Storyteller Jeannine Beekman – Humanities Hero

“I love that telling a tale is a genuinely co-creative act, that it requires both teller and listeners, and that it only exists in the moment of the telling,” said Jeannine Beekman, LEH Humanities Hero, “Our world is ravenous for the deep listening that storytelling engenders and the profound truths that stories convey.”

A PRIME TIME Family Reading Storyteller for more than fifteen years, Beekman currently serves as a National Trainer, as well as both a PRIME TIME and Readings in Literature and Culture (RELIC) Scholar. She has designed and implemented collaborative story arts projects in conjunction with, and sponsored by, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Library Association, the Smithsonian, and Opera America. A professional storyteller since 1977, she is the recipient of the John Henry Faulk Award for Outstanding Contributions to Storytelling, the National Storytelling Network Oracle Award for Leadership, and the Ann Martin Book Award for Outstanding Contributions to Literacy.

“Telling stories tells me who I am and allows me to be more fully human. Every story I tell is true, even if it never happened. I live a storied life,” Beekman said. We at the LEH congratulate and value our Humanities Hero, Jeannine Beekman.