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 storytelling festivals, The Norman Rockwell Museum, The New-York Historical Society, The Egg, Caffè Lena, First Night Saratoga, Dance Flurry, Story Sundays at the Glen Sanders Mansion, Tellabrations : Evenings of Storytelling for Adults, schools, libraries, professional organizations, senior citizen centers, veterans programs, mother-daughter dinners and birthday parties.

Here are ten 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.

Kate's second solo CD, People Who Made a Difference: Volume 1, was released in November 2008.

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.

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

• 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. In August, 2005, she published her first knitting design -- Bargello Poncho Using Simultaneous Contrast.

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 350 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)

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, 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 tenth season, with over 4,700 listeners; and Word Plays, a new storytelling series for adults at a performing arts center. Kate has been a producer of Tellabrations '97 - '99, '01 -'08, which drew audiences of 200-400 adults.

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