Review by Catherine Coutts As Greek dancer Vassia Bouchagiar-Walker moves lithely onto the floor at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, her task is not an easy one. The audience – largely Scottish traditional music afficionados – are there for the preview of Mairi Campbell’s Living Stone exhibition. They have already been sitting for forty minutes on … Continued

* Elegies is the first dance adaptation for the screen and stage of Hamish Henderson’s series of poems Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica, specifically curated to premiere as part of the 34th edition of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival at Edinburgh’s Scottish Storytelling Centre on 11 November 2023 and available to tour thereafter. * … Continued

* TueSDAY 22 AugUST 2023 9:45pm the Scottish Storytelling Centre Edinburgh part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023 £12 (£10) BOOK NOW 2 for 1 offer with FRINGE FRIEND MEMbership BOOK NOW GROUP DISCOUNT WHEN YOU ORDER 10 OR MORE TICKETS BOOK NOW #thistlesandsunflowers #edfringe #pomegranates PRESS PACK DOWNLOAD Thistles & Sunflowers ProgrammE DOWNLOAD   Join … Continued

Following the success of last year, the Scottish International Storytelling Festival (SISF) is set to return to various venues throughout Edinburgh from 13-29 October 2023, thanks to continued support from the Scottish Government’s Festivals Expo Fund and Creative Scotland. The festival is the world’s largest celebration of storytelling. This year it will mark the 75th … Continued

We are delighted to announce the return of our Pomegranates festival – sowing the seeds of international traditional dance across Edinburgh this spring. Initiated and curated by the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland, the annual festival will once again mark UNESCO’s International Dance Day on 29 April 2023. The second iteration of our festival weekend … Continued

We just celebrated the summer solstice–the longest day of the year–on Sunday, and we’re enjoying the longer daylight hours that summer brings. On Wednesday 24 June, we will celebrate midsummer in Scotland. Midsummer has its roots as a Celtic fire festival, blessing the crops for a fruitful summer harvest with bonfires and using torches to … Continued

The Scottish Storytelling Centre, supported by Scotland’s Winter Festivals event fund, honours the legacy of Robert Burns through a series of cross-generational celebrations, bringing people together home and away. Whether it’s ringing in the New Year with “Auld Lang Syne”, book titles, pop music, or featuring on banknotes – the ploughman’s poet as he’s often … Continued

Every year, St Andrew’s Day garners feasts and celebrations across the nation. It’s a time of compassion, reflection and good fun. This year at the Centre, we’re celebrating our national holiday with two Ceilidhs – a family Ceilidh for all the family and a Ceilidh House to close the day – as well as a multi-sensory … Continued

Tell us an interesting feature of traditional storytelling in your country. Indigenous storytelling is very diverse and is only in the last 20 years beginning to make a comeback with many of the younger generation discovering their own through knowing the ancient stories. How did you become a storyteller? My grandmother was a great teller, … Continued

Tell us an interesting feature of traditional storytelling in your country. Troll is an important part of the traditional stories told, and there are some stories all children grows up with. In Norway, we are so lucky to have the Cultural Rucksack Programme. The Cultural Rucksack programme is part of the government’s cultural policy. It … Continued