Once upon a time storytellers would often travel around sharing knowledge, myths, stories and news from neighbouring towns and cities. What news do we storytellers share nowadays? This question was very much in my mind on a recent trip to Switzerland.

As I packed my clothes, I wondered how the survivors in Gaza were managing to keep some kind of dignity. With drinking water being so scarce, little would be left for washing clothes and baby’s nappies. Water is life and the well in Gaza is drying up fast. As I swam in the cool waters of Lake Geneva, I visualized a powerful magic wand letting clean, refreshing water flow so that everyone in Gaza had enough to drink, to cook with, to clean their wounds, for personal hygeine and for anything else they need. Sadly, this magic wand was not powerful enough to protect the ten people murdered as they queued for water with their jetty cans on the 13th of July, six of them were children.

As I packed a 2-week supply of dogfood into my car, I wondered what stories the surviving dogs in Gaza would share about their situation. What were they eating? How has the constant noise of exploding bombs affected them?

In Lausanne I found a crate of fresh apples and sandwiches beside a rubbish bin. I wished I had a magic carpet to tele transport the food to Gaza where Israeli forces have killed over 1,000 aid-seekers in Gaza since May. The weaponizing of food means that desperate, hungry people now face the inhumane choice of starving to death or risk being killed while queuing for food. My magic carpet would take people to safe home where they could eat, sleep in a comfortable bed and share stories of better times.

A few hours later I watched my son dance classical ballet, and I wondered how human beings can create such incredible beauty and such atrocities at the same time.

On the way back to Spain, I spent the night in Carcassonne, France, a beautiful medieval citadel which was the site of much conflict in the past. The crusaders looted and burned the city, expulsing the Cathars who had sought refuge there, stripping them of their clothing before forcing them to leave. Now Carcassonne is a world heritage site visited by 4 million tourists each year. As I was falling asleep, I recalled the AI video that went viral about Gaza being converted into a tourist resort and I prayed that the day will not come when tourist guides will be telling the stories of the victims of this genocide to millions of thoughtless tourists.

Early the next morning we awoke to find the streets of Carcassonne full of paratroopers with rifles and military helicopters hovering overhead. The gunshots were deafening, and I was literally frozen with fright before being pulled to safety behind furniture. I tried to make sense of the situation. Was France at war, if so with whom? When things eventually quieted down, we ventured out, picked up some of the hundreds of spent brass cartridges that littered the streets and fled the city. Only hours later did we discover it had just been a training practise, although we saw no signs to alert us to this. But how would we have reacted after hundreds of sleepless nights, weakened by grief, hunger, hopelessness and nowhere to run to? I dreamt of converting the brass cartridges into a trumpet that could express the frustration, anger and helplessness that so many people are feeling about what is happening in Gaza.

All these incidents made me question the role that we storytellers can play in such a polarized world. What can we do to help keep the stories of the people in Gaza alive in the face of adversity in a world where arms sales seem to rule over humanity? Many UK-based storytellers have found a way through the internet.

David Heathfield, an English storyteller, cofounded the project “Tell a Child in Gaza’s Tale” with Haneen Khaled Jadallah, a theatre teacher from Gaza. The idea of the project was to give voice to children in Gaza through oral storytelling. David has been bringing visibility to the plight of people in Gaza at storytelling festivals and other events. He has also been very active on his Facebook page, posting about the cause every day since the 10th of November 2023. There you can find links to young Palestinian storytellers telling folk tales from Palestine and other countries around the world as well as a variety of short stories created by the children of Gaza themselves. David encourages storytellers, teachers and students to retell these stories and send them to be uploaded onto this YouTube channel. You can find more details in this article.

Another storyteller, Dafydd Davies-Hughes, from Wales has been posting poetic, provocative stories on his Facebook page which help to shed light on the daily life of the people in Gaza. Dafydd kindly gave his permission to include the following story.

Is all you need to do
“One loaf of bread please baker! “
Politely asked the child.
The baker wiped his apron,
Leaned and wryly smiled.
The boy was young yet rather tall,
Though perhaps that was his face,
Thinned and harrowed - with a brow
Too furrowed for his age.
“Ah!, replied the baker
“For that I’ll need some flour! “
He fetched a sack from out the back
And handed it over the counter.
The boy reached up and took it,
Tucked it under his arm,
“I’ll be straight back”, he promised,
Then out the door he ran.
An hour passed - then another.
The baker went to the door.
Stood looking up the ruined road,
At the rubble strewn on the floor,
At the yawning holes in the shop facades
That had long ceased selling goods,
At the dusty footprints on his steps
Where the boy had lately stood.
"Come out! Come out Palestinians!
We've flour for your bread!"
They waited till the square was full
Then shot them in the head.
The baker looked down at the palms of his hands,
At the step where the child had stood,
Fetched a sack from out the back
Then closed his shop for good.

Other storytellers have been communicating with Hala, a 16-year-old girl living in Gaza, via Facebook messenger. They encouraged her to share her thoughts, dreams, fears and experiences in a book The Gaza Girl: Gaza Diaries. Perhaps one day this book will be as famous as The Diary of Anne Frank and storytellers will be retelling her story.

But is it safe for storytellers to tells stories to support the cause of the people in Gaza in such a polarized world? The issue is very sensitive in countries like the UK where the government have banned the group Palestine Action and proscribed them as a terrorist organization. You can mention the word ‘Palestine’ and the word ‘action’ separately, but if you mention these words together you could be accused of terrorism.

At Glastonbury festival, 2 performances caused a lot of controversy: Kneecap, a rap group from Northern Ireland known for their socially conscious lyrics, led a crowd of tens of thousands chanting ‘free Palestine’ and Bobby Vylan, led chants of “death, death to the IDF’ (the Israel Defence Forces). Consequently, many of their programmed summer events were cancelled. Other artists labelled as terrorists are out on bail and are not allowed to perform in certain cities.

UK based comedian Reginal D. Hunter is being prosecuted for jokes he made on Twitter by the pro-Israel lobby group, Campaign against Antisemitism (CAA). A couple denounced him as being antisemitic after hearing his jokes and Hunter and his agents have received hate mail and death threats. This is a targeted assault on the freedom of expression and may serve as a warning to any storyteller who supports the Palestinian cause.

We never know who is in the public and how our stories may affect them. Some years ago, in a storytelling residency I facilitated in a school in the Sierra de Madrid, some students chose a tale from the Jewish tradition to perform at their end of year event, and this resulted in a boycott from parents who were sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. A simple folktale can cause ripples!

So, what do you as a storyteller tell nowadays? Perhaps you hear the call to join the whirlpool of storytellers supporting the cause of the Palestinian people by telling folktales from this ancient culture or retelling a story from the Tell a Child in Gaza’s Tale project or sharing something from The Gaza Diaries in your session. Some storytellers feel comfortable relating “If I must Die” by Refaat Alareer’s the murdered Palestinian poet and others prefer to simply tell stories of peace and conflict resolution.

So, what will future storytellers say about the storytellers of 2025? Do we still share knowledge, myths, stories and news from neighbouring cities and countries? Do contemporary storytellers tell stories with a cause?

Jennifer Ramsay

This article is part of our Bulletin n.º 104 - Cuentos con causa, coordinated by Carmen Ibarlucea

Here you can read the article in spanish

Spanish / Catalan / Galician / Basque

The associations AEDA, ANIN, LA FAULA, GNOA, MANO and NOGA, and all the storytellers constituting their membership, publicly express dissatisfaction with the practically years-long freeze in the budgets allocated to storytelling sessions and events in many of the public libraries in which we work.

Telling stories live before an audience requires effort and a great deal of preparation, ranging from the selection of stories and the narrative resources to make each story compelling, to the handling of often complex situations when working with dozens of people of differing ages and interests.

Professional storytelling is a demanding occupation. It requires continuous training over and above the years of experience gained through working in schools, libraries, theatres and public spaces before very different audiences in a wide variety of contexts. For that reason we believe fair remuneration is necessary, in order to allow us to meet the costs involved in our profession.

Those of us performing in libraries are engaged in artistic work rooted in tradition. Storytelling, when carried out professionally, is a relatable, stimulating activity which is highly valued by all audiences, whether they be babies, schoolchildren, teens or adults. 

As self-employed professionals we pay our dues with respect to the social security system, income tax, and civil liability insurance, while in addition we bear many other associated costs, such as a vehicle or transport, living expenses while working away, and administrative costs. We recommend that you read this article, which explains everything in more detail. 

To put this declaration into context, it should be noted that since 2020 the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has increased by almost 20% (see here) while the Interprofessional Minimum Wage has increased by some 50%. In some libraries and institutions running reading promotion campaigns, fees for storytelling professionals have not only not increased accordingly, but have remained virtually unchanged for years. This article on “How to Create a Storytelling Budget” may shed some light in that regard. 

We also believe that on many occasions there is a justifiable grievance when compared to other cultural, sporting or leisure activities which enjoy fairer budgetary provisions. 

For all of the above, storytellers throughout Spain urge those responsible for allocating and approving budgets, and those planning activities in public institutions, to give our craft and expertise the respect we believe it deserves, just as the public does.

This declaration is signed by all the storytelling associations in Spain:  AEDA, Spanish Professional Oral Tradition Association. – ANIN, Storytelling Association (Catalonia) – LA FAULA, Catalan Professional Oral Tradition Association, GNOA, Andalusian Oral Tradition Guild – MANO, Madrid Oral Tradition Association – NOGA, Galician Oral Tradition Collective.

It is said to be a dark moment for the planet, as the earth is heating up as global warming becomes a reality. Forests are burning down and as they turn to ash, they take with them stories of ancient trees and of all the flora y fauna that live in these ecosystems. And the voice of the icebergs ring out with an urgent tone; they are melting away and as they do so countless stories that have been locked within the frozen ice, since remote times, are released.

And, I ask myself, is there anyone out there willing to tell these stories? Is there a public out there, ready to listen to these stories? Who is listening to the obituaries of the people in the cultures that are disappearing before our eyes? Where are the people to assist the funerals of the extinct species who disappear off the face of the earth every day? If there is no one to tell and listen to these stories, then it is indeed, a dark moment for the planet.

It is also said that we need the darkness to see the stars and at this very moment, two lovely initiatives are shining brightly in this darkness: The Earth Stories Collection  and the global network of The Earth Story Tellers.

But, first of all, let me tell you how it all started … To do so, we need to travel in time and space to a dark, dark night and enter into a dream that Grian Cutanda, creator of the NGO the Avalon Project, had. It was a strange dream and initially the message was unclear. Little by little, the symbology of the dream started to reveal itself and transform into a real live dream: The Earth Story Collection project. The aims are to create a global bank of stories for the good of planet Earth and her inhabitants. It was inspired in a seed bank, but instead of plants seeds, the Earth Story Collection would collect “cultural seeds”, of myths, legends, fables, stories and other traditional tales from all around the world.

Castellano

As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.

Carl Gustav Jung 

The species of Humanity comes from darkness, when night covered the earth, everything became threatening. Humans, sensitive beings, felt the cold on their naked bodies, and were afraid of the howls of wolfs and the snarls of beasts that wandered nearby their primitive shelters. 

As the first humans mastered the art of hunting to defend themselves and to feed off the animals they began to wear their skins to protect themselves from the cold. It was a treacherous and arduous time as they were at the mercy of the elements, and survival was a constant challenge with death always just around the corner. These fragile beings were able to succeed  thanks to their superior intelligence. 

In the dawn of human civilization there was an urge and desire to symbolize. Human beings discovered fire and created art, leaving behind works of great beauty in caves like Altamira. In those times, they would sit around the fire and tell stories, sharing their feelings and hopes. That eagerness to communicate, to talk about ourselves, and confide to another is one of the most powerful instincts of being human. 

Talking about oneself requires the ability to imagine and symbolize.  Thus,  from this urge to tell, human beings started to design and develop fictional stories,  under the splendorous stars that shone at night, guiding them as they walked blindly to their destination, in an uncertain fight for survival.