By Shanee Frazier / Staff Writer
SOUTH ORANGE/MAPLEWOOD — Maplewood preschoolers had the opportunity to hear original children’s stories from master storyteller and former South Orange resident Irene Maran at the Maplewood YMCA on Oct. 10.
Maran, a former South Orange resident of more than 30 years, recently placed second in the National Storytellers League’s yearly contest. The contest is open to all NSL members, Junior Story League members and others interested in short-story writing.
Maran’s winning story, titled “An Imagination Gone Wild,” tells the tale of a young boy plagued by strange noises in his room at night.
Along with receiving the honor and a check for her entry in the Adlyn M. Keffer Memorial Short Story Writing Contest, Maran’s story will appear in “Story Art,” a magazine for storytellers.
In addition to reading her award-winning story “An Imagination Gone Wild,” Maran also introduced the excited group of approximately 20 children to “Goldie the Goldfish,” a story about a lonely goldfish swimming in his bowl and wishing for excitement, and “Rocket Joins the School Band,”a third book, with illustrations by Maran, about a turtle that has a difficult time picking out an instrument to play in music class.
In a recent interview with the News-Record, Maran spoke about how reading to young children is exciting for her because it allows her to add elements such as props and hand puppets to the experience.
“I know that visuals are always better to catch their attention,” Maran said. “When I read ‘An Imagination Gone Wild’ I brought out pictures of a monster that I drew, and when we read ‘Goldie the Goldfish’ I had a goldfish puppet and a fishbowl to go along with the story.”
Maran’s granddaughter was in this particular group of children at the Y, which made the event especially rewarding for her.
Maran said that the National Storytellers League was the first writing contest she had ever entered, although she has been writing stories for some time.
Maran, who worked as a high school administrator for 21 years at The Montclair Kimberley Academy, an independent school in Montclair, found that he was able to devote more time to her writing when she retired.
“I have over 400 essays and I never have writer’s block,” Maran said. “Stories fall in my lap one way or the other, so I’m never at a loss for words or stories.”
Maran is a member of Storytellers Mosaic, a Monmouth County storytelling group which meets monthly in Neptune City. She said the group formed approximately two years ago and is comprised of approximately 15 to 20 people, with 13 people telling stories at a local church.
She is also involved in various other writing groups including the Jersey Shore Writers, the Belmar Arts Council, the Monday Prompt Writing Group at Bradley Beach Library and The Harriet May Savitz Writers of the Roundtable in Bradley Beach.
“Our storytelling group has really grown,” Maran said. “Neighbors tell neighbors, and every Monday people come to a prompt-writing group, and every Wednesday we have a senior citizens writing group where we bring in something that we write and we critique.”
Maran also writes a biweekly newspaper column for The News-Record, and she has had essays published in “Chicken Soup for the Soul,” East Meets West, American Writers Review and Mature Years magazines.