My mom and my baby sister. Note Grandma's chicken house in background

Biographical Information:
I grew up in NYC on Staten Island. We lived in a relatively rural area and the lady next door raised chickens-- hundreds of them. My sister and brother and I spent all our free time playing in the woods at Robin Hood,W.W.II combat and Knights of the Round Table.

Big bro' Kevin and I on the swings

I loved making bows,arrows and swords. When I was thirteen our family moved to the Boston area and I went to public school for the first time. Catholic parochial school had been the bane of my existence. There were sometimes as many as 60 students in a class and the teachers were harsh disciplinarians. Brookline public schools were a revelation.

I went to art school after high school and worked at many jobs to support my "brilliant career" as a painter. I have been a cab driver, breakfast cook, bicycle courier, burglar alarm monitor, copy machine operator and waitress. But my favorite part time job was as a substitute teacher. While our children were young I went back to school and got a degree in education. It was in graduate school that I learned about storytelling as a vocation.

Writing and Storytelling-

“Storytelling is an underutilized part of our human heritage. And, it is one of the best teaching tools I know.” said Norah Dooley, storyteller, author, educator and mother of four. “You can tell things to kids in story that they’d never listen to in any other form.” Norah’s stories come from all over the world and from her own backyard. “I find story ideas everywhere.” Historical research is also an important source for Ms. Dooley. “I always loved stories of ‘olden times’ when I was a girl. The romance of history still has me in its thrall.” she said. “And I love being able to tell stories right when I am finished. In publishing, it is sometimes three years between manuscript submission to book release. Helping people uncover their personal stories and rediscover their story traditions is a labor of love.” she added.

In 1990 she went to Lesley College where she was able to study with some of the best storytellers in the area. Skills learned there, such as guided visualizations, story games and audience participation are important parts of Norah’s programs.

After 10 years of professional storytelling for children and adults, Norah credits storytelling as the creative source and discipline for her writing. “ I started telling bedtime stories to our children and then, while they slept, I wrote them down.” Norah is still visibly tickled by the serendipity that promoted her from the vast ranks of “wanna-bes” to the smaller cadre of published writers. She translates her enthusiasm and sense of wonder through stories about her books, her neighbors and her old neighborhood in Central Square Cambridge, where, as one old timer said, “We got a block like the United Nations here!”

Short Bio
Norah Dooley is a storyteller and children's author. She lives in Cambridge, MA with her family, one crazed dog, a highly neurotic cat, and when in Central MA, we add 2 skittish horses to the mix.

Her published picture books, Everybody Cooks Rice, Everybody Bakes Bread, Everybody Serves Soup and Everybody Brings Noodles, (Carolrhoda Books) are four titles in a series about her old neighborhood in Cambridge, MA.

Her first CD, Music of Angels … and other things I've heard, includes Italian folk tales, original stories and other Christmas stories was also self-produced and released in 1999. Her latest storytelling CDs are Stories Nobody Told Me: "Italian" Folk tales for all seasons and Stories from the Neighborhood: World Folk tales. Produced by Seat of Her Pants Productions, 2002.

For nearly 15 years, Norah has been presenting workshops throughout New England for people of all ages -- from early elementary grade students through high school and community college adult learners. Norah has also performed as a featured storyteller in the Christmas and Spring Revels, the Newport Folk Festival, and at 3 Apples Storytelling Festival, Harvard, MA. She studied storytelling with Jennifer Justice, Lee Ellen Marvin, Derek Burrows and Elisa Pearmain at Lesley College,Cambridge.

Norah has a M.Ed. in Creative Arts in Learning from Lesley College and a BFA in Painting from Tufts University/ School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Music is her avocation and she sings, plays fiddle and pennywhistle and calls contra dances.

For bookings or more information: Tel. 617.876.2422 FAX: 617.497.6831. On the web at: www.norahdooley.com E-mail: doochild6@aol.com.

 

Some Storytelling Performances, Workshops & Authors visits:

Spring Revels, 2001 and 2002 Emerson Theater, Boston, MANewport Folk Festival. RI, 2002
3 Apples Storytelling Festival, 2000 & 2001 Harvard MA
Christmas Revels, 1999 featured storyteller, Cambridge, MA,
Tell Your Story, residency 3rd grades, Burbank Sch.Belmont, MA
K -4, Workshop, Cam Bridgeport School Cambridge, MA,
Stories in Our Lives So. Elementary PTO Andover, MA,
Graham & Parks, Workshop Cambridge MA
Stories form our Lives Balch School PTO Norwood MA
Stories for Families Dexter Park PTO , Orange MA
South Elementary, Storyteller's Toolbox 2nd & 3rd grades residency Andover MA
Fox Library, Medieval Stories all ages Arlington MA
Fitzgerald School PTO /families, Cambridge MA
Dana Park Stories form Around the World, Cambridge MA
Sennot Park Neighbor's Tales Cambridge MA
Bigelow School storytelling work shop K -4 Athol MA
Stories for Families Central Sq. Library Cambridge MA
Workshop for Families O'Neill Library Cambridge MA
Workshop 1- 5 grades Haggerty School Cambridge MA
Stories for Early Childhood Family Literacy Project Norwood MA
Teachers Workshop Family Literacy Project Norwood MA
Stories from Around the World Lesley Ellis School pre- school - 2nd grade Arlington MA
Stories K - 2nd grade Solomon Schecter Newton MA
DEC '97 Workshops 4th grades Mason Rice School Newton MA
JAN '98 Residency 1 -3rd grades Underwood School Newton MA

E-mail: click here doochild6@aol.com

References available on request.