Aaron began telling stories in 1985, and professionally in 1987. During that time, he also led storytelling workshops for students and teachers and co‑founded the Humboldt Storytellers (in Humboldt County, California). In 1990, he set aside traditional storytelling to become a full‑time children’s author—but his dramatic readings during author appearances still borrow heavily from his storyteller technique.
Aaron has also drawn on his storyteller background for the folktale retellings that make up the bulk of his early work—and in fact, some of these tales were developed in performance during his storytelling years. For this reason, Aaron’s stories have come to be recognized as eminently tellable. His books have won awards from both the American Folklore Society and Storytelling World.
From 1995 to 1996, Aaron shared his tales with storytellers on the Internet through his acclaimed series Gifts of Story. Run as an email service, Gifts of Story garnered close to a thousand subscribers before finding its home on the World Wide Web in 1996.
Aaron now lives in Friday Harbor, Washington. On the Web, you can find him at www.aaronshep.com.
Sept. 29, 2004