A BRIEF BIO

Mary-Eileen McClear is acclaimed for her storytelling from New Brunswick to British Columbia and in the U.S.

The many venues she tells in include schools, museums, churches, and festivals,
including 5 years as part of the Table Talk series at the Stratford Festival.

Whether she is helping to give voice to the stories of Healthy Community groups,
guiding business people and presenters in developing leadership skills through storytelling, or bringing students and the art of storytelling together, Mary-Eileen describes storytelling as the social glue that holds communities together.

Her repertoire is a vibrant mixture of traditional and contemporary stories typified by humour, insight, and strong images.

Reviewers in Canada and the U.S. have applauded her "warm stage presence", "expressive face", and "captivating sense of humour with an intriguing touch of magic." Workshop participants describe her as a people person, a witty, accommodating instructor who inspires them and gives them confidence.

Mary-Eileen did not choose storytelling. It chose her.

"Looking back," she says, "it is as if my whole life was leading up to the moment when I would become a professional teller. The penny finally dropped, and I realized that I was not a librarian who told stories, I was a storyteller who had been working in libraries."

She has been a freelance teller since 1982.

In 1988 she founded The Second Story Workshop – now known as The Story Barn – a centre which promotes storytelling as an art form and as an educational tool.

Located in the second storey of a renovated barn, it is a warm and welcoming venue for story gatherings, courses and workshops.

For 20 years, adults have gathered there on the first Friday of the month for open storytelling. The Story Barn is also home to a Storytellers’ Guild which fosters the work of area storytellers.

For three years Mary-Eileen published The Second Story Review: A Quarterly Review of Storytelling Resources.

In 2003 she was invited to be was a Guest Editor of Storytelling Magazine which is published by the National Storytelling Network (NSN) in the U.S.

She also served as an associate editor of Appleseed Quarterly: The Canadian Journal of Storytelling and continues to write reviews for it.

Mary-Eileen has both supported the local arts scene and fostered its growth. The community has recognized her efforts with a number of awards.

Her memberhip in local, national, and international arts organizations is an indicator of her commitment to the art of storytelling. “I support the storytelling community through membership,” she says, “ and in return I find that I am supported, too.”

McClear can be heard on her recording entitled "Oh, Canada! Strange But True Stories of Early Canada."

MARY-EILEEN MCCLEAR, STORYTELLER
89 Snyders Road West, Baden, Ontario N3A 2M2
519 634-8973 maryeileen@thestorybarn.ca