SJSTF: Talking to Strangers with Dan Yashinsky


Date: Sep 27
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Where: Theatre

St. John’s Storytelling Festival: Talking to Strangers with Dan Yashinsky

Do we build fences or bridges in today's world of fake news and extreme views?  This storytelling journey uses a mix of personal and traditional stories to explore what it means when a stranger comes to your door.

Dan Yashinsky is a storyteller, writer, and community animator.  His books include Suddenly They Heard Footsteps - Storytelling for the Twenty-first CenturyThe Golden Apples, and I Am Full - a read-aloud requiem for Jacob Evan Yashinsky-Zavitz (to be published in winter, 2023).  He has worked as a storyteller-in-residence at Toronto Public Library, The Stop Community Food Centre, and Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care.  Recent projects include collaborations with dance artist Annemarie Cabri on a series of "danced stories", and developing a documentary film called The Wisdom of Solomon’s.

Tickets: $12 (+HST), Free for Rooms Members and SJSTF members. Get your ticket online or by calling (709) 757-8090.

This program is in collaboration with the St. John’s Storytelling Festival, a not-for-profit organization that has been active in the Storytelling community of Newfoundland and Labrador since 2004. SJS hosts and organizes an annual Storytelling festival bringing storytellers from across the province, Canada and internationally to the stage in St. John’s.

Events & Programs

2:30 pm - 3:30 pm

How do place, identity, and art intersect, and what do their points of intersection tell us about this place we call home?

In this talk, Rhea Rollmann will explore the significance of queer and trans art in Atlantic Canada with particular emphasis on the work of Erica Rutherford as well as iterations of queer and trans art in NL. There will be an opportunity for questions after the talk.

Tickets: $12 plus HST. Free for Rooms members. Get your tickets online or by calling 709-757-8090.

About the Presenter:

Rhea Rollmann (she/her) is an award-winning journalist, writer and audio producer based in St. John's, NL, and is the author of A Queer History of Newfoundland (Engen Books, 2023). She is a founding editor of The Independent NL and her journalism has appeared in Briarpatch Magazine, CBC, Xtra Magazine, Chatelaine, PopMatters, Riddle Fence, Macleans and more. Her academic work has been published in the Journal of Gender Studies, Labor Studies Journal, Canadian Woman Studies, Journal of Work and Society, Canadian Theatre Review, Canadian Review of Sociology, Screen Bodies and elsewhere. She also has an extensive background in labour organizing and queer/trans activism, and she is Station Manager at CHMR-FM, a community radio station in St. John's.