamic design duo behind Steel City Stories’ posters and buttons. Like what you see? Take a look at more of their work here!

Tickets are going fast for “Arrivals and Departures,” happening on April 5th at the First Unitarian Church. Tickets are available online (see our Upcoming Events & Tickets page) or in-person at The Cannon, located at 179 Ottawa Street North. See you in two weeks!

Get to know your storyteller! Leading up to our event on April 5th we’re bringing you brief bios of our speakers. Here’s Rochelle!

In her role as emergency crisis and mental health RN at Brantford General, Rochelle supports families experiencing the sudden death of a loved one in ER. She also volunteers her time as a death midwife, teaching groups and helping families to care for loved ones during and after death, in meaningful and environmentally sustainable ways. Though she works in Brantford, Rochelle loves living in downtown Hamilton with her partner Ron and three kids. She helped organize the No Downtown Hamilton CasiNO! effort, serves on the board of the Central Neighbourhood Association, and is one of Supercrawl’s biggest fans!

Bringing After-Death Care Back Home

https://www.facebook.com/funeralalternatives.ca

Join us on April 5th at the First Unitarian Church to hear Rochelle and others tell true stories from their own lives, live without notes! Doors open at 7! Advance tickets available here!

Get to know your storyteller! Leading up to our event on April 5th we’re bringing you brief bios of our speakers. Here’s Graham!

Born in England and raised in Hamilton, Graham Crawford spent 25 years in Toronto running a successful management consulting company before he retired in 2005 and moved back to Hamilton. In 2007, Graham purchased a 3-storey building on James North that he turned into Hamilton HIStory + HERitage, Hamilton’s first storefront museum. In its six years of operation, H+H has attracted over 30,000 visitors to its wide-ranging social, architectural, heritage, and photographic exhibitions, all focused on Hamilton. A recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Silver Medal, Graham continues to contribute to his community through a wide range of volunteer involvement.

Join us on April 5th at the First Unitarian Church to hear Graham and others tell true stories from their own lives, live without notes! Doors open at 7! Advance tickets available here!

Preparations for our next event are in full swing! ‘Arrivals and Departures’ is happening on Saturday, April 5th at the First Unitarian Church at 170 Dundurn Street South!

Hosted by John Terpstra, who shared his captivating story at ‘Brushes With Greatness’ in November, the evening will include stories by:

Suzanne Burchell, Storyteller
Graham Crawford, Hamilton HIStory + HERitage
John A. McCurdy, Local Historian
Zak McDonald, Comedian
Rochelle Martin, Death Midwife
Renée Wetselaar, Artist & Community Advocate

Tickets are on sale now, and available through our Events and Tickets page!

Thanks for another great event, Hamilton! We are so thankful for our determined audience (and storytellers) who braved the elements and joined us at Christ’s Church Cathedral on Saturday night.

 

Jeff Goodes, who told a story of his own at our November event, returned to the Steel City Stories stage to host the evening’s program.

 

Matthew Green started the stories off, weaving together Hamilton’s and his own roots.

 

Anne Cumby was next, telling an intergenerational tale exemplifying how roots can evolve and change direction as they grow…

 

Mary Love took full advantage of the acoustics in the Cathedral, singing a few lines from a Celtic tune as she told us about her relationship with her roots as an adopted child.

 

Lori Yates told us about her musical roots on Queen Street West in Toronto, back in the day…

 

…and Kylde Broox wrapped up the evening with a medley of storytelling and dub poetry.

Thanks to our friend, button-maker and photographer-extraordinaire, Dan Jelly, for these fabulous shots of Saturday’s event (check out his website here)! We also owe a shout-out to our graphic designers, Chris White and Ariane Klassen, to Jason and the crew at Red Hill Coffee, and to the folks at Christ’s Church Cathedral!

We’ll have podcasts of Saturday’s stories up on the website soon, and stay tuned for more information on our next event – Arrivals and Departures – coming up on April 5th!

Get to know your storyteller! Leading up to our event tonight we’re bringing you brief bios of our speakers. Here’s Lori!

Lori Yates is true country in a Johnny Cash “middle finger” kind of way, the cowgirl singing her heart out in the punk clubs. Enigmatic, rebellious and hard to pin down, veteran singer/songwriter Yates has been called “alt-country” long before the phrase existed. She is considered by many as
one of the pioneers of alt-country in Canada, having gotten her start in the Queen St. west scene that saw rise to: Blue Rodeo, Cowboy Junkies etc. She has won awards (Hamilton Music Awards – songwriter and alt-country recording of the year), and nominations (Juno, Canadian Country Music award). Lori has 6 cd’s to her credit. She’s been with the major labels, and with the indies. She’s had peaks and valleys in her career but what defines her most is her total unwavering commitment to her craft, to keep learning and evolving. She is a veteran live performer, singer/songwriter who has always been surrounded by the best musicians, and has devoted a lifetime to her music. Lori is also gaining a solid reputation as a successful promoter/host for her sold out shows; “Johnny Cash – the Original Punk”, and “Your Good Girls Gonna Go Bad”. Lori is widely known for being: funny, honest, having a gorgeous voice and killer songs. She is also the creator of the new & wildly popular Creative Genius Songwriting Workshops. http://www.loriyates.com

Join us tonight at the Christ’s Church Cathedral, to hear Lori and others tell true stories from their own lives, live without notes! Doors open at 7!

Get to know your storyteller! Leading up to our event tonight, we’re bringing you brief bios of our speakers. Here’s Matthew!

A graduate of political science and legal studies from Acadia University with an Executive Education in Governance for Non Profits from Harvard Business School. Matthew is a proud past Board member of the Hamilton Community Foundation, a Co-Chair of a local non-profit Empowerment Squared. He is a passionate social justice advocate and community organizer having spent the past 8 years in working in health, wellness and justice on issues ranging from the integration of new Canadians, renters rights, senior recreation and most recently the opposition of Downtown Hamilton Casino. Currently Matthew Green is a registered candidate for Ward 3 City Councillor.

Join us tonight! at the Christ’s Church Cathedral, to hear Matthew and others tell true stories from their own lives, live without notes! Doors open at 7!

Our next event is just around the corner! Countdown’s on!

Besides the five fabulous previously-announced speakers, we’ve added another storyteller to Saturday’s event: Mary Love has been telling tales since she came home from kindergarten, put her stuffed toys in a circle, and told them what happened that day! A regular at the Hamilton Storytelling Circle and member of the Brant Taletellers Guild, Mary is also a writer and works part-time at McMaster.

Tickets are sale online (here!) until Saturday at noon, and we’ll have some available at the door as well. We’ll also have out cute ‘lil Steel City Stories buttons and will be revealing our brand new bookmarks! SCS alumni Lisa Pijuan-Nomura, SCS alumni and the mastermind behind SPEAK!, will be there to spread the word about her upcoming events, and as always Red Hill Coffee will be keeping us warm with their tasty drinks. And all in support of Christ Church’s Meal Ticket Program…it’s gonna be great! See you Saturday!

Get to know your storyteller! Leading up to our event on Saturday, we’ll be bringing you brief bios of our speakers. Here’s Klyde!

Klyde Broox is an award winning Jamaican born dubpoet, informal scholar, author and literary
activist, with a growing international reputation. Broox has earned the 1979 Nathan Brissett Poetry Prize in Jamaica, a 1992 James Michener Fellowship, from the University of Miami, in to United States; the 2005 City of Hamilton Arts Award for Literature and the 2011 Rev. John. C. Holland Award for Arts Achievement, in Canada. He has published two volumes of poetry, Poemstorm, (Swansea, Wales, 1989) and the award-wining, My Best Friend is White, (McGilligan Books, 2005).
Migrating to Canada in 1993; Broox emerged as one of its foremost practitioners of dubpoetry, and was a core member of Toronto’s now inactive Dub Poets Collective. In 2007, Klyde coordinated an international dubpoetry festival in his hometown Hamilton, where, since 1997, he has hosted a monthly performance oriented open-stage series, PoeMagic. Klyde sometimes travels across Canada to perform his poetry, give workshops and deliver guest lectures. Over the decades, he has earned a reputation as “a consummate stage artist who blends speech, song, dance and gesture into a powerful package that is inspirational, entertaining and intellectually provocative.” Klyde usually invites audiences and workshop participants to experience poetry as social communion.

Join us this Saturday, February 1st, at the Christ’s Church Cathedral, to hear Klyde and others tell true stories from their own lives, live without notes! You can reserve your tickets online here!