TYLER, Feb. 24, 2012--Just in time for April Fool’s Day, the Tyler Public Library hosts its second annual “Liars’ Contest”, Sunday, April 1 at 2 p.m. The Liars’ Contest closes “Azalea Tales”, a free storytelling event set amid the beauty of an East Texas spring during the Azalea and Spring Flowers Trail. The two-day storytelling festival on Friday and Saturday, March 30 and 31 will offer stories for all ages with plenty of time to enjoy the gardens of historic Tyler.
 
Azalea Tales Storytelling festival features Tim Tingle, a renowned storyteller and accomplished author. An Oklahoma Choctaw, he delivers lively historical and traditional stories, accompanying himself on the Native American flute and singing Choctaw songs to the rhythms of a whaleskin drum.
 
Author of six books and an avid collector of tribal stories, Tingle has been a featured speaker at the Native American wing of the Smithsonian Institute and has guest-lectured on numerous college campuses on Native American folklore.
 
In addition to Sunday’s Liars’ Contest, the festival offers an evening of “slightly spooky” ghost stories featuring Tingle on Friday, March 30 at 7 p.m. With Doc Moore, Tingle has co-authored three volumes of eerie tales: Spooky Texas Tales, More Spooky Texas Tales and Texas Ghost Stories: Fifty Favorites for the Telling.  Tingle also brings his funny and evocative stories to the student body of Caldwell Elementary Arts Academy with storytelling performances during the day on Friday.
 
Saturday, March 31, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tingle will lead a highly-interactive workshop for writers and tellers: “Creative Fiction From Life Events”. Tingle will demonstrate methods of writing fiction based on turning-point situations in our lives and the lives of those around us. Participants will leave with the beginnings of a short story. The workshop is free.
 
Tingle’s first book, Walking the Choctaw Road, is a fictional depiction of tribal history covering two centuries, and his latest children’s book, Saltypie, is a family tale of 20th century Indian struggles and triumphs. Tingle’s first children’s book, Crossing Bok Chitto, was an Editor’s Choice in the New York Times Book Review, won the 2008 American Indian Youth Literature Award and was featured on the 2008 Texas Bluebonnet Award Master Reading List.
 
The festival continues Saturday at 6 p.m. with storytelling by students from Caldwell Elementary Arts Academy. At 7 p.m. local tellers from East Texas Storytellers guild take the stage, and Tim Tingle is featured in a storytelling showcase at 8 p.m.
 
Anyone age 18 or older may enter to tell tall tales and stories that stretch the truth. Rules and entry forms may be found on the Library website: www.tylerlibrary.com or by contacting the Library directly. 
 
Entries for the contest are due by Friday, March 23.
Tall tale tellers, truth stretchers and liars will be judged on:
1. Craft: Was it a good story, easy to follow and developed logically?
2. Presentation:  Was the story well told with good use of voice, gesture, eye contact and with distinct characterizations?
3. Hyperbole: Was the story a good lie that began plausibly then become obviously impossible?
4. Universality:  Could the story be told anywhere in the English-speaking world and anybody would recognize the transition from plausible to preposterous?
5. Originality:  Is the story unique?  If it is based on a familiar tale, is it told with an original flair? 
6. Audience Response:  Was the audience obviously entertained? 
                                                                                                                     
Azalea Tales is made possible by the Friends of the Tyler Public Library, with additional support from East Texas Storytellers.
 
Azalea Tales Storytelling Festival is free and open to the public.  All events will take place in the Library’s Taylor Auditorium, 201 S. College Avenue in downtown Tyler.
 
For more information, check out the Library website at www.tylerlibrary.com or call 903-593-READ (7323).