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Courtesy of Sarah Truckey
“There is a cognitive condition called ‘Story hypnosis’ that occurs when people are caught in the vortex of a story. Time and space is suspended, the eyes widen, the bottom jaw drops, and the magic begins. That is the supreme power of imagination at work.” –Bobby Norfolk
In 1994, I was chosen to represent my elementary school at a young author’s conference somewhere in southwestern Illinois. I sat in too-small chairs at a large round table with other aspiring 10-year-old writers learning more about the craft and sharing our “work” before heading to the auditorium where storyteller Bobby Norfolk would perform. Just as I am now, I wasn’t much then one for live performances, but I remember his energy, his word-choice, and his all-around stage presence pulling me in to that so-called “story hypnosis.” The way he moved and spoke and affected even the skeptics was a special gift, and is one that—22 years later—he still possesses.
When many of us think of “storytelling,” we think of NPR’s This American Life, The Moth Radio Hour, or NPR’s StoryCorps where everyday people broadcast their personal stories to thousands, if not millions, of listeners around the world. Their bare-all accounts leave them vulnerable to strangers as they tell stories that deal with tragedy, comedy, injustice, romance, or mystery. Norfolk says the “art form is constantly reinventing itself.”
“To be clear, we may all be ‘storytellers,’ but it’s an art form that needs to be mastered just like theater, dance, music, and visual art.”
And mastered it he has, with nearly 40 years of success and three Emmys as proof. After growing up in North City, graduating from Sumner High School and then UMSL, Norfolk began his career working at the Arch as a National Parks Service Ranger in 1976 while doing nights at clubs and at The Black Rep. It was as early as 1979 that he first appeared at the St. Louis Storytelling Festival, where he combined his stand-up and acting careers to become a “story-performer.” He then found his way onto CBS in 1988 doing an educational/entertainment show called Gator Tales (where he won those Emmys) and the Emmy-nominated Children’s Theater at Bobby’s House.
Since then, he’s produced over 10 CDs, 8 children’s books, and has been the recipient of the Parent’s Choice Gold Award. Norfolk now travels the world to speak at schools, festivals, workshops, keynotes and more, bringing with him his passion for history, love of literacy, and talent for the spoken word through characters, songs, anecdotes, and tales.
But between those gigs, he’s spent the last seven years working on his memoir—Eye to the Sky: Storytelling on the Edge of Magic—in which he recounts his personal journey from overcoming a debilitating stutter in 4th grade (thanks to a poetry recital) to doing stand-up in East St. Louis clubs to traveling the globe as a featured artist.
“My publisher said the spoken word does not always translate into print, so…I had to activate memory to see, hear, taste, touch and smell the original stories of my life,” says Norfolk. “Once that was done then I was to take those sensory experiences and write about what was coming into my consciousness.”
While he says translating his tale “from the stage to the page” proved to be challenging, he does a fine job of creatively taking readers through the backstory of one of our generation’s most talented and beloved storytellers with glimpses of his signature rhythmic language and onomatopoeias. He also just got word that his publisher, Ted Parkhurst of Parkhurst Brothers, plans to nominate the book for a Pulitzer Prize.
Although in his mid-60s, Norfolk has no plans for slowing down, he says, relying on the belief that everyone has a “brain hard-wired for story” and possesses an inherent desire to share with others and be shared with.
The fact that I still have the headshot Norfolk autographed for me over 20 years ago is no coincidence. He caught me at the right time in childhood when I was malleable and eager to learn. And I’m sure he’d be pleased to hear he’s one of the reasons why I’m still a writer, believing wholeheartedly in one of his most poetic quotes:
“I did not discover storytelling; it discovered me.”
