Welcome

Welcome to the Scottish Storytelling Centre and Network, the home of Scotland's stories. 

The Centre is the ideal place to discover live oral storytelling. Make it the first port of call if you want to nurture your own storytelling skills, develop a community storytelling project or find out how to work with a storyteller. 

The Centre also presents a seasonal public programme of storytelling, theatre and literature, supported by exciting visual arts, craft and multimedia exhibitions... Read more

Storyteller with Schoolkids
   

Training

Connecting with storiesBible Stories
Friday 19th February 2010, 2.00-5.00pm
Storytelling lifts words from the printed page to convey a living experience. Through storytelling you can communicate content but also enable creative interpretation, role play and discussion. Led by Linda Bandalier.
£17.50 (£15 Scottish Storytelling Network members). Read more

Events

ValentineValentine's Day, now an international retail and marketing opportunity, takes on a different flavour at the Centre. We have two events leading up to the 14th February, Storytelling Café and Scotland ♥s China, which explore the bitter-sweet of human friendship and love.

Plus, our new Spring programme is now available and crammed with activities for everyone.

   

Visiting us

Come and enjoy Edinburgh's vibrant cultural centre on the Royal Mile. Visit the historic John Knox House and discover Scotland's stories.

The award-winning Centre is situated inJohn Knoxthe heart of Edinburgh's literary and cultural quarter. Opened in 2006, the Centre incorporates a Cafe, Theatre, Storytelling Court  and Library. Read more

Festival

SISF logoThe Festival finished for another year on 1st November with our Festival Salute, bringing together our international guest storytellers from all corners of the globe in a celebration of diversity and an exploration of cultural crossover...Read more

TASD logoThis year there were 39 Tell-a-Story Day events, organised in all sorts of settings: schools, libraries, community centres, churches, pubs and hospitals... Read more

   

What we do

Through its partnership with the Scottish Storytelling Forum, the Centre supports a national Network of storytellers involved in outreach projects with local authorities, environmental agencies, community centres and libraries, engaging with all age groups and diverse cultures of modern Scotland and providing opportunities for the socially and educationally excluded to take part in community-based, inclusive cultural experiences. As the headquarters of the Network, the Centre strives to reinforce Scotland's vigorous contribution to a worldwide revival of interest in storytelling and storytelling traditions.

What is storytelling?

Stories are everywhere around us in newspapers, books, on TV and on the Web. But storytelling happens when the story is told person to person, live, without print or technology. Storytelling is a unique human skill and is one of our oldest artforms. We believe storytelling is for everyone.

The Scottish Storytelling Centre is a partnership between the Church of Scotland and the Scottish Storytelling Forum, financially supported by these partners and by the Scottish Arts Council Lottery Fund, the City of Edinburgh Council, Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian, and a wide range of charitable donations.