We welcome the Deaf Community to the 40th annual Texas Storytelling Festival
March 6 – 9, 2025 in Denton, Texas
Click here to see the ASL Festival Invite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWX7R2Mb4D4
This year we have a special guest. Deaf storyteller Steve C. Baldwin, Ph.D will be telling Sunday, March 9. 2025 at the Sacred Tales Concert at 9:30 am. He is a retired educator who has taught in five states, including 17 years at the Texas School for the Deaf. An award-winning writer, Steve authored Pictures in the Air: The Story of the National Theatre of the Deaf, I and II; wrote 30 produced plays, three documentaries and numerous articles; and serves as a community advocate.
ASL Interpreted Events
- Thursday, March 6, 2025
7:00 pm – Ghost Stories - Friday, March 7, 2025
9:00 am – Celebrating 40 Years of Storytelling in Texas
10:45 am – Featured Tellers
7:30 pm – Featured Tellers - Saturday, March 8, 2025
7:30 pm – Featured Tellers - Sunday, March 9, 2025
9:30 am – Sacred Tales
11:15 am – Featured Tellers Concert
Featured Tellers
Bil Lepp tells outrageous, humorous tall-tales and witty stories that have earned him the appreciation of listeners of all ages and from all walks of life.
Charlotte Blake Alston breathes life into traditional and contemporary stories from African and African American oral and cultural traditions.
Cooper Braun’s stories remind us that traditional stories can be funny, dark, poignant, and anything but dry.
Mo Reynolds blends folk tales with family stories to help us see that we are all connected by some key human truths and that we have far more in common than we think.
Meet Our Interpreters
Joel Hill is from Knoxville, Tennessee, where he learned American Sign Language as a house parent at the Tennessee School for the Deaf. Joel has worked in the field since 1969. He has interpreted for the Texas Storytelling Festival since 1990. In his spare time he is a songwriter and member of the band Sleepy Creek.
Libby Street is a professional sign language interpreter from Flag Pond, TN. Now in her 44th year of interpreting, she currently works as the Interpreter Coordinator for Tennessee Schools for the Deaf in Knoxville. Libby also works as a freelance interpreter, a workshop presenter, and a consultant on deafness, focusing on storytelling and Appalachian culture. Having deaf parents, she was always a natural communicating other people’s stories through her hands. Now Libby tells her own tales about life in a colorful deaf Appalachian family.