Mama KoKu's Story

African-American Storyteller, Donna Kokumo Buie, (aka. Mama Koku), is a Master Storyteller and children's writer. She is also an educator who has taught children at all age levels, from pre-school to high school.

Koku graduated with honors from North Carolina Central University, majoring in Theatre Arts with concentrations in Performance and Education. During her studies at NCCU, she received several awards from both the Education and Drama departments for outstanding achievements in scholarship, performance and service. Mama Koku is a member of the Kuumba Storytellers of Georgia, The National Association of Black Storytellers, and the Southern Order of Storytellers. Koku is the Offitial Teller for the National Black Arts Festival’s Children’s Educational Village.

Koku has performed as Featured Teller for:

• The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site
• Atlanta History Center
• Imagine it Children’s Museum of Atlanta
• The National Black Arts Festival 
• The Decatur Children's Festival 
• Grant Park’s Summer Shade Festival
• Minneapolis' Signifyin' & Testifyin' Storytelling Festival  
• Rhode Island’s Funda Fest
• Jacksonville,  Florida’s Griot Festival 
• National Association of Black Storytellers
• Adopt-A-Teller Program (New Orleans) 
• Florida’s Panhandle Library System 
• The Apex Museum 
• The Wren's Nest
• The High Museum of Art  
• Woodward Academy at the High  
• Zoo Atlanta
• The Fulton County Arts Council 
• Chattanooga's Creative Discovery Museum

Local school performances and residencies include:

• Little Scholars Academy
• Sheltering Arms 
• Atlanta Speech School
• The Sunshine House
• The Frazer Center
• Hillside Learning Center
• The Children’s School
• The Suzuki School
• The Galloway School
• Daydreams Early Learning Center
• Future Leaders Christian Academy
• Greenforest/McCalep Early Learning Center
• Future Leaders Christian Academy
• Fulton County Schools
• Atlanta Public Schools
• Clayton County Schools
• Douglass County Schools
• Paulding County Schools
• The Neighborhood Charter School
• Locust Grove Elementary School

Koku’s other performances include several church, library, and private venues throughout Georgia

In addition to all of this, Mama Koku’s fifteen minutes of fame includes her “small but pivotal" role in the movie “The Color Purple”. If you book a performance and can recite one of her five, “crucial to the plot”,  lines she’ll give you a 10% discount!