Laura Simms has been a, storyteller, teaching artist and advocate for storytelling since 1979. She is internationally acclaimed. Laura sits on the Advisory Council for Global Education (UN-NGO), is the artistic director of H.C. Andersen Storytelling Center in New York, and has directed festivals and events worldwide. She combines traditional stories with personal narrative. She has received awards including the Sesame Street Sunny Days award, the Brimstone Award, the Oracle Award, the Choice award for best story collectio,n and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Storytelling Center.

Edgar Oliver is a writer and performer who has lived and worked in New York for many years as part of New York's downtown theatre community. He started out reading his poems and performing his monologues at the Pyramid night club in the early 1980s From 1988 to 2001 he wrote and performed in a series of autobiographical plays, premiering a new play almost every year in the Club at LaMama on East Fourth Street. Titles include: The Seven Year Vacation, The Ghost of Brooklyn, Mosquito Succulence, Hands In Wartime, Motel Blue 19, and The Drowning Pages. In recent eyars he's turned to one-man shows, for one of which, "Helen and Edgar," the New York Times hailed his creation of "a living work of theatre all by himself.” Edgar has also appeared on The Moth.

Michigan's Ivory D. Williams interweaves his stories with humor, wit, and fun to engage audiences and spread positive messages, promoting and perpetuating the ancient art of African and African American storytelling in the oral tradition. His presentations are highly interactive, entertaining, and educational.

Note special start time!