Ann’s stories can quietly rest in peoples’ hearts, inspire action, encourage involvement, or lead to deeper insight.
Ann’s Stories reflect a rich spectrum of emotion and experience. They are compelling to listen to, or to read. They are gently humourous and insightful. And they are reflective of the perspectives honed over a well-lived life. Some provoke laughter, others provoke tears. The unifying thread is her deft balance of warmth, insight, and poetic turn of phrase.
Ann’s story inspiration sources include:
- An early childhood spent in South Africa, and adult interaction with revered Zulu Sangoma, Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa
- Travels to 74 countries and a lifetime of spiritual quests
- Touring and performing experiences
- Healing Journey workshops in North America and Europe with people at the end-stages of life, and three decades of creating and delivering arts and consciousness workshops.
- Meaningful interactions with spiritual leaders, entertainment world luminaries, creative icons, and fascinating people and fellow travellers from all walks of life
A selection of Ann’s stories
Stepping Onstage
Stepping Onstage In junior high school I was in a quartet, harmonizing the songs of the day at school dances. I began to play the guitar at 14, when a friend gave me an old one that was no longer...
Music and Lyrics and Brel
A passion for writing songs and a great friendship was born when Valerie Hennell and I met. I was playing the lead in a university musical, and she and I began to write songs together. She wrote the...
Looking Back with Love
Looking Back with Love Valerie Hennel was my manager and dearest friend. We were two impassioned innocents without a clue as to what we were doing or where we were going. We wrote songs together,...
The Floating Stage
The Floating Stage One of the most memorable stages I performed on was a floating stage. At the Elora Arts Festival in Ontario the stage was on a raft which floated in a gorge. My band and I got to...
Laughter on Molokai
Laughter on Molokai One of my most unusual concert locations was the Kalaupapa Leper Colony on the island of Molokai in Hawaii. I spent four days there after being invited to do a concert, and loved...
A Voice in the Darkness
A Voice in the Darkness At the beginning of a week-long workshop I always ask the participants what brought them here. What was their desire, motive, hope, need, or intention in coming? In a singing...
From Tunisia to Kairos
From Tunisia to Kairos I had been travelling for over three years and didn’t know whether I would ever return to singing. Then, in the city of Tunis, where I was spending a few days, a remarkable...
Dining with the Queen
Dining with the QueenOn the day that I was dine with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, as the date of Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, I was in rehearsal for a play....