Jackie Torrence
(b. 1944)

Known as the "Story Lady," Jackie Torrence has traveled around the world delighting audiences with her tales. With animated language, facial expressions, and sound effects, she breathes new life into the age-old art of storytelling. Her African American tales, ghost stories, Appalachian lore, and modern fables earned her a World Storytelling Award in 1997.

Torrence first began storytelling in 1972 when she worked in a library. The children's librarian was ill, and the library director asked Torrence to read to a group of youngsters who had gathered for story time. For the next few weeks at the library, she delighted children with stories. As her reputation spread, large crowds began appearing at the library to hear her.

Torrence comes from an extended family of tale spinners. She was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised by her grandparents. She learned the art of storytelling from her grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Her stories do more than entertain. "Br'er Rabbit" and other animal tales, passed down from generations of slaves in America's rural South, provide a glimpse of history and document the slave dialect spoken on southern plantations. Torrence says, "If it had not been for storytelling, the black family would not have survived."

In 1992, Torrence wrote Bluestory, a play about blues music. Her book The Importance of Pot Liquor (1994) is about the stories her grandparents told her. In Jackie Tales: The Magic of Creating Stories and the Art of Telling Them (1998) Torrence gives tips on making stories come alive.

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