Biography 0f the Performer

Kimberly Darata

Boulder City, NV
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION

I was born in Buffalo, NY but have lived in Southern Nevada for most of my life and will be moving to Rapid City, South Dakota next year. I'm currently a school librarian at Hyde Park Middle School Academy of Mathematics and Science. I have a teenage daughter and we share our home with a very lovable and beloved dachshund. Next year it will no longer be "just the girls" at our house, when I marry my fiance, who is also a school teacher.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

M.S. Candidate School of Library and Information Science
Candidate Graduate Academic Certificate in Youth Services in Libraries
Candidate Graduate Academic Certificate in Storytelling
University of North Texas, Denton, Texas
Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences

M.Ed. Curriculum and Instruction
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
College of Education

B.A. Criminal Justice
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
College of Liberal Arts

STORYTELLING INTERESTS

I became involved in storytelling after my school district starting holding an annual storytelling festival known as the Bristlecone Storytelling Festival. For four years now I have held a storytelling club at my school, teaching students the art of storytelling. We host a school-wide festival each year and we send students to the Bristlecone Storytelling Festival as well.

When I discovered the University of North Texas School of Library and Information Science offered a Graduate Academic Certificate in storytelling, that was just one more reason I knew it was the program for me. Making the transition from teaching storytelling to becoming a storyteller myself has been a great pleasure. I enjoy reading, listening to, and telling personal stories, stories with strong characters, and inspirational stories with great endings. I also enjoy fun and humorous stories as well as stories with a twist in the plot.

MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

The most important thing to me is family and friends. I spend as much time as I can with them. Also, in my rare and relished free time I like to travel, read, cook, scrapbook, hike, run, and garden.