How to Tell a Story Audiobook By The Moth, Meg Bowles, Catherine Burns, Jenifer Hixson, Sarah Austin Jenness, Kate Tellers, Padma Lakshmi, Chenjerai Kumanyika cover art

How to Tell a Story

The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth

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How to Tell a Story

By: The Moth, Meg Bowles, Catherine Burns, Jenifer Hixson, Sarah Austin Jenness, Kate Tellers, Padma Lakshmi, Chenjerai Kumanyika
Narrated by: Meg Bowles, Catherine Burns, Jenifer Hixson, Sarah Austin Jenness, Suzanne Rust, Chloe Salmon, Kate Tellers
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About this listen

2022 Porchlight Business Book Awards - Big Ideas and New Perspectives, Long-listed

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The definitive guide to telling an unforgettable story in any setting, drawing on twenty-five years of experience from the storytelling experts at The Moth

“From toasts to eulogies, from job interviews to social events, this book will help you with ideas, structure, delivery and more.”—CNN

LONGLISTED FOR THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD

Over the past twenty-five years, the directors of The Moth have worked with people from all walks of life—including astronauts, hairdressers, rock stars, a retired pickpocket, high school students, and Nobel Prize winners—to develop true personal stories that have moved and delighted live audiences and listeners of The Moth’s Peabody Award–winning radio hour and podcast. A leader in the modern storytelling movement, The Moth inspires thousands of people around the globe to share their stories each year.

Now, with How to Tell a Story, The Moth will help you learn how to uncover and craft your own unique stories, like Moth storytellers Mike Birbiglia, Rosanne Cash, Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Gilbert, Padma Lakshmi, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Tig Notaro, Boots Riley, Betty Reid Soskin, John Turturro, and more.

Whether your goal is to make it to the Moth stage, deliver the perfect wedding toast, wow clients at a business dinner, give a moving eulogy, ace a job interview, be a hit at parties, change the world, or simply connect more deeply to those around you, stories are essential.

Sharing secrets of The Moth’s time-honed process and using examples from beloved storytellers, a team of Moth directors will show you how to:

mine your memories for your best stories
explore structures that will boost the impact of your story
deliver your stories with confidence
tailor your stories for any occasion

Filled with empowering, easy-to-follow tips for crafting stories that forge lasting bonds with friends, family, and colleagues alike, this book will help you connect authentically with the world around you and unleash the power of story in your life.

©2022 Random House (P)2022 Random House Audio
Entertainment & Performing Arts Personal Success Public Speaking Words, Language & Grammar Career Celebrity Business Storytelling Inspiring
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Critic reviews

“Fans of nonprofit storytelling organization The Moth, which, since 1997, has presented 50,000-plus stories, won a Peabody Award for its The Moth Radio Hour and boasts a popular eponymous podcast, will be drawn to this guide to, yep, telling stories. From toasts to eulogies, from job interviews to social events, this book will help you with ideas, structure, delivery and more.”CNN

“True to its title, How to Tell a Story is a wonderfully practical and thoughtful guide to turning your own experiences and epiphanies into engaging tales. The book is very Moth-centric—‘Moth stories are true and told out loud, in the first person’—but there’s also advice about telling stories during job interviews, business presentations and toasts. Everything here could be easily adapted by classroom teachers or (one can hope) by relatives you see once a year at Thanksgiving.”The Washington Post

“Inspiring . . . This book . . . provides everything readers need to share their own personal narratives.”—Booklist

What listeners say about How to Tell a Story

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Loved this book!

So easy to listen to all of these amazing storytellers coach how to tell a great story and what goes into sharing.

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1 person found this helpful

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Fabulous Tips!

Overall great, but the section on the differences in telling a story on paper vs a live audience was outstanding; we know there’s a difference in written and spoken stories and now we know of wonderful examples to drive home the lessons.

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2 people found this helpful

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looks great, wait a minute!??!

I was excited about this book, but more than a few of the stories have a victim mentality on the subject of racism and woke stories with transgender characters. I'm going to see if I can return it.

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Like listening to old friends

I recommend this to anyone. Listen:
-If you want to tell a story
-if you have to give a speech
-if you have trouble finding the right words to say the things that you feel
-if you want to make a connection to loved ones
-if you want to share with others what’s important
-if you’re a human

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13 people found this helpful

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The power of stories to heal & transform people!

This storytelling extravaganza has re-doubled my belief in the raw power of story. Great job of conveying the importance of everyone knowing that their life is there story and their story is there Superpower. Keep up the amazing mission of hope and healing through effective storytelling.

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3 people found this helpful

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an experience

I did listen start to finish and now I'm going back for a second helping.

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4 people found this helpful

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Brilliant book about storytelling

The book teaches the power of storytelling, how to tell stories, and the potential for storytelling to build community. I highly recommend it.

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Best book to help you learn How to Tell a Story

I've been a fan and supporter of The Moth for about 20 years so I was very excited to hear about this book. My job is to speak on television, online, on stage, and also to write. Despite writing and reporting about other people's stories, I have no idea how to tell my own stories. Once I even tried to tell a story at the Moth's storytelling version of an open mic, and it flopped. I failed miserably. I know I have important stories to tell (don't we all?!) but clearly I was not very good at it. That's why listening to this book was such an eye-opening experience for me. How to Tell a Story is entertaining, educational, and interesting but most importantly the book is so helpful. It never occurred to me to use some of the "tricks" and techniques that the Moth directors have used for years use to get the best stories out of their storytellers - to get stories out of myself. I had no idea they use special techniques for this and that you can basically hack your own brain to get the best version of your stories out of your mind and into the world. I felt like I was given the cheat codes to a game that lets me finally tell my own story in a cohesive way. If you ever feel like you have a story (or multiple stories) deep inside of you that are just dying to get out, I strongly recommend this book

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18 people found this helpful

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Good listen especially if familiar with the moth

It might be a bit more appropriate for those familiar with the moth from before. I was not and at first got a bit lost with all the talk about this thing called the moth. However there are interesting stories and lessons to be learned.

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6 people found this helpful

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To learn or listen

I could re-listen to this for the educational aspect, but it’s also a collection of compelling stories.

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1 person found this helpful