Bob Hartman Passes it On
Well-known US children's author and storyteller, Bob Hartman, will be the speaker at this year's St Patrick’s Day celebrations in the Diocese of Down and Dromore.
School children from around the diocese will be the special guests, along with the Waringstown Primary School Choir.
The theme is, "Pass it On" and the Festival Service in Down Cathedral will involve the children in drama, story-telling and singing. With the focus on passing on the faith and heritage of St. Patrick to the next generation, Bob Hartman’s participation is especially apt as storytelling used to be the main way of passing on local values, traditions and history.
"I cannot tell you how delighted I am to be invited to the event," says Bob. “When I was asked to write a book on Saints several years ago, I made sure that Patrick was included, because his was a story I'd been telling for years. So to be asked to speak at the place where the man himself is buried, on his special day, is a gift that I never imagined receiving.”
Bob is currently the senior minister of Emmanuel Christian Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A professional storyteller for over 20 years, he was a storyteller in residence for The Pittsburgh Children’s Museum and has also travelled widely, telling stories at festivals in the UK, Australia, Japan, Africa, and the Middle East..
Bob is also the author of over fifty books for children, including the best-selling 'Lion Storyteller Bible’. Some of his other titles include: 'Angels, Angels All Around', 'Bible Baddies’, ‘The Wolf Who Cried Boy’, ‘Telling the Bible’, and ‘Anyone Can Tell a Story’, a training manual for storytellers.
He believes that children learn a lot about how to live through the stories they see and hear.
"There have always been traditional storytellers in Ireland and certain parts of Scotland," says Bob. "I think there’s always a part of society that wants to return to simplicity and traditional kinds of art and music, so why not folk communication as well? In a way it has never really stopped because it is fundamental to the way we communicate each day.
“Even biblically, you discover a lot about who God is by reading the story of the people of Israel and then reading the Gospels.”
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Bob is married to Sue and they have two grown up children, Kari and Christopher.