Georgia Magazine - November 2021 - 38

Hometown HEROES
By Amber Lanier Nagle
Connecting with children
through storytelling
C
armen Agra Deedy launches into a story as
once-restless schoolchildren, seated cross-legged
on the floor, watch her every move and hang on her
every word.
" When I tell them stories, I often recall my own
childhood years, when stories were a source of relief, joy,
somber truth-and escape, " says Deedy, an awardwinning
author and storyteller. " I know the moment I step
in front of 200 children that I only have them for threequarters
of an hour. Some of them have easier lives than
others. But too many of them lead a frightful existence,
and going home often means battling real monsters. For
those children, all I can do is give them 45 minutes of
sanctuary-a place far away where the fight is fair, ogres
can be defeated and endings are as they should be:
happy. "
Deedy says connecting with children-especially
those living in difficult situations-is easy for her because
she can relate to them. Her family fled Cuban political
leader Fidel Castro's regime in 1964, when Deedy was just
3 years old. Dirt-poor with little understanding of English,
they settled in Decatur and started over from scratch.
Deedy was shy and dyslexic, and she struggled in school.
Still, she fell in love with books and developed a knack for
storytelling.
" My love of books is inexorably tied to an early love of
oral stories and the people who told them, " she notes. " In
my Cuban culture, within my family and among the
Southerners who were our friends and neighbors, story
was the colorful and spellbinding currency that best
conveyed any scrap of useful information. "
She's authored 13 books for children, with a 14th
( " Wombat Said Come In!, " Peachtree Publishing)
scheduled for release next year. She visits 75 to 100 schools
each year, inspiring thousands of children with her books
and stories. She also speaks at dozens of conferences,
universities, festivals and public events.
Deedy is a champion for children and a tireless
advocate for literacy and storytelling.
" Stories are what are most human about us, " she said
at a 2015 TEDx (technology, entertainment and design)
event in Charlottesville, N.C. " If the heirloom we pass
down to our children is a story, it is a mighty thing ... A
story is indestructible-almost. Its very existence relies on
one immutable necessity. A story must be told. "
Amber Lanier Nagle is an Adairsville-based freelance
writer.
38 Georgia Magazine November 2021
By the numbers
13 - Children's books she's published
4,160 - Schools she's visited
More than 3.5 million - Number
of school children she's met and inspired
1,602 - Events, conferences and
storytelling festivals she's attended
2 -
Number of times
she's fallen off a stool while storytelling
Learn more about Carmen Agra Deedy at
carmenagradeedy.com.
MICHAEL CASEY
http://www.carmenagradeedy.com
Georgia Magazine - November 2021

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