From ancient fables to contemporary tales, storytelling and poetry weave vibrant threads into the fabric of humanity.

Poems of Positivity by https://orloskystudio.com/ Taken at the Lumiere Festival 2025

LATEST INTERVIEW is HERE.

An “Aha Moment” about storytelling

In the Spring of 2024, my sister suggested I jump on SubStack, an online platform for writers, creators, and journalists. She said, “This is where I get all my reading now.” I decided to finally join and realized I was in a throng of 1000’s. There were poets, long-form and short-form storytellers. Scientists, both social and physical, all want to share their knowledge. There were creative storytellers and comedic writers, biographers and wordsmiths, literally 1000’s of different formats and approaches. My mind was spinning.

After reading a friend’s social media confession, they said, “I’m not a writer.” However, they decided to join anyway. I had an aha moment. It hit me; it isn’t just a platform for writers and creators; it’s a narrative stage. I suddenly realized why so many people were flocking to SubStack. They are there to be heard and to be seen. Is this the ultimate goal behind storytelling and poetry?

Reasons to tell stories and write poetry

To make sense of an experience – Throughout time, humans have desired to communicate our deeper sense of being. Stories and poetry help process love, loss, joy, fear, and change. These forms of communication become a catalyst for humans to make sense of situations.

To connect with others – When we tell a story, it creates a bridge between ourselves and others. Sharing a poem connects us with those who share similar perspectives. Expressing the idea that “I feel this or see this, how about you?” Confirmation of this shared connection reinforces that sense of community and gives us a sense of belonging.

To preserve memory and culture –For centuries, storytelling has kept traditions alive. It has preserved histories and wisdom long before written language existed. Both storytelling and poetry have held humanity’s sense of existence within culture and beyond. Originally through oral tradition, then later through written record. This creates a sense of belonging and identity, which humans strive to thrive.

To imagine and create meaning – Stories and poems let us imagine possibilities beyond the ordinary. We envision new worlds, alternate lives, or different perspectives. They give meaning to existence by framing the chaos of life in artful, symbolic ways.

To express what can’t be expressed directly – Sometimes emotions or truths are too complex or painful for plain language. Poetry, with its rhythm, imagery, and metaphor, allows people to say what can’t quite be said in simple sentences.

To leave a mark – Storytelling and poetry are ways of saying “I was here.” Through art, people assert their presence, creativity, and humanity — something that can outlast their own lifetime.

Next, SeeChangemakers introduces the next two interviewees. Can you determine from these brief introductions which reasons they decided to inspire their writing?

Celeste Nazeli Snowber: Art & Spirit

Celeste Nazeli Snowber is a scholar, performer, prolific writer, and artist. She has been cited 742 times since 2020. She is a highly demanded speaker and an award-winning scholar at Simon Fraser University. Her various projects range from seaside performances, poetic narration with dance, to indoor gallery dance alongside her text-based art installations. “This particular work explores the growing fields called eco-poetics and arts-based environmental education.”  

Snowber, an artist of Armenian/Irish descent, obtained a PhD from Simon Fraser back in 1998 in Education. Still, her approach to the arts comes from a much deeper level. In her book titled “The Marrow of Longing”, she explored how generational trauma and healing can affect our everyday existence. In this collection, she researched and delved into her ancestral lineage. This created pathways for a greater understanding of her mother’s life.

Spirit Guided

A spiritual being, Snowber has led her life authentically through her art. Her lived narrative literally shapes her project creations that integrate dance with poetics. Similarly, this intuitive knowing has guided her academic career. With a fascination and interest in spirituality, she explored the study of theology before her graduate studies at SFU. Still, the integration of the arts and somatic dance brings a deeper nourishment to her soul.

Says Snowber, “I don’t separate my identity as a poet from my identity as a scholar, artist, or performer. At the heart of my work is the integration between body and mind, physicality and spirituality, and an emphasis on connecting the personal and universal. Poetry is one way of discovering what we know and don’t know.” [Sfu.ca}

Wake Up and Create

Recently, Snowber released “Creating in Dangerous Times” as an avenue to inspire the eruption of creativity in all of us. In these changing times, humanity seems to be at a crossroads where people are searching for direction and meaning.  Whatever form these creations take, it is important to “Listen,” says the poem:

Listen to the cadence

of your body

hear

the hymn of your own heart

listen to your own

birdsong.

Poem by Celeste Nazeli Snowber – Creating in Dangerous Times

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Kimberly Hetherington: Wisdom, Grief, and Global Storytelling

I met Kimberly Hetherington during a hike in Mosquito Creek. My little dog, Stella, became instantly adored by her two daughters. We started talking, and I soon learned she was a recent Art Therapist graduate. We exchanged social media information, and I later learned that this young woman was also a writer of children’s books.

Wise Beyond Her Years

I noticed something about Kimberly. Her character and soul were filled with wisdom. They had integrity beyond her years. This outlook is explained within her auto-ethnography graduate project she undertook recently. Inside the covers, she explores the grief process that she experienced upon the death of her sister by suicide. The title succinctly summarizes her process, “Life After Elizabeth: An Exploration of Sibling Suicide Bereavement Through Creative Writing”.

The book is steeped in valuable information required by any counseling graduate program. Yet, it speaks in a language that is easily accessible to everyone who needs to hear it. She also weaves personal experiences and imagery to give it the intimate connection required for this type of loss. After her auto-ethnographic account, she creates a “Reflective Journal and Poetry Prompts” section to help certain readers process grief.

Fairy Tales and other such ponderings

One of the reasons I sought an interview with Kimberly was her most recent book. It is titled “Myths and Fables from Around the World: Global Tales with Heartfelt Lessons for all Ages.” She decided to compile a book that parents and children can read together. Inside the covers, there are nine summarized tales from various parts of the world. This collection includes the story, “Quentin the Tap Dancing Quorkka.” It depicts a small wallaby-like animal who desires to tap dance.

Each of the fables or myths ends with a little piece of wisdom that builds on the morality of humanity. Hetherington was inspired by her father, who used to read her “The Parable of the Jamaican Fisherman”. She states that she sensed “it was meaningful to him, but when I was younger, I didn’t quite understand why.” Now, as an adult, she reflects all the moral fiber her father and others have handed down to her. Hetherington seems to echo Quentin’s moral. “The path to our dreams may be difficult. Others may not always understand. However, our dreams are always worth following.”

FACEBOOK Live interviews with these two amazing artists on November 23rd at 11 am PST.