Kevin is an award-winning author, storyteller, and teaching artist who has been using stories to entertain, educate, and inspire children and adults for over 20 years. Based in Rochester, Minnesota, Kevin has traveled the Midwest performing at schools, libraries, preschools, and community events. Energetic and dynamic, Kevin’s stories grab his audiences and leave them wanting to hear and learn more. For Kevin, there is no better sound than the words, “Tell me a story.”
Kevin uses his experience as an author and storyteller to inspire and equip workshop participants to create, edit, and in some cases perform their own fiction or personal stories.
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 six 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 Pecos Bill Invents the Ten-Gallon Hat (winner of the Silver Spurs Award from the Western Writers of America).
Program Offerings
Performances
Tales from the Northwoods & Around the World
Students celebrate story traditions from around the world 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.
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 for mileage from Rochester.
Teaching Artist Statement
I believe that the stories we tell and retell, whether they are folktales that are hundreds of years old, or they are personal stories from our lives, have the power to help us face challenges, calm our fears, and inspire us to get up when we’ve been knocked down. We need to create and tell our own stories, and we need to hear and to learn from the stories of others. That’s what I do and what I inspire others to do in my workshops and performances.
