About Us:

The mission of the Tampa Bay Storytellers’ Guild is to preserve and advance the art of storytelling and to offer a forum for storytellers in the Tampa Bay area.

The Guild was founded in 1994 when Gladys Varga, Virginia Rivers and Virginia’s daughter, Kim Rivers, decided to share their skills and love of storytelling with others.

Today we welcome storytelling enthusiasts of all levels of interest and skill. We have members who are featured listeners, providing the Guild with a built-in audience, members who are just beginning their journey as storytellers and members who have developed local, regional and even national reputations for their storytelling performances.

Guild members have performed at area libraries; state, county and local festivals; The Children’s Museum of Tampa; First Night/St. Petersburg; hospitals, businesses, schools and many other venues. Not to be missed is the Guild’s annual production of TELLABRATION!™, a trademarked program of the National Storytelling Network presented every year, on or near the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

The Tampa Bay Storytellers’ Guild is an affiliate member of the National Storytelling Network and the Florida Storytelling Association.

The Guild helps support the Pinellas and Tampa-Hillsborough County storytelling festivals, encouraging our area’s youth tellers.

Every year we award a scholarship to Florida StoryFest (formerly StoryCamp), sponsored by the Florida Storytelling Association. We also encourage attendance at the National Storytelling Conference and the National Storytelling Festival.

The Guild meets on the third Sunday of most months for a Story Swap or workshop. It’s a good idea to call our Guild Presidentbefore any meeting you plan to attend to confirm what’s happening and where.