Donald Davis (born 1944) is an American storyteller, author and minister. Davis had a twenty-year career as a minister before he became a professional storyteller. He has recorded over 25 storytelling albums and written several books. His long career as a teller and his promotion of the cultural importance of storytelling through seminars and master classes has led to Davis being dubbed the "dean of storytelling".[1]
Background
Donald Davis was born in Waynesville, North Carolina, a small town in the mountainous region of Western North Carolina. As a child, storytelling was a daily part of his family life. "My grandmother did lots of telling," Davis recalled to the Winston-Salem Journal. "I remember hearing those stories, and I remember by the time I was in the second grade telling other kids in school stories I'd heard my grandmother tell."[citation needed]
Davis received the Circle of Excellence award in 1996 from the National Storytelling Network after being recognized by his peers as a master storyteller.[citation needed] He is the former Chair of the Board of Directors for the National Storytelling Association and has been a featured teller at the Smithsonian Institution and the World’s Fair.[4]
Davis is a strong advocate of storytelling, not just the profession, but also storytelling in everyday life. He feels that we connect with one another through the stories that we tell each other across the family dinner table or at a bar after work.[4][6] He believes that stories are really about identity, about who we are, and that technology may be all about moving information but it is in our stories that wisdom is passed down.[4]
Davis has recorded more than two dozen storytelling albums during approximately two decades. He considers himself to be primarily a storyteller, but Davis is also an author. While the majority of his books are based on his recorded stories, he has also written a novel, a memoir and two educational books about storytelling and language.[citation needed]
