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David Titus, author and professional
storyteller, has been entertaining children and adults in libraries,
schools, churches
and at conferences and festivals since 1968. He travels extensively,
consulting, conducting workshops and residencies, instructing adults
in storytelling, and collecting stories and string figures. He has
entertained audiences across six continents from the frozen Arctic
to the Sahara. With a piece of string and a thread of a story he
captures his audience, young and old. Needless to say, he
is having a lot of fun doing it.
Collecting string tricks from Tibetan refugees in Nepal, Pakistani
refugees in Cairo, or a traveler in the Seoul airport; he then
shares them in other parts of the world. This Master Storyteller
spent five weeks in Nepal in 1999 renewing acquaintances he made two
years earlier. He traveled to very remote regions to help at leprosy
hospitals, teaching the patients to make string figures as physical
therapy. They loved it and so did the staff, not as therapy but as
just plain fun. He went to Nepal again in 2006.
Spending August and September 2000 in Mongolia, Titus took 20,000
strings to give the new organization "String Ministries, Inc." the
acid test. The nomadic Mongolian people loved the diversion and
activity these games provided. Eagle TV, the local Christian station
had him on two live programs, translated all three of his videos for
airing, and shot almost two hours of short testimonies and stories
to be inserted in future broadcasting. The NGO's (Non-Governmental
Organizations) such as Habitat For Humanity, UNESCO, VetNet,
Christian and Missionary Alliance, and Joint Christian Services,
etc. that Titus was involved with saw this ministry as a useful tool
for reaching people with their particular messages. He returned to
Mongolia in August 2005.
In 2001, Titus went to England to work in schools, prisons and
churches and took two trips to Mexico to share his talents with
string and collect information on the use of string figures in their
culture. He has made three trips to Eastern Europe spending up to
six weeks in Latvia, Lithuania Estonia, Poland and Finland working in
churches, schools, prisons, a refugee camp and orphanages.
In 2002,
Titus took the first of two trips to South Africa and a mission trip
to Belize. He went to South Africa and Namibia and made two trips
to a Refugee camp for Liberian refugees in Ghana, West Africa.
Taking his
guide and translator from the States he made a trip to Papua New Guinea in October
2006. He stayed in the mountains with the tribal chief and his 5
wives. A wife cost 30 pigs there, so the chief was a rich man.
David Titus is now the author of “Native
American String Figures.” This oversize soft cover book has
directions for eleven Native American string figures. Graphic artist
Donna S. Moore-LeMaster produced over 120 drawings for this edition.
In the fall of 2004 they collaborated on a second book, “African
String Figures.” This book contains a sampling of the many
figures that Titus saw during his travels to Africa. Dave
worked with Alaskan Native David Nicolai on his third book,
“Native Alaskan String Figures.” They are all
available at
www.StringFigureStore.com.
The video “String Magic from
Around the World” has been a favorite with many schools,
libraries and families since it came
out in 1997. "This video shows more than 50 string figures, gives
directions for over 20, and includes a practice string. It provides
live-action demonstrations and storytelling with string figures,"
School Library Journal, October 1997.
Titus’ first in the series of
Christian string videos is “String Fun with the Parables.”
Video Librarian gave it 3 stars out of 4 in the July/August review
and School Library Journal said, "This engaging introduction to the
Old and New Testament Parables will appeal to Christian schools and
churches and to public libraries where its cross generation appeal
will be a plus." June 1999. All of Dave's video works are being
produced in DVD format to bring them into the new century.
Titus has a video that explains the
mission and goals of String Ministries, Inc. This 31-minute video
titled “Sharing with String through String Ministries,”
gives practical examples of how string figures can be used as a tool
for mission trips, youth groups, retreats etc. Directions for each
of the figures are included in the video.

David Titus is now traveling in
cyber space with his new enterprise, www.StringFigureStore.com.
His videos/DVD’s, audiotapes, books, strings and other string
related products are available at this website. He estimates that
Goodwill Industries, Inc., who has the contract to provide
the labor to produce the colorful knotless strings that he provides,
will produce over 117,000 this year.
Titus has been a librarian in Ohio, Michigan, Honduras-Central
America and Oklahoma and was also with the Oklahoma State Department
of Education as a consultant to library and media programs. He has
been active in storytelling and was president of Territory Tellers,
the Statewide Storytelling guild.
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