Queens Storytelling Festival
Be a part of the inaugural Queens Storytelling Festival, an all-day to late-night festival featuring local NYC storytellers. Festival programs include live performances, panelists who will discuss their craft and writing, opportunities to connect with other local artists, ghost stories, and even a chance to share your “surprise stories.” The theme is "Queens:" the borough, the women, the icons, however you choose to define it. Hear stories from Keepsake House 2025 Artists in Residence Aida Zilelian, Joey Rinaldi, Roselle Bajet, and more!
Doors: 3:00pm ET
Do YOU want a chance to perform your own story? Good news—we will have time for 5-minute surprise stories throughout the festival. For a chance to perform, simply answer the form questions and submit an excerpt of your story when you purchase your ticket. If selected, the cost of your ticket will be refunded in full. You may purchase either a full-day or half-day ticket, noting that you will only be eligible to perform during the time your ticket covers.
Tickets:
Family-friendly (programming before 7:00pm): $30
After hours (programming after 7:00pm): $35
Full day: $50
FREE for Key to Keepsake Holders
Hold the key to Keepsake House with a season pass to all residency shows and Queens Open Mics! As soon as you sign up, you'll also receive immediate access to all past show videos–over 34 hours of content.
Left to right, top to bottom: Matt Storrs, Annie Tan, Aida Zilelian, Lucy Yu, Roselle Bajet, Ian Goldstein, Paula Croxson, Luke Strathmann, Anoush Froundjian, Joey Rinaldi, Diana Li, & Valarie Walker. Not pictured: Kim Chan, whose artwork will be shared during the festival.
Aida Zilelian (she/her) - Family-friendly
Aida Zilelian is a first generation American-Armenian writer, educator, and storyteller from Queens, NY. She is the author of THE LEGACY OF LOST THINGS, recipient of the Tololyan Literary Award. Aida's most recent novel ALL THE WAYS WE LIED released last January and she has been on a book tour. She has been performing on storytelling stages in NYC, Montreal, Boston and Los Angeles. She has also been featured in the Huffington Post, NPR’s Takeaway, among other reading series and print outlets. Her poetry chapbook DISSONANCE won the Swan Scythe contest and is forthcoming in June 2025. She will be featured on PBS' Stories from the Stage live in Boston this February. Aida is currently a speaker coach with TEDx Cabarete, which is scheduled for May 2025.
Aida is a 2025 Artist in Residence and has previously performed in the Keepsake House show Long Story Short.
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Anoush Froundjian (she/her) - Family friendly
Anoush Froundjian is a storyteller and cartoonist who has finally gotten comfortable with her first name. When she isn’t telling stories, she draws cartoons for Anoush Talks to Stuff, her webcomic about a girl who talks to inanimate objects, and co-produces the comedic storytelling show "The Armenian Power Hour" at Q.E.D. with writer/storyteller Aida Zilelian.
Annie Tan (she/her) - After hours
Annie Tan is an educator, activist, writer and storyteller from Manhattan's Chinatown living in Fresh Meadows in Queens. Annie’s work has been featured in Huffington Post, New Republic, PBS’ Asian Americans, RISK! and twice on The Moth Radio Hour on NPR. Annie is writing a memoir about connecting with her immigrant parents despite not sharing a common fluent language. Find more at annietan.com.
Annie has previously performed in the Keepsake House show From Story to Song (2021).
Diana Li (she/her) - Family-friendly
Diana Li is a science communicator and educator based in New York City. She is a program director at Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute, where she leads youth internships, teacher workshops, and a public lecture series all focused on neuroscience. She also works as a producer for The Story Collider, a live show and podcast featuring true, personal stories about science. She earned her Ph.D. in biology from Stanford, where she studied the neurophysiology and biomechanics of squid swimming. She loves to tell stories, usually (but not always) about squid, and this has brought her onto shows, stages, and podcasts, including Science Friday, The Story Collider, Nerd Nite, Facts Machine, Secret Science Club, Exolore, and Versus.
Ian Goldstein (he/him) - After hours
Ian Goldstein is a writer/producer based in Brooklyn, NY. His work has appeared in the New Yorker, McSweeney’s, Vulture. He was featured in the NYTimes for throwing a party dedicated to me meeting his healthcare deductible. He currently co-runs a Substack called the Out-of-network Network with which aims to help reform the U.S. healthcare system using comedy and cartoons.
Joey Rinaldi (he/him) - After hours
Joey Rinaldi is an award-winning storytelling comedian whose work has been featured on the RISK! podcast, NPR, the New York Post, and The Drew Barrymore Show. He is known for transforming life’s most embarrassing and painful moments into comedy. Joey has performed at major festivals such as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, New York Comedy Festival, and Burbank Comedy Festival, winning Best Comedy at the 2020 NY Fringe and the 2021 International Canadian Comedy Film Festival.
A regular in the New York comedy scene, Joey co-hosts the cult-following shows Full House Comedy and Bad Trip that pop up around venues all over Manhattan and Brooklyn. When he’s not making audiences laugh, Joey is an avid screenwriter, aspiring to create the next great rom-com that Rotten Tomatoes will undoubtedly hate—but audiences will love (hopefully).
Joey is a 2025 Artist in Residence and has previously performed in the Keepsake House show Long Story Short.
Kim Chan (she/they) - Family-friendly
Kim Chan is a Queens based small-press published creator. A majority of Chan’s mixed media work critiques manifestations of White supremacy and imperialist ideation. This is most evident in their short comic “Queens - I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down…” which was one of five projects patroned by The Creative Sanctum (headed by Sharon Chin) as part of its Catalyst Commission which supports work to encourage New Yorkers to take part in local as well as general elections.
Lucy Yu (she/they) - Family-friendly
Lucy Yu is the owner of Yu and Me Books located in Chinatown, Manhattan. She is a Scorpio but doesn't really know much about astrology and was a previous chemical engineer that no longer mixes chemicals.
Lucy has previously performed in the Keepsake House show From Story to Song (January 2023).
Luke Strathmann (he/him) - After hours
Luke specializes in bringing complex policy issues to life through storytelling, creativity, and humor. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, Points in Case, Slackjaw, 251, and the Weekly Humorist. He is the proud host of EconLOL, the world’s first, best, and only economics-themed comedy variety show. He performs comedy around NYC, and has appeared at Comedy Cellar, Stand Up NY, Broadway Comedy Club, Greenwich Village Comedy Club, and Caveat. He also produces backyard comedy shows in Brooklyn.
Matt Storrs (he/him) - After hours
Matt Storrs is a comedian and storyteller based out of NYC and originally from Phoenix, AZ. He has been featured in Newsweek, on NPR, and on PBS. Matt is known for sharp stories and his esoteric comedy. Matt Storrs is a humor person.
Paula Croxson (she/her) - Family-friendly
Paula Croxson is a neuroscientist, award-winning science communicator and storyteller who is passionate about bringing together science and the arts. She moved to New York from the UK in 2010 with dreams of becoming a professor and researcher, but after discovering the power of storytelling she completely changed direction to focus on making science accessible to everyone. She is a senior producer for The Story Collider, and her stories and performances have been featured in podcasts, videos and around New York City in science shows, nerd shows and storytelling shows alike. She is also a musician, playing flute in two indie rock bands, and a long distance open-water swimmer.
Paula was a 2024 Artist in Residence and has previously performed in the Keepsake House shows House for the Holidays, Metamorphosis, Frames of Reference, and From Story to Song (2024).
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Roselle Bajet (she/her) - After hours
Roselle Bajet is an actor and comedian based in New York. With a background in improv and stand-up, Roselle enjoys the art of entertaining people and finding humor in the absurdity of everyday life. She believes that the best comedy (and likewise the best acting) is rooted in telling the truth. Roselle aims to do no less when she is on stage. In her spare time, Roselle can be found napping, reading restaurant reviews, and contra dancing.
Roselle is a 2025 Artist in Residence and has previously performed in the Keepsake House shows Unmute Yourself and Long Story Short.
Valarie Walker (she/her) - Family-friendly
Valarie Walker, a native of New York, is an activist, educator, artist, and a three-time winner of the Moth Story Slam. Her story about meeting hero Ruby Bridges aired on the Moth Radio Hour, and the first film she appeared in, “Watermelon Woman,” was inducted into the Library of Congress archives. She uses storytelling to heal, challenge, inspire, and connect.
Valarie was a 2023 Artist in Residence and has previously performed in the Keepsake House shows A Keepsake Christmas, Foresight, Sounds of the Invisible, Americana the Beautiful, Sankofa, and From Story to Song (October 2023).