Storytellers
Minton Sparks
Nashville-based spoken-word artist Minton Sparks fuses music, poetry, and her intoxicating gift for storytelling into wildly original performances that fall into a category of her own. Described as “the ghost child of Flannery O’Connor and Hank Williams,” Sparks spins tales of southern life backed by musical accompaniments. Sparks' entrancing spoken word guides the audience into the soul's dark struggle with moments of comic relief. She draws listeners into her world with charming familiarity and heart-breaking candor, Sparks picks the lock on her family's hidden stories and pulls each character up into her arms for a memorable dance across the stage.
Her unique blend of poetry and music has been featured nationally on NPR's “All Things Considered” and internationally on the BBC's “Bob Harris Show.” Minton Sparks travels extensively, performing at various venues and festivals to share her performance poetry. Sparks has appeared at Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series alongside Rodney Crowell and Rosanne Cash. Among other festivals, she was a featured performer at the Jonesborough International Storytelling Festival.
Sparks graduated from the University of the South with a B.A. in Psychology and earned an M.Ed. in Human Development Counseling from Vanderbilt University. Awarded the "Leonard Bernstein Fellowship" in 1998, Sparks used the grant to teach poetry classes in Tennessee high schools. She also served as adjunct professor of Psychology at Tennessee State University for 13 years. Sparks has published two books with Thomas Nelson Publishers, Desperate Ransom and White Lightning, and is working on a third. She resides in Nashville with her husband and two children.