I am Graciela Joaquin, “La Juje”, lawyer and storyteller from the province of Jujuy in Argentina. I learned storytelling from my father, who would always tell me stories of his life in his native language, Arabic. I perform at schools, libraries, museums, elderly homes, and on the radio, and have presented the books of several authors. I’ve been invited to tell at festivals in Spain, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina.
I’ve been part of the storytelling collective “Boca Florida” since 2008, as well as a female storytellers group “9 Mujeres”. I am a volunteer storyteller since 2015 at a hospital in Buenos Aires. Because of the lockdown it has been hard to continue our work, of course, but the words are always ready to tell stories.
Now during the Covid-19 Pandemic I tell my stories on audio and video to quarantined school-children around the world. We storytellers are not used to working without an audience. We feed off of eye contact and connection, and I’d never done a livestream before. But the messages I’ve received have been very beautiful, and I’ve felt a togetherness despite the distance.
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GRACIELA VERÓNICA
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