Comments Meet Susan Cocalis, the 2024 Folklore Story Slam Winner for New England Public Media (NEPM). Susan is an expert story teller on stage, competing in many story slam competitions. Learn about how to enter a contest and polish a story to be told in five minutes in front of an audience. Susan and yWrite Host Angela Grout discuss their unique experiences performing in NEPM's Story Slam. Susan is a first place finisher, and Angela was a third place finisher a year prior. Together they talk about the process of entering, the ability to talk in front of an audience and the power of storytelling without notes and a clock ticking! Besides participating in NEPM's past 10 years of story slams, Susan has competed in the Moth Slam & Grand Slam in Boston, the annual Story Slam of the Ko Festival at Amherst College, and has been sponsored by the Gallery of Readers at Smith College , Northampton Center of the Arts, and the Greenfield Writers Festival. Susan Cocalis is not only a on-stage storyteller, but she is a comic, poet, and regularly takes part in Kelsey Flynn's workshop events in Greenfield. She is well into her third quarter of life and not slowing down anytime soon.