Mitch Capel / “Gran’daddy Junebug”, who calls his style of storytelling “sto’etry” (stories recited poetically), has been described as a “word magician”, a “national treasure”, “unexpectedly powerful” and a “transformer of lives”. He has been featured at numerous festivals including twice at The National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN & The Timpanogas Storytelling Festival in Orem, Utah; The Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC; The 2009 Smithsonian’s Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC and annually at both The National Black Storytelling Festival (since 1988) and The Signifyin’ & Testifyin’ Storytelling Festival in Minnesota (since 1994)…where he is the official emcee of both “Liar’s Contests”. He has performed at hundreds of venues including The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC; The United Nations & Aaron Davis Hall in New York; The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, OH; The DuSable Museum in Chicago; Newark Symphony Hall and at AAPAC in Albuquerque, NM. He was Artist-In-Residence at The International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, TN and invited by the Smithsonian to perform in Washington, DC for the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama. He has been featured on National & International Public Radio, has performed his character education programs in over 2,000 schools and has received numerous awards from local, state and national organizations for his work as a storyteller, including “The Zora Neal Hurston Award”, the highest honor given by the National Association of Black Storytellers. Mitch also co-founded the African American Storytellers’ Retreat held annually in North Carolina in 1990.