This month, join in with a celebration of our shared heritage, human connections and place in the world, through storytelling, music and dance.
The 2019 Scottish International Storytelling Festival will host fifteen guest artists from Canada, along with 60 Scottish storytellers, as part of its biggest international exchange to date. Canada-Scotland: Coast to Coast will celebrate the interwoven cultures and histories of the two countries.
The group, which includes storytellers, musicians and dancers, represents the rich cultural diversity and heritage of Canada. They will perform in Edinburgh and travel across Scotland, as part of the Festival on Tour.
The Festival on Tour will enable international guest artists to meet new audiences and communities, whilst seeing more of Scotland. Associated event programmes will include Scotland and the Arctic in Dumfries and Galloway, the Orkney Storytelling Festival, Aberdeenshire and the Yukon, and A Heart for Duns in the Scottish Borders.
This year’s Storytelling Festival will host the world’s first Global Storytelling Lab, based on the Earth Charter Initiative. Over five days the Lab will explore the politics of folktales, ecological action through storytelling, wild nature, the art of conversation and mythic imagination. Storytellers from Spain, Italy, Canada, Norway, Scotland and the Caribbean will lead participative sessions on how storytellers can respond to our contemporary crises.
Events over the opening weekend of the festival will include street games, stories and songs for all the family; open hearth storytelling sessions; storytelling in the Enchanted Garden; and a living library with people instead of books.
Events will continue throughout the month with live storytelling sessions and talks, covering myths, heroes, heart and home, and some witty barber shop stories. As well as exhibitions including a celebration of folklorist Hamish Henderson and The Somewhere Else with snowy landscapes from artist Fiona Watson.
The 2019 Scottish International Storytelling Festival’s mission is to strengthen storytelling in Scotland as the world’s leading festival of storytelling traditions.
When: 18th – 31st October 2019
Where: At venues across Edinburgh, Scotland
£: Ticket prices vary, depending on the event. Some events are free
More info: www.sisf.org.uk