Jimmy Neil Smith (born 1947 in Tennessee), is founder and president emeritus of the International Storytelling Center (ISC) in Jonesborough, Tennessee.[1] In 1973, Smith, then a local journalism teacher, hosted the first National Storytelling Festival as a way to build regional and national awareness of Jonesborough. Smith's efforts led to a revival of storytelling in the US. Jonesborough is today referred to as the Storytelling Capital of the World.

Early life

Smith was born in a pre-Civil War house on his grandparents’ farm in rural Washington County, Tennessee — just eight miles from Jonesborough. Smith and his parents, Fred Neil and Dorothy Jackson Smith, moved to Jonesborough when he was about two years old. A sister, Jill, was born into the family in 1951. Smith graduated from East Tennessee State University in nearby Johnson City, Tennessee, with a BS degree in English, history, and journalism.

Career

During high school and college, Smith was a reporter for the weekly Herald and Tribune in Jonesborough and the daily Johnson City Press. While a journalist at the Press, he wrote Heritage in Buckskin, a weekly column featuring the history of the region. The columns were published in two small books. Upon graduation in 1969, Smith began teaching English—and later, journalism—at Science Hill High School in Johnson City. Smith also developed and directed a public information program for the Johnson City Schools to disseminate information and news about the school system, its teachers and administrators, and its students. When Smith was driving some of his journalism students to a nearby town to print the school newspaper, they were listening to comedian and storyteller Jerry Clower on the car radio tell a story about hunting in Mississippi. At that time, Smith turned to his students and suggested that Jonesborough should host a storytelling festival with storytellers, like Clower.[2] Soon thereafter, Smith began contemplating a storytelling festival. He wanted to save the old, traditional stories of the Southern Appalachians for future generations, and he wanted to join other residents of Jonesborough who wanted to save the dying town and rebuild its economy. Smith hoped a storytelling festival could help accomplish both.[3]

In 1973, Smith founded the National Storytelling Festival, the first public event dedicated exclusively to the tradition and art of storytelling anywhere in the world. Staged in Jonesborough, the Festival ignited a revival, a new appreciation, of storytelling that has spread across America and the world. Two years after the first Festival, Smith founded the National Association for the Preservation and Perpetuation,[4] the organization that would become the International Storytelling Center.[5] In 2002, ISC opened a facility in downtown Jonesborough that serves as a headquarters for the organization and a beacon for storytelling throughout the world.[6]

In 1978, Smith was elected mayor of Jonesborough[7] and served three two-year terms. Because of its ever-expanding storytelling program, Jonesborough, the oldest town in Tennessee, is being called the Storytelling Capital of the World.[8]

Notable publications

In 1987, Smith compiled and edited Homespun,[9] a book of stories, profiles of America’s leading storytellers, and how-to information. Following the release of Homespun, Smith compiled and edited Why the Possum’s Tail is Bare—a collection of Southern folktales, legends, and other stories.[10] As president of the International Storyteller Center (ISC), he published a series of additional books and recordings featuring the world’s stories and storytellers. Smith is a contributor to the Anthology Storytelling project as a regular reflection on storytelling.[11]

References

  1. ↑ JAINCHILL, JOHANNA (9 June 2006). "Pulling Us Back to the Campfire". New York Times. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
  2. ↑ Roger Wolmuth: Weaving a Spell, People Magazine 1997, Retrieved January 15, 2019
  3. ↑ Elizabeth Bugbee: Storytelling Thrives at Smithsonian Affiliate, Retrieved January 15, 2019
  4. ↑ Tales From the National Association For the Preservation and Perpetuation of Storytelling Mother Earth News. Retrieved January 13, 2019
  5. ↑ Regina Rees: The Storytelling Revival in the United States. Retrieved January 15, 2019. 
  6. ↑ Library of Congress: The National Storytelling Festival A Local Legacy. Retrieved January 15, 2019. 
  7. ↑ Letters: Readers sound off on Jonesborough's race for mayor Johnson City Press. Retrieved 14 January 2019
  8. ↑ WILMA DYKEMAN THE STORYTELLING CAPITAL OF TENNESSEE New York Times, September 15, 1985. Retrieved January 13, 2019
  9. ↑ Homespun: Tales from America's Favorite Storytellers Retrieved January 14, 2019
  10. ↑ Balbon, Jennifer (21 July 1991). "TALE TELLERS Interest in spinning yarn grows". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
  11. ↑ Ruediger Drischel: Storytelling in the Age of the Internet, New Technologies, Data, Artificial Intelligence, Retrieved January 15, 2019.
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