Published: 7/9/2019 11:16:30 AM
Modified: 7/9/2019 11:19:05 AM
ATHOL — A program by award-winning storyteller Davis Bates will be hosted by the Athol Public Library on Wednesday, July 17, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. in the program room.
Bates will present “Stories of Space and the Universe,” and share participatory songs and stories from around the world. Instruments to be played will include spoons, limberjack and a variety of ethnic percussion instruments.
The program is for adults and children alike, celebrating reading, stars, the universe, and cultural diversity.
Bates' traditional and participatory style of telling empowers and encourages audiences of all ages to join in the fun, and to take the stories home with them to share with others. He also encourages listeners to find stories in books, and to remember and tell stories from their own family and cultural tradition.
Bates has been telling stories for more than thirty-eight years, in schools, libraries, and community settings around New York & New England and across the country. His recording “Family Stories” won a prestigious Parents Choice Magazine Gold Award, and received a starred review by the American Library Association’s Booklist magazine.
Bates lives in a small hilltown village in western Massachusetts, and when he isn't performing or collecting and learning songs and stories he spends his time gardening and working on various pollinator preservation projects.
The concert is roughly 60 minutes long and is part of the Athol Public Library’s all-ages summer reading program, “A Universe of Stories.”
The program, made possible by a grant from the Athol Cultural Council, is free and open to the public. It is asked that attendees register by calling 978-249-9515.