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Welcome. Pull up a chair.
I'm Clinton Atwater, and I'm a storyteller by trade and by birth. I grew up on family tales told around a campfire in northern Michigan, and I've spent my life since chasing that same magic: the moment a story reaches across time and makes you laugh, remember, or feel seen.
Everything you'll find here grows from one simple vision:
Connecting Stories and People.
Look around, and you'll learn a little more about me and my journey from those Michigan campfires to Virginia. You'll also find my newly released book, A Night by the Fire, twenty-five stories from the fire circle where my family has gathered for six generations. There's Let Me Tell Ya!, our storytelling community, which gathers tellers from near and far both online and at live events. And there's The Living Story, my workshop series for anyone ready to turn personal and family memories into stories worth telling.
Maybe you've come to listen, to bring a performance to your community, or to finally tell the story you've been carrying around. Either way, you're in the right place. Everyone has a story, and the fire's still burning.
"I had the pleasure of having Clint Atwater serve as emcee for a full day on Saturday, April 9th, at the 2022 Sounds of the Mountains Storytelling Festival. Clint is an excellent emcee and struck the perfect balance of informing our audience about the tellers' backgrounds and experiences and injecting a personal touch with a little humor. Most importantly, Clint knows how to transition from one teller to the next by listening closely to each teller and tying the different sets and tellers together to create a smooth flow from one to the next. I intend to use Clint at our 2023 festival."
Alan Hoal
Cofounder and Director
Sounds of the Mountains Storytelling Festival
2022
"A good emcee should have a friendly disposition, a sense of humor, ad-lib skills, the ability to put people at ease, and the ability to improvise. Those traits are hard to find, but even harder is the ability to find an emcee who knows when to be quiet and who knows how to support the performance (not give one themselves). In the meantime, they should make the performer/speaker feel at ease and cared for. Clint possesses all these traits. He was brief, informed, likable, and full of good energy. Being a good emcee is a juggling act, and Clint never once dropped the ball."
Kim Weitkamp
Storyteller
Sounds of the Mountains Storytelling Festival
2023
"Clint Atwater was selected as the opening ceremony speaker during the Virginia Storytelling Alliance's annual Gathering. His presentation, "Take a Chance, Make a Change, The Choice is YOURS!" was captivating, succinct, and had a perfect theme that highlighted what our annual gathering was about. He had a great presence on stage. Clint knows how to make a story come alive using personal anecdotes and experiences."
Jeanna Lee
Virginia Storytelling Alliance, Board of Directors
Annual Gathering Chair 2024
"I certainly enjoyed listening to the performance - I had to hold down the fort in the lobby but could hear each word very clearly down the stairwell. It was a true mark of the quality for your presenters to be able to audibly capture my/our audience's attention with such well-crafted tales. Thank you for bringing your talented crew to our museum, and I look forward to future events with you as well!"
Hunter Haskins
Assistant Museum Director
The Salem Museum and Historical Society
September 2024
"Clinton visited our forest school co-op and rose above and beyond what we were expecting from him. We held an outdoor workshop for roughly 35 children age from six to preteen. Clinton kept them all entertained and engaged. His presentation was thorough, informative, and fun! Storytelling has been a central theme of our homeschool co-op this year and Clinton provided us with the tools and knowledge to be effective storytellers. I highly recommend him and hope to have him back next year."
Emily Nott
Barefoot University - Forest School Co-op coordinator
October 2024
"Clint Atwater emceed our Celebration of Tales storytelling festival on March 21, 2026, in Charlottesville, Virginia. He did a fantastic job.
To start with, he did his homework before the event by contacting the tellers to find out more about them. He was prepared when the festival started. He engaged the audience. He easily and seamlessly rolled with the flow when schedule changes occurred. He filled in appropriately when there were gaps in the action. He understands storytelling and the audience experience. He was relaxed, yet enthusiastic about our event and helped everyone have a good time, including the audience, the tellers, and the organizers. We would hire him again in a heartbeat."
Rob Craighurst
Celebration of Tales - Planning Team