FIRST
OPEN MIC STORYTELLING EVENT AT
THE IVINS CITY HERITAGE DAYS FESTIVAL
September 7, 2024
JOHN TERRY – “A YEAR OF FIRST”
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SALLY MCNEIL-BLIMLING – “A GAMBLING LESSON”
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WENDY CHEN – “A TALE OF TWO TEMPLES”
Wendy Chen is the author of the novel Their Divine Fires and the poetry collection Unearthlings. Her translations of Song-dynasty woman writer Li Qingzhao are forthcoming from Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 2025 in a collection titled The Magpie at Night. Find out more about Wendy @ www.wendychenart.com
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BRANDON BRUCE – “THE HORIZON”
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ROBERT PERKINS – “CALL OF THE WHIPPOORWILL”
Robert Perkins is a storyteller. His passion is the natural world and exploring our place in it.
His stories come from 37 years of solo canoe journeys in the Canadian arctic. He lives in Virgin, Utah.
Learn more about Robert:robertfperkins.com
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AMBER MARGOTT – “MIRACLE”
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CHRISTY KOHARCHECK
Audio unavailable at storyteller’s request.
NAN SEYMOUR – “FIRST RESPONDERS FOR GREAT SALT LAKE”
As poet-in-residence on Antelope Island, Nan led day-and-night vigils on behalf of the Great Salt Lake throughout the 2022 and 2023 Utah State legislative sessions. During her weeks on the receding lake shore, she assembled the praise poem called irreplaceable, a collective love letter containing over 400 individual voices from citizens.
The 2024 winter vigil featured twice daily demonstrations of love for the lake at the Utah State Capitol. Advocates of all ages walked with giant blue and white fabric waves in silence every morning and celebrated the lake’s many species with jubilant singing and dancing each evening. Over 1200 people participated in the 68 demonstrations during the session. Find out more @ www.saveourgreatsaltlake.org
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ELAINE MORALES – “MUSCLE MOM”
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KASE JOHNSTUN – “A SINCERE THANK YOU TO TAYLOR SWIFT FROM A NEARLY 50-YEAR-OLD DAD”
Kase is the author of the acclaimed novel, Let the Wild Grasses Grow and the essay collection, Tortillas for Honkies. His latest novel, Cast Away, is about a young boy who, along with his formidable great-aunt (an immigrant who settled on the Utah salt flats in 1923), devises a plan to join the cast of a reality show, win the prize money, and bring back their undocumented family safely to America. Learn more about Kase @ kasejohnstun.com
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Special thanks to Fletcher Shives, Paula and Joe Ferrario, and Alan Holben Photography
