2026 Tellers – Sierra Storytelling Festival

Sierra Storytelling Festival is excited to announce the 39th annual Teller line up!

On Friday and Saturday, June 26 & 27, 2026

Kevin Kling

Kevin Kling hails from Minneapolis, Minnesota and has performed his stories in libraries, school gymnasiums, The Kennedy Center, Off-Broadway, regional theaters and storytelling festivals around the US. Minneapolis’ Story Laureate since 2014, Kevin has been a frequent featured teller at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborogh, TN. His most recent show, “Kevin Kling: Unraveled” premiered at the 2025 Contemporary American Theater Festival. Kevin’s international tours have included Australia, Europe and Thailand. He has authored five books and produced 9 CDs.

Kim Weitkamp

Kim grew up in Amish Country as the middle child of exhausted parents. Labeled by teachers as
high-spirited and too talkative, Kim took those comments and channeled them into a lifetime of
high-energy, heartfelt and hilarious artistry and we are better for it.
Kim performs full time at festivals and theaters around the country, has written an award-
winning folk operetta and has been a guest editor and contributor for various publications. She
was awarded the 2024 Ohio for the Arts Grant as an artist mentor, was nominated for the Blue
Ridge Excellence for the Arts award, and awarded the prestigious Leadership in Communication
Award by Toastmasters in Washington, D.C. Add to that an armload of awards for her story and
song albums.
She has 10 award-winning albums and has executive produced and/or designed 32 albums for
other spoken word artists. Kim has hosted an Dove award-winning morning show for a tri-state
radio network.
She has been honored with leadership and speaking awards for her coaching/speaking work with
internationally known companies like Purina, Liebherr, Grifols, and Edward Jones as well as
nationally recognized non-profits like, Feeding America, Habitat for Humanity and Conflict
Resolution Centers. She is ranked as one of the top 20 coaches in the Columbus, Ohio region by
Influence Digest, teaching the power of story to help grow organizations and build teams.

Michael D. McCarty

Michael D. McCarty has worked in California prisons as part of the Arts In Corrections program teaching inmates how to find, develop and tell their stories. His life has been one heaven of a story: student activist, Black Panther, U.S. Army soldier, martial arts instructor, acupuncturist, storyteller, husband, father, crazy friend. This internationally acclaimed storyteller presents African and African American as well as international folktales, historical tales, stories of science, spiritual stories as well as stories of the brilliant and absolutely absurd things he has done in his life.
Michael was born in 1950 in Chicago. As a young man, he attended St. Ignatius College Prep, where he started a Black Student Union and was subsequently expelled for his involvement in protests. In 1968, he joined the Black Panther Party as part of the education cadre. He left the party after the assassination of Fred Hampton. He joined the Army in 1972 to avoid being a target of the FBI. After leaving the military, he became an acupuncturist.
In 1992 he discovered the world of professional storytelling, and he has been telling stories and teaching storytelling around the country and around the world ever since.
He specializes in stories of African and African-American history and culture, as well as multicultural stories.
Since 2014 he has worked in California prisons as part of the Arts In Corrections program, teaching inmates to find, develop and tell their stories.
In 2019 McCarty was the subject of the award-winning film, “”The Story of Michael D. McCarty: A Belonging in the USA Documentary”” which shares the life journey of McCarty who even in the face of great obstacles spreads joy wherever he goes. The film follows Michael as he evolves from aspiring scientist to Black Panther Party member, from FBI target to soldier, from drug addict to health nut. The twists and turns of Michael’s life will fill you with hope, laughter and a living example of resilience.
His stories inform, educate, inspire, and amuse. He has provided 1000’s of library shows, elementary school assemblies and performances for theaters, museums and at festival across the United States, as well as South Africa, Zimbabwe, India, China, Jamaica, Russia, Egypt, England, Malaysia, Korea…and his travels have reaped a harvest of tales that testify to the unity within the diversity of the human spirit…He LOVES his job!

Yasu Ishida

Inspired by the movie “Patch Adams”, Yasu Isheda came to the United States to become a professional hospital clown. Earning a Master of Fine Arts in Theater for Young Audiences, he also graduated from the Chavez Studio of Magic, the world’s most prestigious magic school. Combining traditional theater, music, origami, magic, and stories; Yasu Ishida will guide you to the enchanting land of Japan and beautifully imbue the essence of traditional culture into his storytelling. Yasu has enthralled family audiences all over the United States, including performances at the
Disney Summer Stage Kids in New York, the Florida Storytelling Festival,
the Tryon Super Tuesday International Children Festival (NC), and the Touhill Performing Art Center (MO), and the National Cherry Blossom Festival (Washington D.C.),
He was nominated for the RAW Honolulu Performing Artist of the Year at the the Hawaii Music & Book Festival.
He won the 2024 Aurand Harris Fellowship from the Children Theater Foundation of America.

Amy Bluemel

As the great-granddaughter of Eastman Kaney (an original Dawes Commission enrollee), Amy Bluemel is a proud member of the Chickasaw Nation, an award-winning storyteller, artist, and a founding member of Hithla, a dance troupe practicing Southeastern traditional stomp dance. Amy performs in regalia and explains what she’s wearing and why. She shares some Chickasaw stories, language, history, and culture. Her appreciation for cultural awareness came at an early age. She was raised in a military family; she lived in Germany, Okinawa, Turkey, and Scotland before returning to her Chickasaw roots in America.
Amy is the 2023 recipient of the Coleen Salley Storytelling Award for her commitment to the art of storytelling, by The University of Southern Mississippi. Amy is honored to have been chosen as a resident Spring of 2025 at A Studio in the Woods, a program of Tulane University’s ByWater Institute, and one of the leading artistic and academic residency programs in the Gulf South region.
Amy is also an accomplished artist. Her artwork is sold at several museums and stores and sells her creations at powwows and festivals throughout the United States. She was also one of 36 Native American artists chosen to show and sell her art at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Native American Art Market in Washington DC 2019. See and inquire about her art on Instagram @chickasaw_artAmy lives in Austin Texas with her husband Carl, and a houseful of pets. She also has two daughters who have also taken to Chickasaw culture and stomp dance.

Roopa Mohan

Roopa Mohan is an eclectic storyteller with an ever-expanding repertoire that includes folktales, myths, original tall tales, historical portrayals & personal narratives that communicate her cultural experience. She volunteers as a storyteller and docent at the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco delighting school groups with her expressive storytelling. She is a Chautauqua Scholar who portrays Kasturba Gandhi, wife of the Mahatma Gandhi.
Roopa is a member of Asian American Storytellers in Action and has contributed to their YouTube channel, Asian American Storytopia. She is on the board of the Storytelling Association of California and leads a program to bring storytelling to underserved school students.
Roopa has told at many venues, including National Storytelling Network, Better Said Than Done, Six Feet Apart Productions, Good Liars Club libraries, schools and museums, both virtually and in person. She was a featured teller at the Women’s Storytelling Festival in 2024