From his introduction to storytelling at the 2017 Kansas City Storytelling Celebration, where he told his first story at a Story Swap, to today Rich White has embraced storytelling in a BIG way. While he tells many genres of stories: Historical, Folk, Fairy Tales, and occasionally Personal, he is best known for his Tall Tales.
He joined MO-TELL in 2018 when he first competed in the MO-TELL Missouri LiarsContest. 2018 was also when he was part of the first graduating class for the Oral Storytelling Certification classes offered by the Story Center at the Mid- Continent Public Library. He has served on the Board of Directors for River and Prairie Storyweavers (RAPS) as the Secretary for the past 6 years.
Rich has won the Missouri Liars Contest twice (last winning in July 2023), the Kansas Storytelling Festival Tall Tales contest twice (last winning in April 2024), and the Texas Storytelling Festival Liars Contest once (winning in March 2024). He is planning on competing in the 2024 MO- TELL Missouri Liars Contest so for those who haven’t heard him yet there is an opportunity to hear him and several other of the best “Liars”in Missouri in Columbia, MO on July 20th , 2024.
He has also told stories at Missouri Town 1855, done several programs for the Cass County Historical Society, at the Swapping Grounds at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesbourgh TN, and as part of the outreach activities for the RAPS Chicken Festival (where he convinced a high school senior that in Missouri you can get a driver’s license even if you have two (2) artificial eyes – he’s good). His next adventure in storytelling is that he will be telling at the Lake of the Ozarks State Park in June 2024 as part of the MO-TELL Telling at the State Parks programs.
The reason the picture shows both Rich and Alice is he said she has been his companion throughout his journey in storytelling, encouraging him all the way.
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