Opalanga

Recipient and Keynote Speaker

2004 Ambassador of Peace Award

Drawing upon her African-American heritage as well as her travels, nationally renowned entertainer Opalanga Pugh brings to life the rich and diverse legacy of oral stories. She serves the peacemaking community with her personal stories and metaphors about solving problems non-violently.

Opalanga's programs harness the power of stories to instruct and inspire. Her stories bridge youth and age, tradition and technology. She encourages us to pass on tradition in our own families as a rebirth of the wealth of wisdom from one generation to the next. She believes that stories can be instructive in our multicultural move through the 21st century.

Opalanga, a Denver native, is well known as the "project weaver" of Denver's Kwanzaa celebration. She has won a Mayor's Award for Excellence in the Arts twice and Westword's Best Storyteller honor. As a full time professional storyteller since 1986, she has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and Christian Science Monitor. She was recently honored by NBC television with 9 other African Americans across the country in 30 second national spots that salute her work as an African American "Living Legend."

(Adapted from articles in the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, and the Chicago Sun Times)