KootenayStory.com - Storytelling

KOOTENAYSTORY.COM » STORYTELLING

susan circle pic w leo
Susan & Ktunaxa elder, Leo Williams
at the Proctor Storytelling Festival

Susan Hulland’s achievements as a storyteller and writer give her the skills to provide unique entertainment for your co-workers, guests, friends or family. Her specialties including integrating stories into guided walks to historic sites and telling tales around campfires. However, she is equally comfortable performing on stage in a formal indoor setting.

Susan’s storytelling experience includes four performances at the Kootenay Storytelling Festival in Procter, BC, near Nelson. Always popular with Kootenay audiences, she will be performing at this year's festival on July 8th & 9th.

For several years Susan has and worked as a guide-storyteller at the Tipi Camp on Kootenay Lake. She has guided and entertained several Elderhostel groups and charmed senior citizens and school children, alike, with stories such as ‘The Reckless Life of Henry Rose’ and ‘Tales From the Trapline’.

Susan’s repertoire of original stories are all authentic Kootenay history.

High Praise for Susan Hullands work as a Storyteller and Interpretive Guide!

"There's no doubt in my mind that Susan is one of the finest heritage storytellers in the Kootenays. Since performing at the Kootenay Storytelling Festival in 1999 and 2001, she has continued to hone the storytelling craft and impress audiences with her great knowledge and generous spirit."

-Rick Budd, Program Director (1999 - 2002), Kootenay Storytelling Festival, Procter, BC.

“Susan entertained fifty people at our 2002 Family Reunion and you could have heard a pine needle drop during her performance. When she speaks of people, places and times long past they seem to spring forth, alive, as she casts her powerful word spells upon young and old alike.”

-Ron Turner, Edmonton, Alberta

“We've hired Susan Hulland several times to entertain our Elderhostel and Murder Mystery guests with her stories from around Kootenay Lake. I've personally watched her breathe life into a pile of rotten boards by recounting the tale of a floating ‘cat house’ which one existed offshore from Pilot Bay. And I have seen her gasp for life after recounting the sinking of the S.S. City of Ainsworth and being poisoned as she got to the punch line. She gets total attention from her audience and has always received top marks and high praise in the Elderhostel course evaluation. She's also a fairly convincing murder victim, if the need should arise.”

-John Edwards, Wedgwood Manor, Crawford Bay, BC.

Available Stories

SHIPWRECK ON KOOTENAY LAKE

This story is taken from Susan’s book Shipwreck on Kootenay Lake, The Story of the S.S. city of Ainsworth. Hear the chilling sequence of events which lead up to an unbelievable, and perhaps avoidable, maritime disaster which claimed nine lives back in 1898.

THE RECKLESS LIFE OF HENRY ROSE

This story includes several rollicking vignettes from the life of the notorious Henry Rose, who was the last man to be hanged in the city of Nelson. From his shenanigans in the mining business to his success as the operator of a floating brothel, this half hour story demonstrates that Henry was a force to be reckoned with!

TALES FROM THE TRAPLINE

Hear true life stories about some of the tough and independent men who worked as trappers during the early days of Kootenay history. Learn about the challenges of their occupation and the many dangers which could turn an ordinary trip up the trapline into their last trip to anywhere.

DOROTHY’S STORMY LAKE
Original painting by Joyce Dobbs of Riondel

This story is based on the book, Dorothy’s Stormy Lake, written by Joan Wooliver, the daughter of Kootenay Lake pioneers Dorothy and Bobby Graham Brown. In 1930 the newly-wed Graham Browns settled in a remote place called Deanshaven located north of Kootenay Bay.

PILOT BAY LIGHTHOUSE & THE MARITIME HISTORY OF KOOTENAY LAKE

This half hour story is taken, in part, from Susan’s book ‘The History of Pilot Bay Lighthouse’. It chronicles the history of this rare heritage structure which still stands today near Kootenay Bay. This story includes dramatic episodes from the golden days of steamboating on Kootenay Lake and vignettes about some of the independent minded people who lived along its shores at a time when the lake was the region’s only transportation corridor.

THE FRUIT RANCHERS
This story coming soon...

In the early 1900s scores of settlers arrived in the Kootenays with plans to grow fruit and get rich. In many cases what they found was not what they had expected. In some cases what they found was not what they had been sold!

FUTURE STORIES …
Susan is always working on new material so there is a possibility that, given enough time, she could write something new, especially tailored to suit the interests of a group you have in mind.