Jan Andrews

Readings

Grades 1 – 3: I read from my picture book, The Twelve Days of Summer and lead students in the shared creation of their own Twelve Days poem.

Grades 4 – 8: As the author of Very Last First Time, The Auction, Out of the Everywhere, Winter of Peril (a Dear Canada journal shortlisted for the Red Cedar Award) and the brand new hot-off-the-press Stories at the Door, I discuss my work and offer writing tips. I talk about research and authenticity, character development and plot, using images and vocabulary which experience has taught me really help students understand how to make changes in their own approach. I explain that, as writers, we are all in this together, facing the same problems. Above all, I try to demonstrate why books and writing matter so much and how they give us things to hold in the heart.

Grades 9 – 12: My approach is similar to the above, except that I work on a more mature level. I strive to help students overcome their own writing difficulties while inspiring in them a sense that literature is in the world to change lives.

Storyteller Visits
All grades: I brings folktales from around the world and make oral traditions come alive. I hold listeners spellbound with tales of mystery and power. I am convinced that storytelling is for all times and ages, and hope to leave my audiences with the knowledge that they have been touched by the age-old wisdom of the world. Since two of my books involve folktale collections, it does sometimes happen that the storyteller and the author aspects of my visits overlap!

I have only one real requirement of the venues I visit. I need a quiet, enclosed setting, with as few interruptions as can be managed in a busy school day. I also ask that students be close in age or grade levels.

Special Equipment:

A microphone in situations where acoustics are difficult (e.g., some gyms).

Book Sales:

Copies of books can be brought to be sold and autographed.

Workshops

Schools and organizations should contact me if they have particular requests.

Book Sales:

Copies of books can be brought to be sold and autographed.

Biography

I consider life to be full of wonders. I never planned to be an author or a storyteller and here I am enjoying both. I came to Canada from England in 1963. My daughter was born not long after that. When she was about three I started making up stories for her but I knew they weren’t especially good. Then, into my head popped a story that felt like a story in a book. I wrote it down and suddenly found that other stories were coming upon me. That was almost forty years ago so I’ve been at it a while! Storytelling came later, but in a similarly surprising fashion. I was organizing an event where storytellers were performing. “I could do that,” I thought to myself and so I did.

I write on a computer at a desk by a window overlooking a lake. I do my best not to be distracted by the otters that occasionally pass by, the loons that cry in the summer, the snapping turtles that stick their heads above the surface but have to admit it doesn’t always work. My life, of course, creeps into my writing. The setting for the picture book, The Twelve Days of Summer is my own backyard. Winter of Peril – my Dear Canada contribution – speaks to me very particularly because the central character is English by birth. Out of the Everywhere and Stories at the Door are collections of folktales from my storytelling work.

I’ve done a lot of other things. I’ve been the director for two long-running storytelling series – one at the National Arts Centre. I’ve run a project called StorySave that involves recording the voices of Canadian storytellers for CDs and a website. I’ve researched for exhibitions and helped found an arts education organization. I’ve produced complete tellings of epic tales such as The Iliad and The Odyssey over weekends where I live. I’m like everyone else. I have days when nothing is going right, but mostly I can’t imagine a better life.

OTHER PRESENTATIONS:
I give workshops on storytelling for teachers, librarians and members of the general public at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. Organizers should contact me to see what can be arranged.