Xelena González
Tradition: Native American Storytelling
Xelena has dedicated her life to sharing, preserving, and crafting stories as an award-winning essayist, screenwriter, poet, and author of picture books. She grounds her work in the traditional knowledge and techniques she experienced and learned growing up while simultaneously expanding her approach to craft, story development, and audience engagement. Xelena is particularly interested in developing practices that heighten the storytelling experience. Incorporating components of movement and music into her presentation, Xelena invites her listeners not only to listen but actively engage in and embody the storytelling. “When [listeners] are able to inhabit a story,” Xelena says, “they not only remember it, but they are able to more readily receive its healing properties, the way one would when ingesting a remedy.”