By Michelle Hines, University Relations
Tim Tingle.
Contact: (336) 334-5371
Posted 8-31-10
GREENSBORO — Come walk the Choctaw Road.
Native American children’s book author and storyteller Tim Tingle performs Monday, Sept. 13, at UNCG.
Tingle’s performance begins at 7 p.m. in the Elliott University Center Auditorium on campus. The event is free and open to the public.
Tingle, an Oklahoma Choctaw, tells historical and traditional stories, accompanying himself on the Native American flute and singing Choctaw songs to the rhythms of a whale skin drum.
Tingle has performed at Chief Gregory Pyle’s Annual State of the Nation Address at the tribal gathering in Tushkahoma, Okla., a Choctaw reunion that attracts more than 30,000 people. He has also made 11 performance tours for the U.S. Department of Defense, sharing tales and humor with children of military personnel stationed in southern Germany.
Tingle has lectured on numerous college campuses about Native American folklore, and in 2003 earned an MA in English from the University of Oklahoma, focusing on contemporary American Indian narratives. He currently teaches an onsite summer storytelling course through the university that consists of morning classes and afternoon guided tours of the pueblos and sites surrounding Santa Fe, New Mexico.
In 2004, Tingle founded the Choctaw Storytelling Festival, a three-day celebration of the Choctaw narrative – traditional, historical and personal. The festival promotes the ongoing transmission of stories so critical to the Choctaw community.
His books and recordings include “Saltypie,” “Walking the Choctaw Road,” “When the Turtle Grew Feathers” and “Ghostly Tales of Texas.”
Tingle’s visit is made possible through the financial support of the Pam and David Sprinkle Children’s Author and Storyteller Series Fund. The UNCG University Libraries and the UNCG School of Education are sponsoring the event.
He also appears Saturday, Sept. 11, at the BOOKMARKS Festival in Winston-Salem. For details, visit www.bookmarksbookfestival.org.
