The Present:
in Activism
Sharon Holley
Sharon J. Holley is a storyteller and retired librarian in Buffalo, NY, who hails from High Springs, FL. She is a founding member of Spin-a-Story Tellers of WNY and a Co=Founder of Tradition Keepers: Black Storytellers of WNY.
She is also a life-member of the National Association of Black Storytellers, Inc., where she received the Zore Neale Hurston Award, the Association’s highest award given for excellence in storytelling. She occasionally performs with Karima Amin as “We All Storytellers”.
Ms. Holley’s storytelling experience has taken her throughout Western New York and in many other areas of the country, where she has performed at libraries, schools, community events, and other venues. Publications include “African American History Rap” anthologized in “Talk that Talk: An Anthology of African American Storytelling” by Linda Goss and Marian Barnes (Simon and Schuster, 1989) and in “The African American Book of Values” edited by Steven Barboa (Doubleday, 1998).
Her retelling of “Stagecoach Mary” is included in “Many Voices: True Tales from America’s Past” by the National Storytelling Association (National Storytelling Press, 1995). Her chant “S-T-O-R-Y” and traditional telling of the story “Why Lizards DON’T Hop” are anthologized in “Sayin’ Somethin’: Stories from the National Association of Black Storytellers” edited by Linda Goss, Dylan Prtichett, and Caroliese Frink Reed (NABS, 2006).
In addition to her storytelling performances, Ms. Holley presents workshops on Kwanzaa, Family Storytelling, African American History, and African American Literature. She serves on the Board of the Afro-American Historical Association of the Niagara Frontier and the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor.
She is the Board President for the Michigan Street Preservation Corporation that operates the Nash House Museum. Ms. Holley is an officer with the Black Genealogy Society of the African Diaspora and a member of the Daughters of Creative Sound, an African American women’s drum and percussion group. She participates in and contributes to numerous professional and community organizations.
Ms. Holley is married to Kenneth Holley. Together, they are owners of Zawadi Books, a bookstore specializing I books and materials about people of African descent. They are the proud parents of three daughters and seven grandchildren.
