We all have a story to tell, says renowned Alabama author Kathryn Tucker Windham, and none of us has to be a Jeff Foxworthy or a Mark Twain to tell it.

"There's a great deal of difference between telling stories and performing," she said.

The storyteller, she explained in a recent phone interview, is always his or her own self — not a character.

That makes this cultural tradition, as old as vocal cords, easy to impart to others, which is what Windham intends to do Saturday at the Jacksonville State University McClellan Center in north Anniston.

"Everybody's a storyteller. They just need to tell the stories, the family stories. We need to preserve the family stories," she said.

Alabama's Storyteller,
Kathryn Tucker Windham

Windham, who'll turn 90 in June, said no complex adventure needs to have taken place for a story to be valuable. Merely recounting something that someone said or did at a holiday dinner is useful, she said, because it tells the audience that this family had such dinners — perhaps a meaningful detail for posterity.

Raised in the south Alabama town of Thomasville, Windham is an author, photographer, playwright, journalist and for more than two decades a commentator on Alabama Public Radio. She promised to bring a few of her own tales to the "lesson" Saturday.

Her hope, she said, is that by telling a story about her grandfather, a Baptist preacher, it will bring to each listener's mind some aspect of his or her own grandfather.

"That's good, that's wonderful," she said, "because that recalls stories about their own grandfather."

First known to many Alabamians for her book of ghost stories, 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey (1964), Windham emphasizes that storytelling shouldn't be deconstructed into something complicated. Actually, even a child can do it.

"I have had kindergarten students who were just natural born storytellers. It's just incredible, the timing they have," she said, explaining that if there is one skill needed to tell a good story, it's an ability to pace oneself.

"We do not need to hurry with a story," she said. "You have to pause with a story. People are so afraid of silence."

With narrative flow, and perhaps a hidden lesson about life, a story can become a thing in itself.

"I just want people to relax and enjoy storytelling," Windham said. "It is so powerful. It can reach down deep inside and provoke laughter and then seconds later, there'll be tears."

Kathryn Tucker Windham's presentations are formally titled The Ghost Lady Presents: The Art of Storytelling Workshop. They will take place in the same auditorium where the local theater group performs its plays — across the street from and just south of the softball complex at McClellan (enter via the road across from Anniston Middle School). For the convenience of people's Saturday schedules, two sessions will be held, one from 10-11:30 a.m. and the other from 1:30-3 p.m. Advance registration is preferred — cost is $20 for each session — but registration can be at the door. Call 782-5874.

Kathyrn Tucker Windam with fellow storyteller, Renee Morrison. Both will present Storytelling workshops at McClellan. Visit our Calendar of Events for workshop details.

4/10/2008