Album Notes

Stories Nobody Told Me:

"Italian" Folk tales for all seasons

Told by Norah Dooley
new, eco-friendly Hot Spot cardboard packaging

Traditional Italian folk tales serve up common story motifs with a distinctive flavor. Despite a large extended Italian family in my background, I came to my cultural heritage through the back door of my enthusiastic but slapdash scholarship. The work of Italo Calvino, Bocaccio, Straparola and Basile inspired me to tell my versions of these timeless tales. As many European storytellers before me, I also found inspiration in the ancient Panchantantra texts and the old Buddhist Jataka tales. The Three Hens is my own fable. I have cooked up these nontraditional tales for you. The ingredients used to dish up these tales are very old, and the"recipes" and the seasonings come from Italy. Buon appetito!
Norah "La Tosca" Dooley, July 2002

Bio

Norah Dooley is a storyteller and children’ s author. She has published spoken word CDs including: Music of Angels (1999), Stories Nobody Told Me “Italian” Folk tales (2002) and Stories from the Neighborhood, World Folk tales (2002), Winter Tales (2006) and My Bad,Bad Dog and other Neighbors (2006). Norah’s published picture books, Everybody Cooks Rice, Everybody Bakes Bread, Everybody Serves Soup and Everybody Brings Noodles, (Carolrhoda Books @ lernerbooks.com) are four titles in a series about her former neighborhood in Cambridge, MA.

Norah has been presenting workshops and stories throughout New England for people of all ages. She has performed as a featured storyteller in the Christmas and Spring Revels in Cambridge and Boston MA, the Newport Folk Festival, Albany NY River Festival, 3 Apples Storytelling Festival, MA and at the Clearwater Festival in NY.