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Updated 3/25/2024

Jo Radner

  • M

    ME

Institution/Business Type: Artist / Creative (Individual)

Jo Radner is a  storyteller for all moods who delights in eccentrics, believes that humor and gravity are good bedfellows, and favors characters who shape admirable lives around unavoidable misfortunes.  She has performed and taught from Maine to Hawaii.  Although she tends to make stories about the people and history of northern New England, she also performs traditional folktales and her own modern tales and riffs on well-known classics.  Her major stories include “Burnt into Memory,” a performance created from oral histories she gathered from survivors of the 1947 wildfire that destroyed the town of Brownfield, Maine, and “Tangled Lives: Native People and English Settlers in Colonial New England,” which examines our troubled history by juxtaposing Native American oral traditions and stories told by Jo’s own New England settler ancestors.

Jo is committed to strengthening communities by helping them find, shape, and present their stories.  Her workshops on the art of interviewing have served historical societies, libraries, hospice and home-care organizations, elementary and secondary schools, and intergenerational and multicultural groups.  Before taking early retirement and returning to her family's home in western Maine, Jo taught for 31 years at American University. She has also taught storytelling in the curriculum in the Lesley University Creative Arts in Learning M.A. Program.  Her first CD, Yankee Ingenuity: Stories of Headstrong and Resourceful People, received a 2013 Storytelling World Award; her second, Burnt into Memory: How Brownfield Faced the Fire, received the Storytelling World Award in 2019.  In April 2013 she was given the Brother Blue and Ruth Hill Award by the League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling, “in recognition of extraordinary commitment, dedication and loving encouragement to the New England storytelling community.”  Jo holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University and is past president of the National Storytelling Network and the American Folklore Society. 

Jo's book about rural northern New England, Wit and Wisdom: The Forgotten Literary Life of New England Villages, was published in 2023 by University of Massachusetts Press.

Find Me

Jo Radner (she, her, hers)
Job Title: Storyteller
Phone: 207-925-6244
Address:
Lovell, ME 04051

Social Media:

Additional Content:

About

Overview

Institution/Business Type:

Artist / Creative (Individual)

Legal Status:

Commercial / For profit - Sole proprietorship

Year Founded:

1983

Overview

Institution/Business Type:

Artist / Creative (Individual)

Legal Status:

Commercial / For profit - Sole proprietorship

Year Founded:

1983

Disciplines

Primary Discipline:

Theater - Storytelling

Additional Disciplines:

  • Theater - Solo / One-Person Show

Activities and Services

Activities and Services:

  • Creation of a Work of Art (Including Commissions)
  • Public Art Projects (In Free, Public Spaces)
  • Arts Instruction / Lessons
  • Curriculum Development
  • Residency - In School
  • Workshops / Demonstrations / Master Class
  • Performance / Concert / Reading
  • Residency - Community
  • Wedding / Parties / Private Gatherings
Seasons Active: spring, summer, fall, winter
Events Per Year: 25

Communities

Populations Engaged:

  • Adults
  • Elders
  • Families
  • General Public
  • Immigrant Populations
  • Nonprofits
  • School Groups
  • Rural Populations

Languages Available:

  • English

Geographic Reach:

  • National
  • International
  • Town / City
  • County
  • Multi-County Region
  • State
  • Multi-State Region

Media Gallery

I Have Worked With

Affiliations and Accomplishments

Professional Associations

Professional Associations:

  • National Storytelling Network
  • Northeast Storytelling, Inc. (NEST) (formerly LANES)
  • Maine Organization of Storytelling Enthusiasts (MOOSE)
  • New Hampshire Storytelling Alliance

Professional Associations

Professional Associations:

  • National Storytelling Network
  • Northeast Storytelling, Inc. (NEST) (formerly LANES)
  • Maine Organization of Storytelling Enthusiasts (MOOSE)
  • New Hampshire Storytelling Alliance

Awards

Awards:

  • Storytelling World Awards 2013, 2019
  • Brother Blue and Ruth Hill Award 2013 (LANES)
  • Distinguished National Service Award, National Storytelling Network, 2009

Education

Education:

  • Ph.D., Harvard University

Artist Info

Teaching Artist

Teaching Settings:

  • Afterschool Program
  • Arts and Cultural Center / Venue
  • Private Studio
  • School / University
  • Community Site / Center
  • Virtual / Remote

Ages Served:

  • Elementary School-age
  • Middle School-age
  • High School-age
  • College-age
  • Adults
  • Seniors

Subject Areas:

  • Arts Integration - English Language / Literacy
  • Arts Integration - History and Social Science

Fee range:

$200 - $1,500

Teaching Artist

Teaching Settings:

  • Afterschool Program
  • Arts and Cultural Center / Venue
  • Private Studio
  • School / University
  • Community Site / Center
  • Virtual / Remote

Ages Served:

  • Elementary School-age
  • Middle School-age
  • High School-age
  • College-age
  • Adults
  • Seniors

Subject Areas:

  • Arts Integration - English Language / Literacy
  • Arts Integration - History and Social Science

Fee range:

$200 - $1,500

State Arts Agency Roster Artist

  • New Hampshire Traditional Arts Roster
  • Maine Creative Aging Teaching Artist Roster

Touring Artist

NEST Eligible Artist

Technical Requirements:

  • Mic and sound system appropriate to the venue

Fee Range:

$300 - $1,000

State of Residence:

Maine

Minimum Number of Performers:

1

Maximum Number of Performers:

1