However, thanks to the rise of special-interest groups that have sprung up across the nation, storytelling is reviving. And the Sunnyvale Library is helping that revival along.

On March 20, the library hosts its 15th annual Storytelling Festival, open to both amateur and professional storytellers, who will narrate stories in 10-minute time slots to an audience of all ages. Stories shared at the previous festivals have run the gamut from cultural folktales to yarns of fantasy and humor and even original narratives.

The library staff expected an overwhelming response because of the large community of storytellers in the Bay Area. And all 20 slots were filled three weeks before the event.

According to librarian Betsy Wachter, a 29-year veteran at the library, storytellers will travel all the way from Santa Cruz, Marin County and the East and South Bay, and approximately 10 percent of them are professional.

In addition to local fliers and the library network, the event was publicized in Storyline, a quarterly newsletter produced by the Storytelling Association of Alta, Calif. This association hosts the largest storytelling festival in Northern California—the Bay Area Storytelling Festival, which will take place this year on May 22 and 23 in San Francisco.

Sunnyvale librarians Susan Denniston, Edith Drewek and Wachter will each tell stories at the festival. Denniston, who was instrumental in initiating the library's first festival in 1990, says storytelling came along before reading and writing and therefore there are endless tales that have been passed down.

In fact, today's storytellers go to great lengths to collect books of tales, many of which the library has in its circulation.

Laurie Pines, an amateur storyteller who will perform at the festival, owns 300 books. She believes storytelling sparks the imagination and allows the teller to bring all the characters to life. "There is a big difference between telling and reading a story...when you tell a story, you actually get to be every character." Pines plans to tell the story "Garden of Talking Flowers," from a book called My Grandmother's Stories.

In addition to being actively involved with the storytelling community, including serving on the board of the storytelling association, Pines pursues a full-time career as a math teacher at Cupertino High School and says that she successfully incorporates storytelling while teaching her students. "Storytelling makes a difference to people's lives, and that's what I like to do," Pines says.

The Storytelling Festival runs from 1 to 4 p.m. March 20. The library is located at1500 Partridge Ave. For more information, call 408.730.4292.