Olga Loya engages the audience with her stories.
Last evening, Storyteller and Author Olga Loya entertained about three dozen guests at the home of Erin O’Dell, the Family Support Specialist with Orcas Family Connections, telling Spanish-language stories.
The guests, including about 20 children, sat in chairs and blankets as Orcas Storyfest host Robert Kikuchi-Ngojo of Eth-Noh-Tec introduced Loya, who kept the audience spellbound for nearly two hours.
Odie Salinas-Cruz tries his hand at storytelling. He may be a future stand-up comedian.
Her stories included audience participation in both song and dance, and all joined in. Several of the stories were from Loya’s bi-lingual book, Momento’s Mágicos, Magic Moments, an award-winning collection of stories in English and Spanish. There are ten stories from Mexico, and one each from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Colombia.
“The stories cover a wide range of emotion and appeal, and they will be exceedingly useful to readers aloud, and, storytellers, as well as those readers looking for an unusual cultural foray,” according to the Center for Children’s Books.
The evening was informal and lively, sponsored by Orcas Family Connections and [intlink id=”orcas-storyfest-enthralls-all-ages-next-week” type=”post”]Orcas Storyfest[/intlink]. Loya will join the other storytellers at Orcas Storyfest events throughout the weekend, telling her stories in English, with performances at the Library (tonight at 6:30 p.m.), at the preschools, and at the Funhouse before culminating in “The World of Stories” at the Orcas Center on Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m.
Orcas Storyfest is sponsored by the Friends of the Library and Eth-Noh-Tec.
**If you are reading theOrcasonian for free, thank your fellow islanders. If you would like to support theOrcasonian CLICK HERE to set your modestly-priced, voluntary subscription. Otherwise, no worries; we’re happy to share with you.**
