Valley Voices

Up next in our Valley Voices Summer Shorts podcast season, it's Valerie Reiss with a story about her and her dad that swoops from the present to the past and back again. Enjoy!

Storyteller Wesley Blixt kicks off 2025's Summer Shorts season of Valley Voices from NEPM - check out his nostalgia for his younger days and how they led him to where he is now.

It's the Valley Voices Story Slam podcast: We had the winners of season 10's Story Slams on stage at the Academy of Music in Northampton in April. And now we present to you - the Best of Season 10! There were great stories all year long, but Chris Bell, Ann Marie Zanfagna and Susan Cocalis were the audience's favorite that night. Enjoy!

NEPM's latest Valley Voices podcast presents the winners of our Story Slam on the theme “Elementary”. We let the storytellers elaborate on what that meant to them, and then invited them up on stage at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls. The audience favorites that night were Nina Brand, Jeff Conant and Ami Jackson.

NEPM's latest Valley Voices podcast presents the winners of our Story Slam on the theme of Valley Folklore that we hosted at the Iron Horse in Northampton. The Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts is a very particular place, with lots of folks who have tales to tell about it. The audience favorites that night were Susan Cocalis, Bryan Tawney and Molly Snyder.

NEPM is celebrating 10 years of hosting nights of live storytelling that we call Valley Voices Story Slams. For the first slam in our 10th season, we figured we wanted to be “toasted” - whether that's a clink of champagne glasses, or something very different! Here are the three winners from that night in Studio A at NEPM in Springfield, MA - Ann Marie Zanfagna, Chris Bell and Julia Mitchell.

This time on the Valley Voices Story Slam podcast: We had 10 winners of season 9's Story Slams up on stage at the Academy of Music in Northampton. And now we present to you - the Best of Season 9! There were great stories all year long, but Angela Combest, Julia Mitchell and Dave Fromm were the audience's favorite that night. Enjoy!

For our final Summer Short story of the 2024 season, we bring you Susan Bartfay and her story “Bad boys are my weakness”. Some people just have to recount things that happened in their life to bring a really incredible story to the stage. Susan told this one at our “Pot Luck” story slam that we held at our NEPM studios in Springfield. We're making plans for season 10 of Valley Voices Story Slams at venues throughout western Mass. this fall - hope to see you there!

Rachel Leventhal Weiner is up next in NEPM's Summer Short podcast series. She takes out an old personal memory set to the back drop of a quite public memory that we all share. Enjoy “Girl Meets Boy” from our “Missed Connections” story slam last fall.

This week in NEPM's Valley Voices Summer Shorts podcast series, we reach back to our Whodunit? story slam last fall to hear from Judy Gutlerner and the life perspective she got from a household mixup.

Kenneth Mulder is up next in NEPM's Summer Shorts podcast series with his quirky story “Lost in Translation”. Kenneth brings us his secret of talking to the animals, and listening to them too. Extra bonus points for the sound effects!These stories come from our Valley Voices story slams throughout the year — even if you didn't make it to the slam, we didn't want you to miss them!

Andrew Shelffo was part of a night of stories on the theme “Pot Luck” that NEPM hosted at our Springfield studios last spring. His story “A family reunion” spanned many years and almost as many emotions.NEPM's Summer Shorts podcasts are taken from our Valley Voices story slams throughout the year — even if you didn't make it to the slam, we didn't want you to miss them!

Lila West takes us to Europe this week for our Valley Voices Summer Shorts podcast. Told at our Road Trip story slam last fall, “Putting the international into harvester” is a story about a family trip, but it's also about learning to accept some things that she thought she never would. NEPM's Summer Shorts podcasts are taken from our Valley Voices story slams throughout the year — even if you didn't make it to the slam, we didn't want you to miss them!

The next story in NEPM's Valley Voices Summer Shorts series comes from Lauren Ostberg. She brought “The Perpetrator” to our Whodunit? story slam in September to prove to all of us what an amazing detective she is. NEPM's Summer Shorts podcasts are taken from our Valley Voices story slams throughout the year — even if you didn't make it to the slam, we didn't want you to miss them!

Driving the vice presidential motorcade — is that a thing? For this week's Summer Shorts story, Jordan Hall takes us along for a wild ride as a civilian, recruited to drive Vice President Joe Biden to the airport on a moment's notice. He told this unique tale for our Missed Connections story slam at The Drake in Amherst in January.

Storyteller Matty Adams is up next in NEPM's Summer Shorts series - he told “What Went Down At The Lighthouse '' at The Marigold Theater in Easthampton last fall. He definitely fit the theme of “WhoDunIt”, but not in the way everyone else did. This content might not be suitable for everyone - might want to listen to this one without the kids!

This week on NEPM's Summer Shorts podcast series, it's Michael Hoberman. But his story “Out of My Element” might actually be more about his hitchhiking companions, and the pursuit of Fun, with a capital F.

Nina Brand is the next storyteller in NEPM's Summer Shorts podcast series - she has a wonderful recollection of visits with her grandmother that passed on some important family knowledge.

It's time for NEPM's Summer Shorts podcast series - one true story, uploaded every Friday this summer. As we look back on season 9 of NEPM's Valley Voices Story Slams, Paul Katz grabbed us with his story “Chasing Jimmy”. Happy Summer!

This month, we're sharing the first episode of NEPM's new podcast, The Secrets We Keep. Produced and hosted by NEPM reporter Karen Brown, the five part series explores how secrets both reflect our world and affect those caught inside them. Find the full series on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. For photos, transcripts and more, visit nepm.org/secrets.

A little bit of everything this time around for Valley Voices Story Slam podcast. That's why we called it Pot Luck! Angela Grout, Josh Simpson and Angela Combest were the winners of NEPM's fourth story slam of our ninth season. Enjoy!

This time on NEPM's Valley Voices Podcast, we bring you great stories on the theme “Missed Connections”, all told at the Drake in Amherst. Sarah Zurieck Brown is still thinking about what might have been at the zoo, Ruthy Woodring holds out hope as she picks up trash, and Josh Simpson winds up with his wife because she called the wrong number.

We're hitting the highway for this Valley Voices podcast - we have the winners of NEPM's Story Slam held at Hawks and Reed in Greenfield. Amy Dryansky ran away from home, Amy Heflin ran through the Texas night, and Dennis Warren ran a hitchhiker into Oregon in the ‘70s.

NEPM presents our 9th season of Valley Voices Story Slams - now in podcast form! Here are the winners of this season's first slam, held at the Marigold Theater in Easthampton. David Bulley, Dave Fromm and Julia Mitchell tell us about a mystery they each encountered in their own life.

Jacob Nelson from CISA drops by to "take over" NEPM's Valley Voices podcast - he brought some great stories from Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture's "Field Notes" storytelling event to share with us.

Andrew Shelffo looks back on his life as a runner and notices how his attitude affects his pace.

Sarah Wisby takes a good look back at what the color black represented in her punk adolescence.

Liz Varney is a social worker who takes some time to look back on what a particular case meant in her career.

A sweet first kiss turns sour as Lauren Crigler gets a lesson on the different ways boys and girls get treated in middle school.

On this week's Summer Shorts story from NEPM, Matthew Dicks gets some electrical encouragement to think through his new living situation.

Laura Porter tells us about a miracle that came out of a great adventure on this week's Valley Voices Summer Shorts podcast.

This time on NEPM's Summer Shorts Podcast, Earl Miller leads us on a journey from “just a job” to “a career with heart”

In this week's Summer Shorts podcast from NEPM, Nina Brand dusts an old trophy and finds herself more interested in the people who helped her win it.

Another personal reflection comes your way this week - Mireille Bejjani is our Summer Shorts storyteller, with her thoughts about moving to Western Massachusetts and getting comfortable.

NEPM's Summer Shorts stories are often touching or funny or suspenseful. But Matty Adams delivers the only story you're ever going to hear about Barbarella and birds!

NEPM's Summer Shorts has another great story for you - this time from Wren Bellevance-Grace who first brought it to us in our "Sorry, Not Sorry" Story Slam at the Drake in Amherst. Enjoy "The Wanted Daughter"

Valley Voices Summer Shorts series brings you some of the best from the past season of NEPM's Story Slams - this time, it's a classic ghost story from Dave Fromm.

Next up in NEPM's Summer Shorts storytelling series is from Angela Combest about "taking the plunge".

Again this summer, NEPM has a story for you every week! Summer Shorts favorites from season 8 of our Valley Voices Story Slams. We'll start with David Bulley and his memories of coyotes. Happy Summer!

Season 8 of NEPM's Valley Voices was full of great stories and every storyteller brought their A game to the Academy of Music in Northampton for our final Story Slam of the season. And in this episode of the podcast, we present the three that came out on top - from Jennifer Baker, Tone Nunes and Paul McNeil. Congrats to our winners!

NEPM's Valley Voices podcast brings you three stories on a theme - this time, all of our storytellers told us about a time they had to say "Nope!"

NEPM's Valley Voices story slams always feature some stellar stories, and this one was no exception!

Our podcast features the outrageous, funny and heartwarming true stories told by your friends and neighbors at Valley Voices Story Slam events throughout western Massachusetts.Valley Voices Story Slam is presented by New England Public Media and the Academy of Music Theatre.

In a great evening of storytelling at the Divine Theater in Holyoke, we heard tales of people skating out into uncertain and sometimes dangerous situations, and how they managed to glide away!

This time on the Valley Voices podcast, stories from the digital dating scene - some scandalous and some stirring. It's “Love Me Tinder” - three stories told on our Valley Voices stage!