Small Tales

Some folks like to tell tall tales. Jim May doesn't mind doing that, but sometimes he prefers the quiet nobility revealed in life's smaller moments.

Growing up in rural McHenry County, May learned how to listen. But the Emmy-award winning storyteller, teacher and author of the critically acclaimed children's book, Farm on Nippersink Creek, also knows how to talk.

For years May has been entertaining young and old audiences alike with his stories about life on the farm, bittersweet tales of loss, comedic romps through the Catholic community of Spring Grove, and children's stories based on folk legends, myths and ghost stories.

May's stories have taken him cross-country and overseas. But he's also dedicated time to his Illinois neighbors, appearing on WGN-AM's "Roy Leonard Show" and on "The Studs Terkel Show" on WFMT-FM.

See why the Chicago Sun-Times has called May a modern-day version of the epic Greek poet and storyteller Homer.

Related Links

Find out about the Illinois Storytelling Festival, started by Jim May, and then swing over to the Chinquapin Folk Music and Storytelling Festival, just outside of Peoria.

Check out some other fine storytellers: Maggie Brown, Linda Gorham, Momma Kemba, Shanta, and Oba William King.