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Your Brand + Our Legacy= One Powerful Partnership.

Join us in preserving, promoting, and celebrating the rich tradition of Black storytelling.

As a sponsor, your organization will help support cultural preservation, youth programming, educational initiatives, and one of the nation's premier gatherings of storytellers, educators, artists, and community leaders.

We offer a variety of sponsorship opportunities designed to provide meaningful visibility while demonstrating your commitment to the arts, education, and community engagement.

We invite you to partner with us as we continue the tradition of sharing stories that educate, inspire, and connect generations.

CLICK HERE TO BE A SPONSOR

2026 JOURNAL ADS AND SPONSORSHIP AVAILABILITY

In the Tradition… Annual National Black Storytelling Festival and Conference is held in the fall of each year. In 2026 the Festival will be in its 44th year. The event includes performances, workshops, ceremonies, and awards from Thursday to Sunday. The event presents the creative work of 8 featured tellers, 6 special presenters, 6 Black Appalachian Storyteller Fellows, and 12 workshop presenters. Previous workshop titles have included Way Beyond Wikipedia: Crafting Folklife into Historical Tales, Aesop Remix: How to Craft Old School Fables into New School Tales, Steps to Self-Publishing and Stories in Verse: Crafting Poetic Tales. Click —> 2025 Souvenir Journal

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Affiliate members participate in Village Telling, and story swaps are for all festival attendees. Award Ceremonies include The Zora Neale Hurston Award, Circle of Elders Award, the Linda Jenkins Brown Nia Service Award, and the Baba Jamal Koram Youth Award. During the Festival, The Adopt-A-Teller Program (AATP), a week-long community initiative, hosts up to 40 services engaging up to 25 vetted roster artists. A free public community concert is presented, and other venues include schools, libraries, senior centers, museums, juvenile justice centers, community centers, and churches. AATP audiences average between 3500 and 4000 community members experiencing the creative artistry of the AATP Tellers each year. Other Ongoing Activities Supporting Creative Writers and their Work.