May 3rd & 4th 2008
Tim Tingle - Choctaw Storyteller
We are honored to have Tim Tingle attending the gathering this year - to share with your the special Choctaw stories and legions as well as give a "storyteller" class for those who would like to learn how to become a Storyteller
Tim Tingle gave his first performance at the National Museum of
the American Indian on Saturday, June 23, at the outdoor amphitheater of the
Smithsonian complex. An appreciative audience, including dozens of Oklahoma
Choctaws, saw Tingle sing "Shilombish Holitopa Ma," play the native flute, and
perform "Crossing Bok Chitto," "The Choctaw Way,"and "Turtle Grew Feathers," his
latest children's book. Tingle is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of
Oklahoma, a sought-after speaker and storyteller, and an award-winning author of
Native American fiction and folklore. Choctaw Chief Gregory Pyle has requested
a story by Tingle previous to his Annual State of the Nation Address at the
Choctaw Labor Day Gathering--a celebration that attracts over thirty thousand
people-- from 2002 to the present.
Walking the Choctaw Road, Tingle's first book, was released by Cinco Puntos
Press in May of 2003. A collection of stories based on interviews with tribal
elders, it was Storytelling World Magazine's Best Anthology for 2003. Oklahoma
Reads Oklahoma selected WTCR as Book of the Year for 2005, as did Alaska Reads!,
marking the first time in the history of the one-book-one-state movement that a
single book has been selected by two states in the same year. Tingle completed a
tour of eighty Oklahoma libraries in 2005, presenting stories from Walking the
Choctaw Road and promoting literacy throughout the state.
In a Governor's Commendation read before the Senate in May of 2005, Oklahoma
Governor Brad Henry praised Tingle for his "devotion to preserving the Choctaw
heritage," and declared May through November as Walking the Choctaw Road months
in Oklahoma.