Tell Me a Story...

Once upon a time, somebody had the brilliant idea of opening a centre in Scotland where the noble art of raconteurism would be allowed to flourish. Situated on Edinburgh’s High Street, the Scottish Storytelling Centre occupies an appropriately central position in the nation’s capital, as if symbolising how highly storytelling is valued in Scottish culture.

There are many events at the SSC every month, some for the old, some for the young, some with music, some with audience participation, and all offering great entertainment. The staff are particularly proud to be launching some new children’s books in April – though in truth they can rightly be proud of the work they do every day anyway. But let’s get to the book launch: This event, taking place from 11am on 24 April, is cheerily titled ‘Cats, Bagpipes and Bottoms’ and is to present three new children’s picture books, by authors Lari Don (who is one of the centre’s directory storytellers), Margaret Forrester and Angus Corby. They’ll be on hand to read from their work to children – the event is aimed at 3-6 year olds – and illustrator Sandra Klaasen will be on hand too to demonstrate how to draw the sort of characters that these books will feature – like Mac the Cat. Does this sound like something a kid you know will enjoy? If so, you should also know that (maybe because 3-6 year olds don’t carry much cash?) the event is completely free.

Obviously that event won’t be for everyone, so what else is on in April? Well, the Centre has a range of events for all ages. Adults should keep an eye out for the Storytelling Café events that run at different times throughout the month, and provides a typically Scottish evening of stories, music and singing, with the opportunity to tell a story of your own if the mood takes you. A quick warning though – these events can turn into ceilidhs! If you’re looking for pure narration, you could try the Hear and Tell Storytelling Club, meeting monthly (April 24th is the next one) in the Braid Hills Hotel, or there’s the regular Guid Crack events, with this month’s on the 30th at the Waverley Bar, and featuring poet Tom Pow alongside regular host David Campbell for an evening of tales and poems. If you’re still looking for something to take kids to though, there are puppet animation events running every day from the 1st to the 7th of April, for a variety of age groups. For even younger age groups, the Centre has teamed with Scottish Opera to produce the fascinating sounding BabyO events from the 21st of April onward, for children aged 6-18 months, where babies and their carers can wander a ‘secret garden’ with opera singers on hand to provide musical accompaniment. That’s not exactly something you see every day. All of these, and many other, events will take place this month.

The Centre doesn’t just offer entertainment though. They regularly run courses for anyone wanting to learn, or just to improve, their storytelling skills at a variety of levels depending on experience. They also do plenty of work with professional and community storytellers across Scotland, helping them take their work to as many people as possible, irrespective of faith, culture or disability. It’s a generally benevolent organisation, basically, and going to any of their events will benefit their work further. So what are you waiting for – don’t you want to know how to live happily ever after?