Water Stories
Featured Story Performance by Kao Kalia Yang
The Sandbar Storytelling Festival, in partnership with the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, opens its 2023 October weekend with Water Stories, featuring Twin Cities Hmong-American writer and storyteller, Kao Kalia Yang. Yang’s performance will kick off the festival at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12, at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum.
The event, which takes place in the Minnesota Marine Art Museum’s Gallery 5, will also include the introduction of the 2023 Sandbar Storytelling Festival storytellers. Be the first to meet and greet these internationally known artists who will perform on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 13-14, at Saint Mary’s University.
Tickets to Water Stories are $25 and include a traditional Hmong dessert following the performance. Tickets can be purchased starting Monday, Sept. 21, at sandbarstorytellingfestival.org as well as at the door, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
The Sandbar Storytelling Festival is sponsored by SEMAC whose activities are made possible by the voters of Minnesota through grants from the MN State Arts Board thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts & cultural heritage fund.
Kao Kalia Yang
Kao Kalia Yang is a Hmong-American writer. She is the author of the memoirs The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir, The Song Poet, and Somewhere in the Unknown World. Yang is also the author of the children’s books A Map Into the World, The Shared Room, The Most Beautiful Thing, and Yang Warriors. She co-edited the ground-breaking collection What God is Honored Here?: Writings on Miscarriage and Infant Loss By and For Native Women and Women of Color. Yang’s work has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Chautauqua Prize, the PEN USA literary awards, the Dayton’s Literary Peace Prize, as Notable Books by the American Library Association, Kirkus Best Books of the Year, the Heartland Bookseller’s Award, and garnered four Minnesota Book Awards. Kao Kalia Yang lives in Minnesota with her family, and teaches and speaks across the nation.
Sandbar Storytelling Festival
Sandbar Storytelling Festival, Winona, MN's newest festival, provides exciting performances and compelling chronicles amidst the breathtaking beauty of Bluff Country in autumn. In their second year, SSF continues to celebrate and preserve the power and pleasure of our varied cultural traditions and human experiences. With its mission of promoting the art of storytelling for all ages, next year’s event will again include masterfully crafted stories and performances by five renowned international storytellers.