Fray Day 5 Goes Global

Annual storytelling event to take place in ten cities

Fray Day, the annual celebration of personal storytelling, marks its first half-decade this year by expanding to ten cities around the world, including Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Kyoto, Japan and Melbourne, Australia. Sponsored by the award-winning website fray.com, Fray Day offers a night of live stories, musical performances and an open mic for public participation in each city. The events will be held on September 7, 8 or 9, depending on the venue.

Begun in 1996, Fray Day has attracted thousands to celebrate the art of personal narrative. "Fray Day is about bringing people together," says event organizer and Fray creator Derek Powazek. "Personal stories are thread that connects everyone. That's what Fray Day is all about."

Held in San Francisco for its first three years, Fray Day featured two venues last year and has exploded to nearly a dozen in 2001, all run by volunteers from the {fray} community. In the United States, events will be held in Austin, Texas (September 8); Boston, Massachusetts (September 8); Burlington, Vermont (September 8); Chicago, Illinois (September 8); Cincinnati, Ohio (September 8); Grand Rapids, Michigan (September 7); Los Angeles, California (September 9); San Francisco, California (September 8); and Washington, D.C. (September 8). Internationally, Kyoto, Japan (September 8); and Melbourne, Australia (September 9) will offer gatherings.

In a well established tradition, each event will feature scheduled storytellers and musicians – including some of the writers that have contributed to the website – as well as an open mic so that members of the audience can participate. Anyone can take the stage, says Powazek, "as long as their stories are true and personal, their telling is enthusiastic, and they take less than five minutes."

Fray Day's inspiration, fray.com, is also focused on first-person narrative and has received dozens of accolades since it helped pioneer personal storytelling on the web. Recently, the site was nominated for three Webby Awards, and won the bronze award for "Best Storytelling Project" in the NewMedia Invision Awards.

Powazek is thrilled by the continued, now global, expansion of Fray Day. "I'm completely stoked," he said. "People everywhere have stories to tell, and to watch Fray Day blossom all over the globe is thrilling. I only wish I could attend all the events!"

For further information about Fray Day, the {fray}, or for interviews with the event's creator, please contact Derek Powazek at info@fray.org. For general information about Fray Day 5 – including the location of each city's event – please visit http://fray.org/5/. For more information about the {fray}, see http://fray.com/ and http://fray.org/.