Donald Davis grew up near Waynesville, North Carolina, before attending Davidson College. After earning a B.A. in English there, he graduated from Duke University Divinity School. For over 20 years, he was a minister in the United Methodist Church. In 1989, he became a full-time storyteller. He now tours the country 10 months a year, making approximately 300 storytelling presentations annually. Carolina, he conducts special week-long workshops on the creation and performance of personal and family stories. His workshops were the subject of a documentary film that premiered on public television in Utah in August 2010. He has been a featured storyteller at the Smithsonian Institution and the World's Fair and a guest host for National Public Radio'sGood Evening program. He was selected for the "Circle of Excellence" by the National Storytelling Association and served as the chairman of the board of the National Association for the Preservation and Perpetuation of Storytelling for six years. When he's not traveling, he makes his home on Ocracoke Island.