Susanna "Granny Sue" Holstein
Although her focus is on Appalachian culture and her British
heritage, Holstein’s repertoire includes original versions of world folktales,
family stories and participation stories. Her adult and family programs often
include Appalachian and British ballads sung in the traditional unaccompanied
style, and songs with opportunities for audience sing-along. Performances for children are lively, interactive
and frequently include the use of puppets, props, movement activities and
songs.
Holstein is a graduate of West Virginia State College and holds a
Master’s degree from the University of South Carolina in Library and
Information Science. Her 20-year library career included work as a children’s
librarian, branch librarian, Branch Services Manager, and Facilities and
Security Manager/ADA Coordinator for Kanawha County Public Library in
Charleston, WV.
Former WV State Liaison to the National Storytelling
Network and founding member of the West Virginia Storytelling Guild, Holstein
is also a published writer. She has conducted writing workshops for the WV
Writers Conference, Moundsville Public Library, Mercer County High School Writing
Camp and others, and is frequently invited to speak to book groups and other
organizations about her writing and storytelling interests. She initiated two
young writers’ groups, and an annual writing contest in her home county. She
maintains an active daily blog, Granny Sue’s News and Reviews, a
poetry blog Mountain Poet, and writes for the regional publication, Two-Lane
Livin’. She was selected as a West
Virginia History Hero in 2015, and received the WV Storytelling Guild’s
McWhorter Award for Service to Storytelling for 2014.
A Sample of Programs Offered:
Appalachian
Ghost Stories and Ballads: Famous and not-so-famous haunts
come alive in story and song.
Appalachian Sampler: The one I most often present to tours and Road Scholars
programs which includes a variety of the kind of stories told in the
mountains--tall tales, ghost stories, historical tales, traditional
folktales--and ballads.
Love, Murder and Mayhem: Appalachian Ballads: a mixture of ballads and the background on each one. Includes murder,
romantic, ghost, and comic ballads.
Seeking the Spirits: West Virginia Ghost Stories
and Ballads: a combination of stories and songs with a
spooky twist. Includes our most famous ghost story, the Greenbrier Ghost, as
well as lesser known tales from around the state.
Appalachian Jack Tales: fun Appalachian folktales starring the wily Jack. Good fun for
family audiences, with some background information about the stories and their
provenance.
West Virginia Weird and Wacky: stories of unusual people, places and events. Includes stories
like Ikie's Tomb, the story behind the Mountaineer statue on the Capitol lawn,
the first Christmas tree in West Virginia, Tunnel 21, and others.
Here
We Come A-Caroling: with musician Jeff Seager, a program of the stories
behind carols both well-known and unfamiliar, offering sing-along opportunities
and audience participation.
Workshops:
Beginning Storytelling, Telling Ghost Stories, Participation Tales, Personal
Stories, Telling Stories with Puppets, Appalachian Storytelling, Creative
Writing, Blogging & More
Selected
List of Recent Performances:
WV Storytelling Festival, Jackson’s Mill, Weston, WV
WV Library
Association Conference, Shepherdstown, WV
Three Rivers Storytelling Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
Timpanogos Storytelling
Conference, Ogden, Utah
Inland Waterways Festival, Marietta, OH
Augusta Old-Time Week
Storytelling class and Augusta Festival, Elkins, WV
Mountain State Arts and Crafts Fair, Ripley, WV
WV
Sesquicentennial Celebration, WV State Capitol, Charleston, WV
WV State Folk Festival, Glenville, WV
WVU Brown Bag Lunch
Multicultural Series, Morgantown, WV
Harpers Ferry Old-Time Christmas, Harpers Ferry, WV
Rose Valley
Storytelling, Media, PA
Stories in the Village, Chevy Chase, MD
Southern Ohio Storytelling
Festival, Chillicothe, OH
Annual Ghost Walk, Ripley, WV
BadyHouse Concert, Brooklyn, NY
Storytellers Café, Buffalo, NY
Lost River Artisan Center,
Lost River, WV
Christmas carols programs at many venues
WV State Parks
programs
Many others.
College presentations: Shepherd University, Fairmont State
University, University of Charleston, WV State Technical College, Marshall
University ESL class, WVU, Shepherd University, BridgeValley Technical College,
many others.
School presentations for schools across West Virginia, from Primary through High School
Summer
Reading Program performances at WV libraries annually
Workshops:
Appalachian
Storytelling. Augusta Heritage Series weeklong class, Davis & Elkins
College.
Telling
Ghost Stories. Sponsored by the WV Storytelling Guild and WV Commission on the
Arts.
Storytelling
for Beginners and Telling Ghost Stories.
Kentucky Storytelling Association Conference
Blogging
for Storytellers and Telling
Ghost Stories. Timpanagos Storytelling Festival, Orem, Utah
Blogging
for Storytellers, WV Storytelling guild Retreat, Fairmont, WV;
Telling
Ghost Stories, OOPS Storytelling Conference, Columbus, OH
Ballad
to Story, New England LANES Storytelling Conference, Boston MA, and VASA
Storytelling Conference, Harrisonburg, VA
Publications:
·
Storytelling in
the State Parks.
Storytelling Magazine, NSN Press, March 2006.
·
Filling the House. WestEd high
school sophomore test booklet for
Massachusetts, 2008-2015.
·
Storytelling with Puppets. Telling
Stories to Children. NSN Press, 2005.
·
Young Writers
Group. More
Teen Programs that Work. Honnold, Rosemary. Neal-Schuman, 2005.
·
Gracie’s Cabin;
Burning the Trash. Zinnia Tales:
An Anthology of Strong Women Stories, Mountain Girl
Press, 2006.
·
Yellow Roses. Self-Rising
Flowers,
Mountain Girl Press, 2008.
·
The Way It Was. Appalachian
Journal, 2005.
·
Telling Stories
in the Parks.
Storytelling Magazine, 2005.
·
The Old Road. Poetry in
Motion, Morgantown, WV. Poetry on city buses project, 2009.
·
Granny’s Front
Porch.
Monthly column for Two Lane Livin’ regional magazine, 2008-present.
·
Sago. Fed from the Blade Anthology. Woodland Press, 2012 and in Turtleshell literary journal, WVSU, 2012.
·
The Unmarked Grave, Ripley View, 2014
·
Love’s Old Sweet Song, Diner Stories: Off
the Menu Anthology, Mountain State Press, 2015.
·
The Chinese Quilt, Jimson Weed
Literary Journal, UVA-Wise, Spring 2016.
·
The Old Cupboard, Easter Lilies, Jan-Carol Publishing, 2017
·
The Omen, These Haunted Hills, Jan-Carol Publishing, 2017
·
Fruitcakes, Unity Anthology, Mountain State Press, 2017
·
Gracie’s Cabin, Traditions Journal
of West Virginia Folklore, 2017
Awards:
·
National Storytelling Conference, 2000: Featured Regional Teller
·
WV Storytelling Conference, 2001: McWhorter Award for service to storytelling in West Virginia
·
WV Writers Conference Writing Contest 2006: 2nd
Place, 3rd Place (2), Honorable Mention (2)
·
Author Enablers National Creative Writing Contest, 2nd
place, 2005
·
WV Writers Conference Writing Contest
2004:2nd Place and Honorable Mention (2)
·
WV Writers Conference Annual Contest
2006: 2nd Place, 3rd Place (2), Honorable Mention (2)
·
WV Writers Conference Annual Contest
2007: 2- 3rd Place and 2 Honorable Mentions
·
WV Writers Conference Annual Contest
2008: 2nd place, 2 Honorable Mention, 1st place People’s
Choice Poetry
·
WV Writers Conference Annual Contest
2009: 2nd place, Appalachian, 2 honorable mention, 1st
place People’s Choice
·
WV Writers Conference Annual Contest:
Honorable Mention, 2011, 2015
·
WV Writers Conference Annual Contest: 2nd Place,
People’s Choice Poetry, 2012, 2013, 2014
·
WV Storytelling Guild McWhorter Award for Service to Storytelling,
2014
·
WV History Hero, 2015.