Bio with Venues
As a youngster
Diane Ferlatte was steeped in the oral tradition.
Her early
childhood years in Louisiana were spent on her grandparent's porch with family
and neighbors swapping stories, lies, and tales.
She fondly recalls fishing in the bayou, making
hoecake bread, and listening to her raconteur father tell the family’s news,
history, and all the old antebellum tales that had been passed down to him. It
was there that she first heard the stories of Brer Rabbit, High John the
Conqueror, and other tales of the African American slave era for which she is
now so well known.
As she grew older after migrating to California, Diane
played the piano and sang in church choirs, performed in various stage
productions, and became proficient in American Sign Language, all of which
contributed to her completely unforeseen career preserving and promoting the
African American oral tradition in a variety of forms. Those seeds of
storytelling that were planted back in Louisiana began to sprout as she married
and became a mother.
Reminiscing about the stories of her youth, Diane began
to sing the spirituals and tell her children the stories she heard as a child.
35 years ago, Diane adopted a four year old who had been raised in a
series of homes in front of a TV. In order to wean him from TV and get him to
attend to the nightly reading and storytelling his sister so enjoyed, Diane had
to return to her own childhood roots. She recognized how important those stories
were and also began to share them with her community. Before she knew it, she
was telling children at her church, then at local schools, then libraries
throughout California, and now at storytelling festivals and other venues all
over the world.
Now an internationally renowned storyteller, Diane has
traveled the globe, from Europe to Singapore & Malaysia, from Australia & New
Zealand to Colombia, Senegal, Kenya, South Africa, Turkey, Jamaica, India and of
course all over the United States. She believes that telling and listening to
each other’s stories not only enables us to learn about each other, but also to
understand each other better. She views storytelling as a traditional art form
that can promote literacy, imagination, and values in the young. While
emphasizing African and African American stories, she loves to tell stories that hold truths
touching upon our common humanity, including personal and historical stories.
Having a background in music as well as American Sign Language, Diane frequently
incorporates both into her performances. Erik Pearson, her musical sidekick,
often accompanies Diane on banjo & guitar.
Diane has received numerous
honors including grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National
Storytelling Network’s Circle of Excellence Award, the National Association of
Black Storytellers' Zora Neale Hurston Award, The Friends of Negro Spirituals
Heritage Keepers Award, as well as the California Arts Council’s highest
ranking. In addition to receiving a 2008 Grammy nomination, all of her
recordings have received other awards including multiple Parents’ Choice,
American Library Association, National Parenting Publications, iParenting Media,
Children's Music Web, and Storytelling World Awards. Among her most exciting
performances are her numerous appearances at both the National Storytelling
Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee, and the Internationales Storytelling
Festival in Graz, Austria, as well as the First International Festival to
Commemorate the End of Slavery, on Goree Island, Senegal, and performing for
President Clinton at his first inauguration.
In addition to many schools, libraries, & conferences, a
sample of recent performance venues include:
Adult programs include:
The Missing Rib, The Spirit of Women;
celebrating the strengths and unique gifts of women.
Haunted Bayou;
ghostly tales, spirits have souls too.
Penny For Your Thoughts;
Diane's transformational personal stories of breaking down walls & building
bridges between races & cultures.
School/Library/Family Programs include:
Aesop: Alive and Well;
the fables & story of Aesop brought to life with music & song.
Wickety Whack, Brer Rabbit is Back;
from the mouths of slaves--stories that helped us to survive.
African Story Magic; from the land
of the ancestors, stories with lessons for today.
The Dream of a King;
Stories & songs that honor the legacy of Martin
Luther King Jr.
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© Diane Ferlatte, 1999-2000. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole
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