The popular Storytellers Cup returns to the Huon Valley Midwinter Festival, July 15

The Huon Valley Mid Winter Festival is looming and as the days draw darker and the temperatures drop, festival organisers are hoping to light up the stage and warm the hearts of pundits with some good old-fashioned storytelling.

Following the success of last year’s inaugural Storytellers Cup at the Huon Valley Mid-Winter Festival, we’re delighted to announce it will return in 2017, darker, bolder and with more fire in the tellers’ bellies.

Storytelling is an ancient art that informs our sense of self and community and taps deep into our mythic understanding of the world and this cup is not only a celebration of this ancient art but a riotous revel in how the best stories can be best told in this day and age.

“Storytelling really does tap deep into our mythical understanding of the world and this cup is not only a celebration of this ancient art but a riotous revel in how the best stories can be told in this day and age,”Mr Reid said.

“There is a rich history in Tasmania of storytelling and it’s great to give the next generation of orators an opportunity to showcase their talents and share some remarkable stories.”

With over $400 in prizes up for grabs and the winner also taking home the beautiful handcrafted Huon pine Storytellers Cup, eight tales will be chosen for performance on the Saturday evening of the festival.

The judges, Dave Noonan, Dean Stevenson and Nicole Anderson will be instructed to look for not only brilliant storytelling but also the mention of apples or something appley as well as the ability for the teller to stay within the seven minutes allocated.

Any stories way over the seven-minute mark will see the teller catapulted off the stage by a medieval device created for this purpose.

The Storytellers Cup will this year be coordinated by Rachel Edwards, the editor-in-chief of Transportation Press. She is a freelance writer and reviewer; former editor of Island Magazine and guest edited a volume of the Review of Australian Fiction, which exclusively featured Tasmanian authors.

HOW TO ENTER
So we can plan a good event, splash participants about on Facebook, welcome you at the gate and tattoo your forehead, we need you to register. There are 8 spaces.
· EMAIL Rachel Edwards (aka Paige Turner, your Storytelling host) racheledwards488@gmail.com
· Introduce yourself
· Name of story
· Length of story
· Mood: happy, sad, gloomy, funny, eerie, true, original, traditional etc. (You can change your story but let us know on the night. We don’t want to finish on a sad or gruesome tale.)
· A Mugshot
· Deadline for entry: June 23 with a heat being held on June 30 in Hobart if necessary. Alternatively, if there are still spaces on the night we will take ‘walk ups’. If you are selected to participate in the Storytelling Cup you (no plus ones) are eligible for
· FREE shuttle bus
· FREE weekend pass to the Festival
· If your kids are under 16 they get in for FREE
· 4 FREE ciders per day
· You get to tell your story and participate in a fabulous festival

For further information and to organize interviews with storytellers or MC, Paige Turner or organizer Rachel Edwards

Contact racheledwards488@gmail.com

Huon Valley Mid-Winter Festival July 14-16

Tickets: www.huonvalleymidwinterfest.com.au

www.huonvalleymidwinterfest.com.au
Krystal Cox Festival Manager Huon Valley Mid-Winter Festival