The Tryon Downtown Development Association will bring the Unchained Tour to Sunnydale in downtown Tryon on Sunday, Sept. 16 at 2 p.m.
The Unchained Tour will arrive in its ’72 Bluebird school bus with four world-celebrated raconteurs, one stop on a tour in which the group will perform shows in 11 locations in Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina. The tour’s mission will be to celebrate independent bookstores and to spread the message that storytelling should be the heart, the vital center, of every community.
Confirmed storytellers will include:
• Neil Gaiman, an English author of four novels, including “Coraline,” and the recipient of a Newbery Medal and a Carnegie Medal in Literature, among other prizes
• Edgar Oliver, Savannah-born playwright and raconteur star of the Edinburgh Festival
• Peter Aguero, a multitalented artist currently hosting “The Moth” and leading NYC’s improvised storytelling rock band, The BTK Band.
In addition to Tryon, other locations on the 2012 Heart-Shaped Tour, named for its heart-shaped route, include Columbia, S.C.; Spartanburg, S.C.; Asheville, N.C.; Johnson City, Tenn.; Boone, N.C.; Charlotte, N.C.; Winston-Salem, N.C.; Chapel Hill, N.C.; Charleston, S.C. and Savannah, Ga.
Performers and crew will journey on an old Blue Bird school bus that has been painted with scenes and quotes from the 2010 stories.
The Unchained Tour is the brainchild of novelist George Dawes Green. In 1997, Mr. Green founded the Moth, a series of storytelling nights in New York City. The Moth has featured such celebrated raconteurs as Salman Rushdie, Garrison Keillor, Malcolm Gladwell and Sam Shepherd. There are now regular Moths in Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta and Boston, with plans to expand to four new cities this year, including Berlin, Germany and Savannah.
The new “Moth on the Radio” program on NPR reaches more than 200 radio stations and is the recipient of a 2010 Peabody Award. The Unchained Tour is inspired by the Moth but not affiliated with the program other than by the shared founder and celebration of storytelling.
Tickets are available at the following locations:
• The Book Shelf, 94 N. Trade St., Tryon
• The Village Book Shoppe, 16 Maple St., Tryon
• Owens Pharmacy, 38 N. Trade St., Tryon
• Vines & Stuff, 112 N. Trade St., Tryon
• Kathleen’s, 66 E. Main St., Saluda.
For more information on the Unchained Tour, visit www.theunchainedtour.org or contact Linda Byington at linda.byington188@gmail.com.
– article submitted
by Linda Byington