Books & Brews Podcast #1: Guest Author Loren Niemi

This month Michael and Laura spoke with Loren Niemi. Loren is a storyteller with 40 years of creating, performing and teaching stories that matter. His work has been called "post-modern," pushing the boundaries of narrative form "with a dark beauty of language that is not ashamed of poetry." Loren is also an author. His books include the award winning The New Book of Plots, an examination of oral and written narratives, and the critically acclaimed Inviting the Wolf In: Thinking About Difficult Stories, which he co-authored with Elizabeth Ellis. In 2016 he received the National Storytelling Network's Lifetime Achievement Award. His collection of original and collected ghost stories What Haunts Us came out in February 2019. www.lorenniemistories.com  Loren's stories: Remodeling the Kitchen – 10:59 Barbecue Bus – 26:53 The Hungry Carpet– 47:23  Michael's beer pairings: Oh Fudge!, Prairie Artisan Ales – 9:02 Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen, Brauerei Heller-Trum – 24:14 Kriek Boon, Brouwerij Boon – 44:45  Interview highlights: The impact of growing up moving on storytellers – 15:54 Becoming a storyteller – 17:33 ..on the Great Wall of China – 21:05 Why we tell stories – 22:55 Why we're drawn to ghost stories and other dark tales – 36:53 Telling stories vs. writing stories – 51:00  Our theme music is from www.bensound.com. Don't forget to subscribe!