Kate's Bio

Residing in Clifton Park, NY, between Albany and Saratoga Springs, Kate Dudding has told stories since 1995 at many venues in the Northeast, including festivals, The Norman Rockwell Museum, The New-York Historical Society, Caffè Lena, Story Sundays at the Glen Sanders Mansion, museums, schools, libraries, senior centers -- anywhere people can gather to enjoy stories. A particular interest of Kate's is giving a voice to people from the past, people who have made a difference in their community, or in the world.

Here are some news articles about Kate and her storytelling activities.

Kate's diverse background, B.A. in Psychology and French, M.S. in Computer Science, over 30 years experience in the computer industry (including two patents: System and Method for Prompt-Radiology Image Screening Service Via Satellite, and Method for Automated Web Site Maintenance Via Searching) plus the many storytelling workshops and conferences she has attended, give an interdisciplinary flavor to many of her stories.

Kate's first solo CD, Lighting the Way Home: Stories of Lighthouses and Their Keepers, is a Parents' Choice Approved Award Winner of 2007, one of six storytelling CDs to get an award this year. Click here to read the Parents' Choice review.

A story on Kate's second CD, People Who Made a Difference: Volume 1, won a 2010 Storytelling World Honor Award in the category: Stories for Pre-Adolescent Listeners.

Kate's story, Water Lily and The Thunderer, was also recorded live at The Egg for the CD Tellabration! 2003-2004: Stories Over Easy at The Egg. Another of Kate's stories, The Birth of a Folk Art: An Original Irish Tale, was also recorded live at The Egg for the CD Tellabration! 2002: Stories of Light and Laughter. And Kate's story, A Circle of Love, was recorded live at The Egg for the CD Tellabration! 2001: Stories from the Circles of Life.

So far, Kate has participated in two storytelling competitions. She won the Story Slam at the 2010 National Storytelling Conference in Los Angeles with a story she created for the occasion: One Path to World Peace.

Since Albany Institute of History and Art was having two exhibits on shoes, they decided to organize a Shoe Slam as part of 1st Friday, the arts walk that showcases the thriving and lively art scene in downtown Albany. Kate initially tied for first with her story about learning how to tap dance. Since they only had one first place prize, there was a sudden death competition -- both people tied for first had to write a haiku about shoes in 3 minutes. Kate lost that round, so ended up second. When Kate told the organizer at the institute that the shoe slam had been fun and perhaps they could do it again, she said they are considering it. Kate's looking forward to the next slam.

Kate's stories are beginning to travel on their own.

• Kate's story Iqbal Masih: Human Rights Worker was published in Storytelling and QAR Strategies, November, 2010. Character traits for three grade levels are promoted in a collection of world folktales, legends, myths, and historical stories, with corresponding questions and activities.

  Research affirms that storytelling enhances analytical and organizational skills, as well as all aspects of language arts development—happy news for teachers and librarians for whom reading comprehension is always a top priority. By involving students in the process of Question-Answer Relationships (QAR), you can enlist powerful stories to shift their imaginations into high gear.
  

   

• One of Kate's personal stories, "My Father's Daughter," was published in The Apple Tree: A Journal of the Academy of Lifelong Learning at Saratoga Springs, Spring 2009.
  

• A story of Kate's, "The Reminder," has been published in a book, the second volume of the series: KnitLit Too: Stories from Sheep to Shawl. Kate told this story on WMHT-TV in April, 2005. You can watch (41.7 MB download) or listen (2.6 MB download) to this story online. (You can use RealPlayer to watch or listen to this story -- see www.real.com.)
  

  

• Another story of Kate's, " My Mother's Hands," was published in the fall of 2005 in the book KnitLit the Third: We Spin More Yarns.

• Kate's retelling of "The Mitten" is now part of the Grade One Distance Learning Course in British Columbia, Canada.

• As you've probably guessed, Kate is also a knitter.

Kate is active in the US storytelling community. She is a member of the National Storytelling Network, the League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling and Story Circle of the Capital District, a local group of storytellers. She is also a member of the organizing committee for the Riverway Storytelling Festival and a co-founder of the Hudson Valley Storytelling Alliance.

Kate received the 2008 Northeast Region ORACLE Award from the National Storytelling Network. The ORACLE honors regional leadership and service among storytellers. (Photo on right courtesy of Dianna Waite.)

As a member of the Advocacy Committee of the National Storytelling Network, Kate has created two web sites:

• Storytelling -- It's News! contains summaries of over 380 articles published since June 2003 which describe various uses of storytelling, from classrooms to boardrooms to operating rooms

• Storytelling in Schools is a reference guide to a wide variety of educational programs (K-college) that demonstrate the value of using storytelling and storytelling techniques across the curriculum in traditional classrooms (created with Jackie Baldwin.) Click here listen to Kate and Jackie being interviewed about this project by Eric Wolf on his podcast The Art of Storytelling Show.

Kate has presented workshops at Sharing the Fire (New England's annual storytelling conference), the Timpanogos Storytelling Conference (Utah), the Putnam Storytelling Festival (New York), and at the National Storytelling Conference. She has also published an article in the book Literacy Development in the Storytelling Classroom (winner of a 2010 Storytelling World Award in the category: Special Storytelling Resources), two articles about storytelling in The Museletter, publication of the League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling, and three articles in The Storytelling Magazine, publication of the National Storytelling Network. Here is a list of Kate's publications.

Kate is a producer of: Story Sundays, a storytelling dinner series for adults, now in its 12th season, with over 5,700 listeners; and Word Plays, a storytelling series for adults at a performing arts center, now in its 4th season with over 500 listeners. Kate has been a producer of Tellabrations '97 - '99, '01 -'09, which drew audiences of 200-400 adults.

In addition, Kate is a member of the Saratoga Arts.