SMES Junior Kinsale Hueston Wins Storytellers Contest, Presents at Yale University

St. Margaret’s junior Kinsale Hueston was one of four students in the U.S. to present their creative works at the Yale Young Native Storytellers Festival last weekend on the campus of Yale University, an experience she called “amazing.”

The festival, put on by the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program (YIPAP), featured students who submitted exceptional work in Yale’s Young Native Storytellers Contest across four categories—spoken word & storytelling, dance, song/songwriting and playwriting. Kinsale won in the spoken word & storytelling category for her poem “Stella,” and was awarded an all-expenses paid trip to New Haven, Conn., to share her work.

Kinsale recited three of her poems at the festival, which was attended by Yale students, alumni, deans, professors and local residents. Each of the poems explores aspects of Navajo culture—“Grandmother,” which won a national gold medal in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards this year, as well as “Red Wrists” and “Where I Come From (1992).”

Kinsale also participated in a staged reading of Bingo Hall, the playwriting winner of the Young Native Storytellers Contest. She played the lead female character and performed alongside Yale theater alumni, professional actors and current Yale students.

“I presented alongside some very talented people,” Kinsale said. “I also took part in a short panel at the end of the performances, or a ‘talk back,’ and we were able to interact with the audience.”

The evening culminated with a reception hosted by Yale’s Native American Cultural Center.

YIPAP works to promote and cultivate indigenous storytelling and performance, and formed the Young Native Storytellers Contest to showcase the breadth of storytelling by indigenous youth.