Pleasant DeSpain

Pleasant DeSpain (born in 1943) is an international storyteller, world traveler, and author of multicultural story collections and picture books, many of which are used in elementary schools and libraries as multicultural teaching aids. He has performed in more than 3,000 schools, theaters, conventions, libraries, and churches in America, Canada, Mexico, Thailand, Southeast Asia, and Central America.

DeSpain has also been a featured storyteller at festivals across the US, including the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee, Tucson's Tales of Arizona Festival, and Louisville's Corn Island Storytelling Festival where he performed for 16,000 people. which would later become the International Storytelling Center), refers to DeSpain as “a pioneer of the American renaissance in storytelling.”

After visiting 36 countries, DeSpain chose Thailand – "the land of smiles" – as his home base in 2017.

Early life DeSpain was born in Denver, Colorado, the second son of Robert Alan and Eleanor Jane DeSpain. Early in his childhood, he learned to read and fell in love with books. "I wrote my first story in third grade. It was called 'The Mystery Artist.' I got in trouble because it was getting passed around the classroom... The teacher said, 'The story is good, but your spelling is terrible.'".

Education and teaching

In 1961–1963 DeSpain attended Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado. In 1965 he graduated from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Public Speaking, continued his studies there, and earned a master's degree in Rhetoric and Public Address and the Oral Interpretation of Literature in 1966. DeSpain wrote, produced, and hosted the show for five years until 1980.

During his storytelling career, DeSpain has traveled and performed them along the way for audiences.

Audiences are an essential component in his art, and DeSpain says, “Three elements – story, listener, teller – must come together as one during the experience.”

Works

Folklore collections Pleasant Journeys, Twenty-Two Tales from Around the World, Vols. 1 & 2 (illus. Kirk Lytle) 1979. Thirty-Three Multicultural Tales to Tell (illus. Joe Shlichta) 1993. Twenty-Two Splendid Tales to Tell from Around the World, Vols. 1 & 2, (illus. Kirk Lytle) 1994,. Eleven Turtle Tales, (illus. Joe Shlichta) 1995. . Eleven Nature Tales, (illus. Joe Shlichta) 1996. Sweet Land of Story, Thirty-Six American Tales to Tell, (illus. Don Bell) 1998. The Emerald Lizard, Fifteen Latin American Tales to Tell, in English & Spanish, translated by Mario Lamo-Jimenez. (illus. Don Bell) 1999. The Books of Nine Lives Series, (illus. Don Bell) 2005. Tales of Tricksters, Vol. 1. Tales of Heroes, Vol. 2. Tales of Wisdom and Justice, Vol. 3. Tales of Nonsense and Tomfoolery, Vol. 4, Tales of Holidays, Vol. 5. Tales of Insects, Vol. 6. Tales of Enchantment, Vol. 7. Tales to Frighten and Delight, Vol. 8, Tales of Cats, Vol. 9,

Picture books The Mystery Artist, (illus. Mel Crawford) 1996. Strongheart Jack and the Beanstalk, (illus. Joe Shlichta) 1997. The Dancing Turtle, a Tale from Brazil, (illus. David Boston) 2005. The Magic Pot, a Tale from China, (illus. Tom Wrenn) 2007.

Book awards

The Dancing Turtle

Bank Street College: Best Children's Books of the Year, 2005. Selected Outstanding by the Parent Council, 2005. Selected for the Elementary School Library Collection, 2005.

Eleven Nature Tales

PLA/ALLS Best New Books for New Adult Readers, 1996. Selected for the Elementary School Library Collection, 1996.

Eleven Turtle Tales

Selected as Outstanding by the Parent Council, 1995.

The Emerald Lizard

NCSS/CBC: Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, 1999. Bank Street College: Best Children's Book of the Year, 1999. Selected for the Elementary School Library Collection, 1999. Parent’s Guide to Children’s Media: Young Adult's Choice Award, 1999.

Strongheart Jack and the Beanstalk

Selected for The Elementary School Library Collection, 1997.

Sweet Land of Story

NCSS/CBC: Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, 1998.

Printed Resources “Grabbing Life by the Tale: Troy’s Pleasant DeSpain has made a career telling stories” Published in the Times Union newspaper, Sunday, August 31, 2003. Included in Artists & Activists, Making Culture in New York’s Capital Region, by Joseph Dalton, TBM Books, Troy, NY, 2008. The Storyteller’s Journey: An American Revival, by Joseph Daniel Sobol. University of Illinois Press, 1999. (Acknowledgements). "Godfather Death, A Russian Tale," The Seattle Times, December 8, 1979. "Old One-eye, a folktale," The Seattle Times, May 31, 1980.