Jay Leeming

I've just finished recording part eleven of the Iliad, which was a delight. This part of the story involves a talking river, a shield crammed with all the life of the world, and Achilles' fateful decision to take arms against the Trojans once again. Here's the link: www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html

Jay Leeming with drum, wearing scarlet and orange scarf.

My latest podcast is a deep dive into the first fifteen minutes of the Iliad, exploring the craft of envisioning this story and bringing it to life in performance. Here's the link: www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html

While reading the Odyssey on the plane we passed over the island of Lesbos, where Nestor stopped on his way home from the Trojan war. Travels in story and travels in the world-- and is there really any difference? I'm glad to be here.

The stories live not just in words but in our dreaming hearts and in the sea and the wind. But on this particular journey my copy of the Odyssey is beginning to take on a talismanic character!

Portrait of a storyteller about to set out on a two-month storytelling journey through Cyprus and Greece. A journey from Ithaca to Ithaki, a setting out and a return. Story is the path.

I'm looking forward to roaming these seas once again!

I'll be telling the Odyssey online all next week from 7-8:30 PM EDT, entering a world of sea-gods, floating cities, and gender-bending prophets in the Land of the Dead. This is a fundraiser for my upcoming storytelling journey to Greece and Cyprus. Full details on my website-- join me if you can!

Live in the studio today for my bi-weekly "Mythic Landscape Radio Hour" at our beloved community radio station WRFI, where our autumn fund drive is in full swing. Amid the microphones and clocks the mystery of story is unleashed.

You can support the crucial magic of community radio at WRFI.org.

Here's an amazing painting inspired by the Finnish epic known as the Kalevala. It's by the Finnish painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela , and well conveys the beautiful darkness of these stories. Bravo!

Behind the mic at beloved WRFI radio here in Ithaca, for my bi-weekly Mythic Landscape Radio Hour. Mythology, maps of the soul, and spoken rituals for our communal dreamtime all happening live from 10-11 AM every other Saturday...I'm grateful for this amazing community radio station!

Here's one of my favorite versions of the "Arabian Nights," a clear and stripped-down translation by Husain Haddawy which I found on 5th Avenue one day while walking past Central Park. Larger translations beckon as well, but this is a good intro to the rowdy multiverse of these stories.

I've always loved the poetry of James Wright, and recently recorded a podcast exploring his poem "Goodbye to the Poetry of Calcium." This poem marks the beginning of his journey into an entirely new kind of poetry. You can listen for free at this link:

www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html

I just finished recording "The Iliad Part Seven: the Greeks Arrive at Troy," and you can hear it at the link below. It's a joy to work with this story that moves so surely from anger to grief to wisdom.

www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html

"The collective unconscious is as wide as the world and open to all the world. There I forget all too easily who I really am...But this self is the world, if only a consciousness could see it. That is why we must know who we are." --C.G. Jung, "The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious," p. 22

My most recent podcast is an exploration of Rumi's poem "The Diver's Clothes Lying Empty on the Beach," as translated by Coleman Barks. This is one of my favorite Rumi poems, and you can listen to this podcast (and hear poem in the original Farsi) at this link: www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html

If you're interested in the Iliad, I will be leading an exploration of that story this summer, beginning online on Monday, June 9th at 5 PM EDT. Each week I will tell a part of the story and then lead an exploration of. If you'd like to be a part of this, please get in touch! www.JayLeeming.com

This summer I will be exploring the epic of the Iliad online every Monday from 5-6 PM EDT. These performances are free to those in my Patreon community; others can take part either by joining that community or making a donation through my website. If you'd like to take part, please get in touch!

Photo of Jay Leeming with frame drum, telling a story with an orange Persian scarf on, before a backdrop of muted green trees.

So before Achilles goes off to war, he spends a year disguised as a dancing girl on the island of Skyros. "Never give a sword to a man who can't dance," as they say. This is one of my favorite stories from the "expanded' Iliad, and you can hear my version of it here:

www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html

I'll be telling stories from the lost epic known as the Cypria this tonight at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. Tonight we will meet Helen herself, the wild daughter of Zeus, and Achilles will spend some time (of course!) as a dancing girl. If you are in the area, come check it out!

I'll be telling stories from the lost epic known as the Cypria this Wednesday and Thursday at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. If you are in the area, come check it out! It's always a joy to bring these stories to life--

I'm excited to be bringing part two of my "Expanded Iliad" to life tonight at the Cherry Artspace here in Ithaca. The daughter of Zeus has sailed across the sea, Achilles has put away his dancing shoes, and multiple goddesses are determined to see Troy razed to the ground-- what will happen next?

I've just updated the Crane Bag Podcast archive of story, which now includes over 130 episodes encompassing Norse myth, the Odyssey, the Mahabharata, many fairy tales, Sufi wisdom stories, and the epic story of the Irish hero Fionn MacCumhail.

www.jayleeming.com/archive-of-e...

Part five of my "Expanded Iliad" involves a horse sacrifice, various journeys across land and sea, and an offering to Poseidon himself. You can check it out at this link:

www.jayleeming.com/the-iliad.html

The wayward daughter of Zeus has set sail across the sea, Achilles has put away his dancing shoes, and multiple goddesses are determined to see Troy razed to the ground. What will happen next? I'm looking forward to bringing this story alive on Saturday, May 3rd here in Ithaca.

I recently spoke with the amazing poet Steve Scafidi about inspiration, William Faulkner, what it was like to hate poetry in high school, carpentry, and the future of humanity. You can listen to our conversation--and hear him read a poem--here:

www.jayleeming.com/podcast.html

A short poem by Guillaume Apollinaire, translated by Patrick Herriges. (It's from "The Sea and the Honeycomb," an anthology of tiny poems edited by Robert Bly.) Ah may we give praise!

Thanks! I'm grateful-- and will probably change the stories I tell!

Here's part four of what I am calling the "expanded Iliad," in which Zeus' wild daughter Helen at last enters the story. When you have a divine parent, are you likely to be quiet or rambunctious? Listen and find out...
www.jayleeming.com/the-iliad.html

Here's yours truly in action at the Downstairs for "Mythic Mondays" last month. We won't be gathering in April, but will meet on May 12th at the Downstairs for an evening of stories around the theme of "the snake." It will be a full moon as well-- what energies will that summon? Come find out!

Awhile back I had the pleasure of speaking with storyteller Daniel Morden about the Odyssey. Daniel is an amazing storyteller, and our conversation taught me a great deal about the art of bringing this magnificent epic to life. You can hear our conversation here:

www.jayleeming.com/daniel-morde...