“One of the neat things about the Wrights’ storytelling technique is that they effortlessly blend Japanese terms and onomatopoeic sound effects into the fabric of their traditional tales, and not once does it alienate or seem like scholarly affectation. Each tale begins on a cultural note that may be unfamiliar to most, from language to unconventional behavior of stock characters or unfamiliar social systems of the generally rural Japanese setting. But the way a listener can become so fully engaged within seconds is a testament to the power of these tales and the skill of the storytellers."

Kyoto Journal 2004, reprinted with permission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

copyright 2007 - 2015 Jonatha & Harold Wright

photography by Mao Yamamoto          

website by MPOWERD

Coming to Mudlark Pottery Studio & Fine Art Gallery

Storytellers Jonatha and Harold Wright AND Sea Sushi Grill

Friday, November 20, 2015 - 6 pm - 8:30 PM
Price: $45 non member, $35 member price (per person)
6 - 7 pm sit down and enjoy the delicious artistry of Sea Sushi Grill
7 - 8 pm listen to the amazing stories of Jonatha and Harold Wright
8- 8:30 pm socialize and meet the storytellers
Seating is limited, please call for reservations 859-282-1300

Video Interview # 29 on E-cosmoetica featuring: Harold Wright: Storyteller and Translator | Interviewer: Dan Schneider



Flesh Crawling Tales of Old Japan, by Jonatha and Harold Wright, is finally a reality!!

click below to download some samples of Jonatha and Harold's stories

Christmas Leaves           Ikkyu-san          Ole Gruesome Greenlocks              Urashima Taro    

Jonatha and Harold Wright, storytellers, have been specializing in Ohio, Appalachian and Japanese stories for the last several years. In addition to folk tales, fairy tales, historical tales, myths and legends they have numerous personal stories. Often they work in tandem, but both Jonatha and Harold also tell solo. These they tell to a wide variety of ages and audiences.

TRAVELING TALES IN THE 'BOX' from Yellow Springs News

 

Their storytelling programs include:

  • “Water, Water Everywhere:  Ohio’s Rivers, Lakes and Dams”
  • "That Jack, and His Kin"
  • "Famous, Fabulous and Infamous Ohioans"
  • "From Ohio, Across the Ocean and Back"
  • "Two Thousand Years of Tales from Japan

Harold has had a career as a professor of Japanese at Antioch College and Ohio State University, and is an award-winning translator of Japanese poetry, with several books to his credit. The last fourteen years, he, along with Jonatha, led and developed a semester of Field Work study for college students through Antioch Education Abroad to Japan each summer, at Kyoto Seika University. Each fall Jonatha coordinated and they worked with Japanese students from Kyoto Seika who participated in American Field Work studies at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH. Always the Wrights have used these activities and contacts to research and collect Japanese stories, often in the oral tradition, continually looking for the richness of local flavor and dialect, which Harold translates and they adapt. As they travel Ohio, they continually collect local Ohio stories.

Their workshops include:

  • “From Oral Tradition to Written Word”
  • "Love, Honor and Cherish that Story: An Introduction to Storytelling"
  • "One Plus One Equals Two: Telling in Tandem"
  • "Our Stories Honor and Reveal Our Heritage: Telling YOUR Stories"
  • "Creating Bridges: Cross-Cultural Storytelling"
  • "Prose, Rhythm and Rhyme: Using Poetry to Spice Up Your Storytelling"
  • "The Oral Tradition in Japan"

The Wrights have taught storytelling in many area colleges. They do workshops all over the US and in Kyoto on storytelling techniques and skills. Professionally they belong to the state storytelling groups of Kentucky and Ohio (KSA and OOPS!), the National Storytelling Network, and the Miami Valley Storytellers.

They have three CD's of their scary stories: Spooky Barn Stories Heard at Young’s Jersey Dairy, Three Finger Riley and Other Terrifying Tales and More Spooky Barn Stories; two CD’s of their Japanese Stories: Tales from Japan, and Ichi, Ni, San, Shi…Go! plus one of Appalachian stories, Four Seasons with Jack and His Kin and one DVD, Pieces from Our Story Quilt. Other products include books with accompanying CD’s: Haiku, Triku, Tanka and More: Fifty Years of Japan- Inspired Fixed Form Verse, A Story of Japanese Poetry, Vol. I and Vol. II and Six books: Spine Tingling Tales of Old Japan, Flesh Crawling Tales of Old Japan, Team Up! Tell In Tandem!, Little Pink Fish Gets Lost, and Other Tales, Little Pink Fish Sees a Little Girl, and Other Tales and Bitsy Beaver Wants to be an Artist, and Other Tales.

Team Up! Tell In Tandem! is now available, for $22.95 plus shipping, from
http://www.Lulu.com and Amazon through their Createspace section:
http://www.createspace.com/3483177 

team up 

Latest book for children by Jonatha Wright: