Ed Stivender
The author or two August House books of tales: Raised Catholic (Can You Tell?) and Still Catholic After All These Fears, Ed Stivender has been called "the Robin Williams of storytelling" and "a Catholic Garrison Keillor".
Now, Ed — Philadelphia native, Shakespearean actor, banjo player, teacher, theologian, Mummer, dreamer, juggler, and raconteur — has put together a program in which he shares the techniques that have made him one of the most honored and sought-after storytellers of our day.
Since 1977, when he left his day job as a high school teacher in Connecticut and turned to storytelling full-time, Ed has fabulated his way around the globe — appearing in schools, churches, coffeehouses and theaters, as well as at major storytelling festivals.
He has been a featured performer at the National Storytelling Festival, the Cape Clear Island International Storytelling Festival in Ireland, Graz Festival, Austria and our own Philadelphia Folk Festival.
Ed enjoyed narrating: "Paddington Bears Special Day" with the Harrisburg Symphony, "Ferdinan the Bull" with a violinist for the Philadelphia Orchestra, and "Peter and the Wolf" with the LaGrange Symphony.
The National Storytelling Association inducted Ed into its Circle of Excellence in 1996.
Ed has strutted in the Comic division of the annual Philadelphia Mummers Parade since 1982. In 1994, he received the Mummers' Most Original Character Award for his one-man Vatican-American String Band, and in 1996, he was Captain of the first-prize-winning Kingsessing Morris Men.
Ed is the subject of a chapter in the book Storytellers by Corki Miller and Mary Ellen Snodgrass, and has a story in Chicken Soup for the Romantic Heart. He has also released a video and several recordings of his performances.
See all titles by Ed Stivender.
