Octavia Sexton

 - I am an Appalachian storyteller and tell stories that are authentic representations of the tradition in which I live.  I am a native of eastern Kentucky, and know life within Appalachia well.  I attended a one-room school through eighth grade - then was given the choice to continue school or get married. I went on to high school! Five months after graduating high school I was married, pregnant and working for minimum wage in a factory.  My husband drove 145 miles round trip to work in construction for low pay and no benefits.  We lived in a two-room house, hauled water from a spring and used an outhouse. We struggled in poverty.  It is like a great black hole that keeps sucking you in deeper - almost impossible to get out.   Hoping to break the grip of poverty for my family, I went to college full time.  We were so poor, the government gave me money to go to school!  I received a B.A. in history education and English from Berea College.  While in college the professors discovered I was a folk artist of the spoken word.  I did not know storytelling was an art until then.  I grew up with stories that had been passed to me through the generations.  Now I am a full time storyteller/educator.  I do storytelling performances, workshops, and use storytelling in educational residencies that includes historical writing, drama, environmental awareness, social change and more.