Anne has delighted youth and adult audiences of all sizes with her graceful and spirited tellings of folktales from her Asian heritage and around the world. Her thirty-plus years as a school library media specialist have given her a rich knowledge of story and a keen ear for performance. Anne has also taught graduate courses in storytelling and for seven years was on the Board of Directors of the Wild Onion Storytelling Celebration in Chicago.
Workshops
Storytelling Goes To School
Looking for a way to get your students’ attention, have fun, and meet the educational standards? Anne’s workshop for teachers, librarians, and anyone interested in using stories with children is a highly practical session that describes activities that extend the storytelling experience through creative drama, drawing, rewriting stories, charts, story maps, creating picture books and videos, listening activities, and teaching students to tell stories. A handout includes lists of tried and true stories for each activity. Telling stories to your students will impact powerfully on your relationship with them – Anne guarantees it!
Hidden Memory: One Family's Journey During World War II
In 2006, Anne interviewed her 91-year-old aunt, who experienced the difficult days of the war and living in an incarceration camp for Japanese-Americans. This grew into a family history project and a story for performance. The story Hidden Memory is now available on the Racebridges for Schools website in text and audio files with free lesson plans and discussion questions. Anne also gives workshops on her family history project and the creation of her family photobook, a DVD of slide shows, and the performance piece so that others can learn how to share the gift of their family histories. This workshop inspired a standing ovation at the National Storytelling Conference!
Selected Performances:
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Selected Workshop Presentations:
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Publications:
"Fourth Grade is the Best Grade Just Because of Storytelling!"
Storytelling: Art and Technique, 4th ed. by Ellin Greene and Janice M. Del Negro, Libraries Unlimited, 2010.
"Hidden Memory: A Family History Project"
Literacy Development in the Storytelling Classroom by Sherry Norfolk, Jane Stenson, and Diane Williams, Libraries Unlimited, 2009.
“From the Library Media Center: Storytelling Through the Grades”
The Storytelling Classroom; Applications Across the Curriculum by Sherry Norfolk, Jane Stenson, and Diane Williams, Libraries Unlimited, 2006.
“Storytelling Goes to School”
Storytelling Magazine. Vol. 16, Issue 1. January/February 2004
“Anne Shimojima – The Magic of a Storyteller”
ISLMA News. Vol. 15, No. 3. January/February 2003.
Newsletter of the Illinois School Library Media Association
“Storytelling in the School Library Media Center”
Story: From Fireplace to Cyberspace; Connecting Children and Narrative.
By Betsy Hearne, Janice M. Del Negro, Christine Jenkins, and Deborah Stevenson, editors
The University of Illinois, 1998.
What others have said:
I never knew a story could have so much impact on me.
Eighth grader, Bell School, Chicago
When I told my mom the story about the crane, she had watery eyes. If you could have told it instead of me, she would have used a whole box of tissue.
Seventh grader, Bell School, Chicago
Thank you for being absolutely amazing at the storytelling at the Prairie Center. Both of your stories rocked me heart and soul. What a gift you gave to me and everyone who listened. Many, many thanks.
Lucinda Flodin, Director, Storytelling at the Prairie Center
One of the most compelling storytellers to be heard anywhere, Anne Shimojima is mesmerizing! Like a gifted sculptor, Anne has a talent tor cutting away all that is extraneous, leaving only the essential story in all its glistening beauty behind.
Rives Collins, McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence
Dept. of Theatre, Northwestern University
Anne is considered a "storyteller's storyteller" by her colleagues in the Chicago storytelling community, for her simple, elegant style -- always allowing the story to pass through her as a beautiful musical instrument creates the melody without distraction.
Jim May, Storyteller and Co-Founder of the Illinois Storytelling Festival
Anne Shimojima is an eloquent and elegant story weaver. When she tells stories, her words shimmer in the air and fall gently into the listeners’ ears. You can’t help but feel inspired and alive when she spins her story magic.
Dianne de Las Casas, Author and Award-winning Storyteller
When I first heard you tell at ALA in Chicago, I thought, “I have to bring her to Pittsburgh. They’d love her!” I was right! Your name is frequently mentioned by people calling, writing and filling out feedback forms as a highlight of the festival. You are as wonderful at telling to seniors as to children – a rare combination.
Mary Morgan Smith Director
Three Rivers Storytelling Festival
We all admire your beautifully polished stories. A pleasure to listen! Thank you for taking part in our first festival. Your professionalism made us shine.
Helen Fink, Director
A Tale for Two Cities
Your story for the Sunday morning finale was beautiful. As I watched the audience, I could tell that you had captured them and then you took them safely back in time to “be in the moment” of the story with you. That’s magic!
Linda Gorham, Storyteller
Who would have thought that members of the video generation could sit and listen so attentively? (Of course, it helps when the person you’re listening to is as gifted as you are.)
Jean M. Fujiu, Executive Director
Japanese American Service Committee
Anne has presented workshops in Baton Rouge to enable educators to use storytelling with their students. She brings a wealth of knowledge from her experiences working with students and adults. Her professional presentations are rich and expressive and are filled with enthusiasm. They evoke high standards for storytelling.
Evelyn Conerly, Director, Library Power
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
What the press said:
"Self-described "folktale lady" Anne Shimojima takes a special pleasure in collecting and telling folktales, largely from Asia. Tales from East and West includes stories from Japan and India—some comic, some instructive, some simply moving. Whatever the content or mood, her years of experience show: she delivered her stories with a steady confidence and a great sense of timing. Ms. Shimojima recounted several brief legends about Judge Ōoka, an actual 18th century Japanese magistrate. His imaginative solutions to difficult cases, such as "The Case of the Stolen Smell," are entertaining, and worth looking up if you haven't heard them.There was no unifying theme for the evening. But, as if to underscore the timelessness of the tales, Ms. Shimojima ended with two stories that helped her through a divorce and to the discovery of new love. In the words of the woman sitting behind me, "That was delightful."
Nuvo - Indy's Alternative Voice