Check out the National Post on October 16 to read my gentle revenge on CBC radio. Itah Sadu and I pitched a storytelling show to their new program development committee, but the pilot episode had too many folktales for their taste. Today, Yashinsky strikes back! Link: www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=883210

Storytelling with Nexus Percussion ensemble

From October 8 - 10 I'm performing with the great percussion ensemble Nexus at a symposium called Talking Drum, at the University of Toronto. We're doing a mix of material, including A Praise for Listener, set to their mbira piece "Tongues." This praise-poem is from my book Suddenly They Heard Footsteps - Storytelling for the Twenty-first Century, from the chapter titled "Dreaming A New Myth." We're also doing How Heart Came Into the World, set to cow-bell accompaniment, and The Land of Those Who Were Thrown Away, a story from Zimbabwe that Nexus improvises behind. It could be every storyteller's dream to jam with these astonishing musicians. Final performance in this series is Friday, October 10, 7:30, at Walter Hall, Faculty of Music, St. George campus of University of Toronto.

Storytelling in Holland

From October 17 - 19 I'll be at the Amsterdam Storytelling Festival (www.storytellingfestival.nl), performing Talking You In with musician/composer Brian Katz. Talking You In is a modern "canta storia" - a poetic text set to music - about a father telling stories to a baby in the neo-natal intensive care unit. We're also doing The Roussalka, a wonderful story by American writer Rebecca Boroson, set to Brian's Jewish-themed improv, and the Japanese story Urashima Taro, also with musical accompaniment. I'm delighted to be able to collaborate with such an exceptional musician. The festival takes place in ships at a wharf in Amsterdam. My Dutch storytelling friends Mia Verbeelen and Ernst Weerstra are involved in planning it. I'm also teaching a workshop called The Red Thread of the Story - Exploring Narrative Suspense for a mix of professional and recreational storytellers.