Scottish International Storytelling Festival: Lights of the North
22 October–1 November
The 2025 Scottish International Storytelling Festival explores Scotland’s northern identity – sharing tales, songs and myths from the world’s northern arc, which bridges Finland to Iceland and connects Germany to Norway, with Scotland in between.
Tickets on sale now.
#Scottish #literature #storytelling #identity #folktale #song #myth
A Curious Episode at Balquhidder: Placenames in the North & the Nackens
28 October, Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh – free, ticketed
Dr Robert Fell on how the folklore of Nackens (Scottish Gypsy Travellers) can give insights into Scotland’s history & place names
https://sisf.online.red61.co.uk/event/913:6267/913:27696/
#Scottish #literature #minoritylanguage #travellers #Nacken #folklore #placenames #history #storytelling #folktale
What actually deserves my attention at this point in life? And what doesn't.
https://makoism.com/attention/
🧵 Yes, yes, everyone comes out with this now ... but I wanted to mention that I have an account on ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/naturematchcuts and, like many other freelancers, I fuel my storytelling with #coffee! 
So I don't run on fossil fuels and I am purely human in the outer*** shell and brain.
*** which is a lie. These tiny little aliens in our body, named #microbiome, don't live only in our gut but also on our skin.
#storytelling #sciComm #biodiversity #NatureMatchCuts #living
Beacon Book Festival 2026
20–22 February, Greenock
The inaugural Beacon Book Festival will take place next month at Beacon Arts Centre, welcoming some of the UK’s finest writers, poets and storytellers to Inverclyde for three inspiring days of discussion, performance and creativity.
https://www.beaconartscentre.co.uk/beacon-book-festival/
#Scottish #literature #poetry #storytelling #writers #Greenock #Inverclyde
Finding Common Ground: New Scots Stories
16 June, Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh. Free, booking required
Join Finding Common Ground for a community walk & creative writing workshop as part of Refugee Festival Scotland. Discover unexpected connections between migration stories new & old; listen to seldom-heard voices; & find common ground in journeys across landscapes, languages, & literatures
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/finding-common-ground-new-scots-stories-tickets-1382461552719
#Scottish #literature #storytelling #refugees #migration #languages
Afro-Scottish Poetry Event 2025
25 July, Glasgow. Tickets £0–£10
A multicultural evening of poetry, music, & storytelling that celebrates African & Scottish identities through powerful performances. Created & curated by Chisom Okoronkwo with U Belong Glasgow
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/afro-scottish-poetry-event-2025-tickets-1396145632169
#Scottish #literature #African #poetry #storytelling #performance #identity #Glasgow
After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds, & the Paranormal
Scotland’s Darkest Folklore
Currently available on BBC Sounds: exploring tales of selkies, kelpies, & the ancient figure of the Cailleach. Maddy & Anthony's guest today is Donald Smith, founding director of the Scottish Storytelling Centre, & a storyteller who has written & lectured widely on the folklore of Scotland.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0l2hncz
#Scottish #literature #folklore #supernatural #myth #paranormal #storytelling #Scotland
Afro-Scottish Poetry Event 2025
25 July, Glasgow. Tickets £0–£10
A multicultural evening of poetry, music, & storytelling that celebrates African & Scottish identities through powerful performances. Created & curated by Chisom Okoronkwo with U Belong Glasgow
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/afro-scottish-poetry-event-2025-tickets-1396145632169
#Scottish #African #literature #poetry #storytelling #performance #identity #Glasgow #AfroScottish
Songs and storytelling: a thread
This thread is to showcase bands that made music videos that tell a story rather than just clips of them playing. I am sure I missed quite a lot, so I would appreciate it if people boosted this OP in the thread so others can add videos I didn't know about or missed.
The first one in this thread is "A Familiar Taste Of Poison" by Halestorm in which a detective tries to solve a murder mystery
What is... Traditional Storytelling?
7 May, Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh & online. Free
Storytelling comes in all shapes and sizes, but how do we know what makes it “traditional” or not? Orkney storyteller Tom Muir explores the question
https://scottishstorytellingcentre.online.red61.co.uk/event/913:6494/
#Scottish #literature #storytelling #folktale #tradition #traditional #Orkney
An upcoming @letterformarchive pop-up exhibition explores the legacy of Black scholarship in art, literature, and design.
"I think my mother’s thoughts on erasure—ones that I share—are why other perspectives are so deeply important in both creativity and preservation."
https://letterformarchive.org/news/black-memory-scholar-the-language-of-storytellers/
#BlackMemoryScholar #BlackScholars #art #storytelling #history #exhibition
Do people who are losing their absolute shit over Elliot Page being Achilles "just because of accuracy" know that in mythology Achilles was raised disguised as a girl among women to avoid going to war?...
https://youtu.be/PsT9d0G9--E
😭 #Destiny2 #Destiny #Bungie #Sony #3rdspaces #3rdplaces #grief #anger #community #loss #storytelling #adventure #liveservice #gaming #videogames #MMOFPS #onlinegaming
Bird & Beast 2026
The Scottish International Storytelling Festival returns 21–31 Oct with 10 days of myths, folklore & stories from Scotland & beyond, exploring this year’s theme: Bird and Beast. Check out the programme online now!
Libraries Give Us Power: Literacy & Technology
24 September, Gourock Library. Free, booking required
How are technology & artificial intelligence changing the ways we write, read & engage with stories? From AI-generated writing to changing reading habits, join Peter Mackay, Chris McQueer & Adam Felix O’Brien to explore what these developments mean for writers & wider society.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/libraries-give-us-power-literacy-technology-tickets-2000142977488
#Scottish #literature #writing #technology #storytelling #writingcommunity
https://penancerpg.com/shows/m/DT71.mp3
Tensions rise for our Grey Wardens, who rarely take things seriously!
This is our first streamed non-DnD TTRPG campaign, watch on https://www.twitch.tv/penancerpg or catch up on YouTube
#IndieGames #AudioDrama #TableTop #DragonAge #podcast #podcasting #HomeBrew #ActualPlay #gaming #fantasy #Comedy #indieRPGs #StoryTelling #humorous #horror #TTRPG #RPG #RPGs
I find it _interesting_ that most modern portrayals of fairy tales involve kings, knights, princesses and so forth - the privileged aristocratic classes on top of the social pyramid. Even if the protagonist of such a tale is poor, they are still secretly from privileged parents, and their story tends to be about reclaiming their "rightful" (i.e. privileged) place in society.
Meanwhile, the _vast_ majority of German folk tales I have read feature peasant protagonists. Nobles _might_ appear, but they are the villains as often as they are a force for "good".
Reframing fairy tales to focus on protagonists of privileged birth and relegating low-born characters to sidekicks and background characters was a _choice_. It's so pervasive nowadays that most modern-day storytellers don't even realize that they are making this choice, since they have accepted this as "normal". But it is a choice nonetheless.
And if we are telling stories of our own, we need to ask ourselves what choices we are making when developing our protagonists.
“Back home there was a heat wave. Arthur’s Seat was on fire, as were the Cairngorms … we felt untethered from time, from nature’s predictable rhythms. How one week felt like four seasons. A local artist said that the effects of climate change had been felt in the arctic for a long time, & that it seemed that us southerners were only noticing it now.”
Iona Lee considers storytelling as a means of survival in colder climates
Afro-Scottish Events 2026: Voices Beyond Borders
11 September, Glasgow – £0–£15
Afro-Scottish Events returns with an evening of poetry, music, culture & community celebrating the stories, sounds & experiences that connect us across borders
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/afro-scottish-events-2026-tickets-1990760184301
#Scottish #AfroScottish #literature #poetry #music #storytelling #culture
