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      • Figler, My Imaginary Friend
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      • Stories Live! DVD
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      • Simple, Not Easy
      • Cubs Fans' Leadership Secrets
      • Listen to Your Work
      • The World Bank Unveiled
      • Kingdom at Any Cost
      • Thought for the Day
      • Once You Get Through the Mountains, the Land Opens Up
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An instant classic from a man equally at home as a man of the earth and a man of the arts.
“Michael Cotter's stories ring with universal truths and values common to every society, whether agrarian like his own, or urban.  His settings celebrate the farming life, and his themes touch every heart.  Only a generous spirit could have written these affecting stories, penned by one of the most gracious people I've had the honor to know.”         
    —Jimmy Neil Smith, Founder of the National Storytelling Festival  (USA)

“So genuinely real are Michael Cotter's stories that they make me miss people I never knew and the farm where I never grew up!  This book is a wonderful form of magical transportation!”
    —Donald Davis, storyteller, author, and teaching artist, Ocracoke,  N.C.

“Though the language is plain and silence fills spaces between people in his stories, Michael's awareness is breath-taking.  He honors those who find meaning in labor, honor in duty, consolation in loss, and beauty in tenderness. His stories reveal that connections we long for are there to shatter our solitude and isolation, to strengthen community, to teach us how to live in the healing power of stories.”
    —Carol Birch, Circle of Excellence storyteller, author, recording artist, Southbury CT

 “Michael Cotter's stories have the unmistakable beauty of observation that arises from an honest, hardworking person who sees perhaps more clearly than most, and who tells the truth he sees.  They remind us that our stories are the only real thing in the world.  I am a city girl but in each of these farm stories, I found a piece of myself.”    
    —Joyce Slater, Artistic Director, Kansas City Storytelling Celebration

“Michael Cotter’s voice is wise and real.  In this book, he reflects upon what is truly important in his life, and in ours.”
    —Ben Rosenfield, PhD, storyteller, retired school principal, and past president, Northlands Storytelling Network
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Hardcover • $28.00 • 978-1-62491-060-9
Trade Paperback • $18.00 • 978-1-62491-042-5
240 Pages @ 5.5” x  8.5”
Ebook • $12.50 • 978-1-62491-043-2
Buy This Book
"I was born on a farm in the Depression. A strong work ethic and responsibility were always a part of my life.The dinner table of my youth often contained a mixture of hoboes who worked on the farm and became part of our family, the neighbors on the threshing crew, teachers, missionaries, doctors, Catholic nuns and priests in my mother’s family - all stopping on the farm for dinner and trying to connect with their stories.

Forty years later, when I became a storyteller, I found myself revisiting these early experiences of people who didn’t match at all, finding common ground in their life stories. Because this was the only type of storytelling that I knew, I began telling stories from my life. I learned that as I told these memories, I would look at them in a new way. In the feedback from the audience and the other tellers, I began to see the healing power of sharing those personal stories.

This came into focus in 1990 when I was invited to conduct a workshop with terminally ill people where I learned that we can be healed without being cured. This brought me to the place where I am now, where I believe that the personal story has a great self-healing potential. And, of course, as we heal ourselves, the people around us are also changed."
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Michael Cotter (1931-2017)
More about Michael Cotter
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  • Home
  • Submission Guidelines
  • Books
    • Storytelling >
      • Rafts, Raccoons, and Revelations
      • Social Action Stories
      • Beyond Brick and Bone
      • Stories of a Forest Ranger
      • Read and Tell Stories
      • The House at the Top of the Bottoms
      • How the Rabbit Lost its Tail
      • Speak Peace
      • Storytwisting
      • Under the Oaken Bough
      • The Radical Act of Storytelling
      • Dancing on Blades
      • Further Adventures of the Boo Baby Girl
      • Aunty Lily
      • Telling Twain
      • Distilling Hope book
      • Beyond the Sword Maiden
      • Every Day a Holiday
      • From Plot to Narrative
      • A Bridge of Stories
      • A New Pair of Wings
      • Trail Guide to a Crooked Heart
      • Hot Wind, Boiling Rain
      • Beyond the Briar Patch
      • The Price of Three Stories
      • How to Fool a Cat
      • Boo-Tickle Tales
      • You're On!
      • Story by Story
      • Playing with Stories
      • Eye to the Sky
      • Storytelling Tips
      • The Killdeer
      • Barrio Princess
      • Gratitude
      • Belfast Girl
      • Social Studies in the Storytelling Classroom
      • The New Book of Plots
      • Dancing at the Crossroads
      • Old China Through the Eyes of a Storyteller
      • Figler, My Imaginary Friend
      • The Boo Baby Girl
      • The Blow Dried Cat
      • Figler, My Imaginary Friend
      • Cripple Joe book
      • The Stable Boy
      • Stories Live! DVD
    • Novels >
      • Pressing Freedom novel
      • Euphrates Dance novel
      • Hitler, My Father
      • Living in Harmony
      • Little Man
      • French Roots
      • Sweet Hope fiction
      • The Boys from Possum Grape
      • Less Than Charming
      • Bud Parrott
      • President Trump Sells California
      • Comfort
      • Miss Carrie
      • The Thirty-Foot Elvis
      • Madge's Mobile Home Park
      • Jesse Crosse
      • Strange Side of the Tracks
    • Memoirs >
      • Brother Dog
      • Aunty Lily
      • Every Day a Holiday
      • The Killdeer
      • Eye to the Sky
      • Barrio Princess
      • Belfast Girl
      • Born to Fish, Bred to Hunt
      • Speed Trap
    • Art/Poetry >
      • A Visual Guide to Classical Art Theory
      • The Stone Circle Poems
      • The Last Pickled Beets
      • oh, touch me there
      • We Who Battle Demons
      • Bicycle Cowboy
      • The Aesthetic Astronaut
    • Psychology >
      • In Sheep's Clothing--Spanish Edition
      • In Sheep's Clothing
      • The Science of Shame
      • Character Disturbance
      • Dancing at the Crossroads
      • Distilling Hope
      • We Who Battle Demons
      • Gratitude
      • The Heart of the Wedding
      • Educating Angels
    • Non Fiction >
      • Point of View and the Emotional Arc of Stories
      • Go Deep
      • The Vital Realities for 2020 and Beyond
      • The Road to Marion Town
      • Social Studies in the Storytelling Classroom
      • Educating Angels
      • Speed Trap
      • Trails of Central Arkansas
      • Trails of Little Rock
      • Betting the Earth
      • The Chicken Came First
      • Mr. Chairman: The Life and Legacy of Wilbur D. Mills
      • Simple, Not Easy
      • Cubs Fans' Leadership Secrets
      • Listen to Your Work
      • The World Bank Unveiled
      • Kingdom at Any Cost
      • Thought for the Day
      • Once You Get Through the Mountains, the Land Opens Up
  • Contact