Margaret Wolfson

Margaret Wolfson is an American storyteller and writer, best known for her worldwide performance of epics and myths, as well as her work in verbal branding. After receiving her Master’s Degree from New York University in 1982, she developed a form of story-theater, designing and performing concerts of myths, epics and other oral literature in collaboration with musicians and visual artists.

For years she toured throughout North America, Europe, and Asia with flutist Paula Chan Bing and others, appearing in such places as the Sydney Opera House, the National Theater, the Asia Society, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, the United Nations, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, as well as hundreds of universities and schools. Concerts tours took place under various sponsorships, including Theatreworks USA and the Kennedy Center’s Imagination Celebration. Other story and music collaborations include Psyche and Eros, created with composer Michael Ching which premiered with the San Jose Chamber Orchestra in 2000.

A later version of the work for storyteller, violin, and piano premiered at the Abu Dhabi Festival in 2011 and at the Lincoln Center Summer Institute program in West Memphis. While in the Emirates, she also delivered storytelling residencies and workshops.

In addition to her work with composer Michael Ching, she collaborated on two theatrical events with composer/musician Simon Shaheen: Majnun Layla, which premiered at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater in 1989 and The Epic of Gilgamesh in 2011.

Wolfson is the author of several books, among them Marriage of the Rain Goddess: A South African Myth (Barefoot Books), The Patient Stone (Barefoot Books), and Turtle Songs (Beyond Words). Marriage of the Rain Goddess was Wolfson’s first book with illustrations by Clifford Parms.

Along with her artistic career, she is the Founder and Chief Creative of River + Wolf, a New York City naming and writing firm.

Wolfson received a bachelor's degree from Indiana University’s Independent Study Program where she studied with poet Mary Ellen Solt, and an M.A. from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study with a focus on literature and performance.