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This month Michael and Laura spoke with Loren Niemi about his newest book, a collection of short stories entitled, What Haunts Us.
Loren is a storyteller with 40 years of creating, performing and teaching Stories that Matter. He has told stories everywhere from China’s Great Wall to the backrooms of German restaurants and the theaters of Minneapolis.
His work has been called “post-modern,” pushing the boundaries of narrative form “with a dark beauty of language that is not ashamed of poetry.”
Loren is also an author. His books include the award winning The New Book of Plots, an examination of oral and written narratives; and the critically acclaimed Inviting the Wolf In: Thinking About Difficult Stories, which he co-authored with Elizabeth Ellis. In 2016 he received the National Storytelling Network’s Lifetime Achievement Award. His collection of original and collected ghost stories What Haunts Us came out in February 2019.
Loren’s stories:
- Remodeling the Kitchen – 10:59
- Barbecue Bus – 26:53
- The Hungry Carpet – 47:23
Michael’s beer pairings:
- Oh Fudge!, Prairie
Artisan Ales – 9:02 - Aecht Schlenkerla
Rauchbier Märzen, Brauerei Heller-Trum – 24:14 - Kriek Boon, Brouwerij
Boon – 44:45
Interview highlights:
- The impact of
growing up moving on storytellers – 15:54 - Becoming a
storyteller – 17:33 - Storytelling…on
the Great Wall of China – 21:05 - Why we tell
stories – 22:55 - Why we’re drawn to
ghost stories and other dark tales – 36:53 - Telling stories
vs. writing stories – 51:00
Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.
If you liked this episode, you might also like these Books and Brews episodes:
- The Deep Well with Laura Creedle
- Sympathetic Monsters and Appalachian Lore Come to Life with Clay Gilbert
- Technology & Truth & a Paranormal Thriller with Ashley Fontainne and Andrea Emmes
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