Kevin received his Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Biology/Creative Writing at Beloit College in Wisconsin, as well as a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction at Northern Illinois University. He is the author of three books, including Tales with Tails: storytelling the wonders of the natural world, and has received the prestigious national 2008 Storytelling World Award. He has also written two full-color children’s books: Loon and Moon and The Song of the Wolf.

Learn more about Kevin Strauss in his November 2016 Artist Spotlight interview.

Sample Programs: Customizable To Site’s Needs

Performances

Tales from the Northwoods & Around the World

Students celebrate story traditions from around the world and and learn through emphasis how similar we all are.

American Tall Tales (Grades 4-12)
Travel back in time to the days of tall tale heroes like Paul Bunyan, Calamity Jane and Pecos Bill. Laugh at the outrageous exploits of these all-American legends.

Stories of Giving and Reconciliation (Grades 3-6)
Hear stories that highlight the importance of “giving” and resolving conflicts through reconciliation and creative problem solving.

Northwoods Animal Tales (Grades K-6)
Discover how Bear lost his tail and why Rabbits have long ears. Kevin intersperses the stories with biology and ecology information about the animals in the stories.

Around the World With Stories (Grades K-6)
Travel around the world as Kevin tells stories from a diversity of lands.

Note: If necessary, an additional fee will be charged for rental of audio equipment. Additional fees may be applicable for locations more than 50 miles from Rochester, MN.

Residencies

Folk Tales & Storytelling

My goal in residencies is to inspire students to find and create their own written or spoken stories and to help them discover the magic of bringing those stories to life.

Fiction residency: I help students define what makes a “good story” based on the stories they already read or see in the movie theater. We walk through a series of pre-writing exercises to fire up their imaginations and give them something that they want to write about—focusing on setting, hero, problem and resolution aspects of fiction. Students work with a partner to “verbally edit” their ideas and then put them down on paper.

Memoir Residency: I take them through a series of individual and small group activities to uncover the important people, places, events and objects in their lives.

Storytelling Residency: Students learn how to find, learn and tell an effective folk tale or legend.

I have performed storytelling and writing workshops and performances in hundreds of schools and have authored two children’s books, a nature storytelling textbook, two CDs and two DVDs. My most recent book, Tales with Tails: storytelling the wonders of the natural world just won the national Storytelling World Award.

Workshops

Write & Tell Stories

Through verbal storytelling, students learn the important parts of an effective story and will feel confident enough to tell it in front of their peers.

Write Smart! (Grades 3-12)
Learn how to use verbal storytelling to demonstrate the important parts of an effective story and to inspire students to start writing their own stories.

I Tell Stories, You Can Too! (Grades 3-12, Adult)
The student workshop focuses on helping children learn a story and feel confident enough to tell it in front of their peers.

Note: Workshop minimum is 3 hours. Artist reimbursed mileage from Rochester.