Larry Gibbs
Larry is new to “public” storytelling but has been telling stories all his life, one way or another. Nicknamed 'Gramophone Gibbs' by his Dad, who claimed Larry had been vaccinated with a gramophone needle, he is no stranger to public speaking. Often asked to MC at functions, and never hesitant to speak in classroom contexts, he is natural and comfortable in any size crowd.
Although Larry’s career has been in design and build construction, and after 50 years, still is, his hobbies and side gigs have been very conducive to telling stories. There is great fodder for family tales from his youth in a very diverse and interesting family who’s Dad was military. They did a lot of traveling and had wonderful experiences which fuel many of Larry’s stories.
The whole family is musical, and Larry has performed many one-man shows singing with his guitar. There is always a story component to those shows. As a youth, he was in many stage plays. Then from age 40 to 70 he performed in over 50 community musical theater productions, singing, dancing and acting.
Then his storytelling grew new roots. Upon his sister’s advice, he wrote and entered a non-fiction short story in the CBC Books contest in 2019. Even before he won a prize for that story he had caught the bug. He credits his profuse short story writing since then for developing his live storytelling abilities, and he is thoroughly enjoying this new activity.