Cathryn Fairlee : Once Upon a Biography...
Click to read a recent interview . . .
Just the facts:
Wow.
Some past
performances:
The Legend of Cathryn is Fairlee Ltd.
Once upon a time a fifth generation Californian named Cathryn went forth to travel the world. After a quest to China to study dragons close up, she returned to conquer a degree in the History of Art at San Jose State University. Her magic carpet was whisked up by a tornado and after much twirling across Asia, Europe and Latin America, Cathryn landed in the romantic wine country of Healdsburg, the town where she was born. There she worked as a Middle School librarian and began performing in 1982. She has been performing traditional folk tales, epics, and mythology from around the world as a full time occupation since 1999.Cathryn is an active member of the storytelling community and has been on the Bay Area Storytelling Festival committee for years. She was board member of the Storytelling Association of California, SAC, for seven years and edited and still contributes to their newsletter, Storyline. Cathryn is a supporter of our national organization, National Storytelling Network, and serves on its board as Pacific Regional Director. She is also a member of Storytellers of Canada. Cathryn produced the Story Swap on public radio for three years and has written and received grants for her local story guild to bring storytelling into the schoolroom. She has told tales on Turkish trains, at Irish pubs, in Buddhist caves, at Balinese ceremonies, in Chinese Teahouses, around the kitchen table in Guatemala, for private parties, conferences, senior centers, at festivals, libraries, classrooms elementary through college, and in graveyards.
This legend has a happy ending. Cathryn still travels the world as a full-time teller and enjoys tasting and serving up myths and folk tales wherever she finds herself. She received her Masters Degree in History at Sonoma State University with a thesis on Chinese Teahouse Telling. She performs world wide and leaves her audiences listening happily ever after.
