Willy Claflin was born before television. The only child of shy eccentric parents, he grew up in the woods of New Hampshire where he spent his childhood day dreaming and impersonating wild life. In boarding school, he found out he was funny. All grown up, next he went to Harvard where his imagination did not abandon him. He became a folk singer.

Then he had to get a job so he taught school, where he found out kids love learning from puppets—and he got to sing. Eventually he was hijacked by a troupe of hand puppets, including one alien life form. A full time performer and writer for the last 25 years, Willy is a now a master storyteller, mostly for adults, but his kid fans are still really important.

Willy is a favorite at the National Storytelling Festival and at regional festivals across the land. He tells original and traditional stories. He sings his own songs, plus 1,032 eerie ballads from the British Isles and Appalachia—and a lot of blues and rock and roll. He is also the speaking mouth person for Maynard Moose, another famous storyteller and kids author.

Many of his recordings are award winners. His latest work in progress is about his great- great aunt, the notorious and mesmerizing Victoria Claflin Woodhull. The first woman stock broker and the first woman to run for president (1872), she ran and lost on the Free Love Ticket.

Willy has published the first book of Maynard Moose Tales, The Uglified Ducky, illustrated by the brilliant James Stimson. A second book, Rapunzel and the Seven Dwarfs, will be out in January 2011. In the last few years he has been performing and recording narrative ballads and original songs with his son, Brian Claflin. Willy lives in San Francisco with his wife and conspirator, Jacqueline Darrigrand