Julie Perrin is an oral storyteller and writer who has a background in arts education. She established Tellingwords in 2007.
Telling
Julie has told stories at major festivals including Melbourne Writers Festival and in diverse educational settings. In 2011 Julie was winner of the Port Fairy Folk Festival Pat Glover Memorial Storytelling Award. Following 30 years of storytelling experience[See archived site Storytelling Performances] Julie is now offering storytelling retreatsfor spacious listening and time to reflect. Julie is often at TenX9 Melbourne – where 9 storytellers have 10 minutes to tell a real story from their lives.
Writing
Julie’s creative non-fiction stories appear in Eureka Street, The Big Issue and Dumbo Feather. A regular contributor to faith in the Sunday Age, her stories are found in the collection Spinifex Blessing
Here are some tasters.
You’ll also find Julie’s stories in books by Visible Ink, Poetica Christi, Wild Goose and Woodlake Books. Melbourne Books published ‘The Lost Dog’s Home’ in a collection of award-winning verse and stories in 2013. In 2014 Julie began a self-publishing venture of small ‘zine stylebooks. Oscar-the-ten-dollar-dog and Spinifex Blessing volumes 1 – 3.
Deep Stillness In 1995 Julie wrote a blessing using images from the Australian landscape. A South Australian songwriter, Robin Mann, set them to music. Deep Stillness has been published multiple times and sung around Australia and overseas. This 2018 recording was made in Melbourne arranged by Sue Westhorp, performed in worship at St Paul’s Lutheran Church, Box Hill.
Julie was runner up for the Victorian Writers Centre Grace Marion Wilson Emerging Writer’s prize for non-fiction in 2015 for ‘The lore of candle care’. Julie is a graduate of Professional Writing and Editing at RMIT.
Julie’s blog periodically reflects on writing practice.
Teaching
Julie has taught drama and English in primary and secondary schools and oral storytelling as a visiting lecturer in education faculties. She now teaches The Art and Practice of Oral Storytelling at Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity in Melbourne.
Her M.Ed thesis ‘The Tale of One Teller’ was runner up for the Freda Cohen prize at Melbourne University in 1994.
Julie worked as Children’s and Family Coordinator at Brunswick Uniting Church from 2012 -2016, combining oral storytelling skills with engaging curiosity and embracing questions and doubt as a vital part of faith development.
Between 2006 – 2012 Julie was a storyteller-in-residence for many schools in the north-west of Melbourne where she taught children to tell stories to their peers. Prior to this Julie worked in a pastoral care role at a state high school which she describes as her ‘seven years of story-listening.’ Julie’s work has been funded by Philanthropic organisations and government programs.