Ahead of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival starting on the 22nd of October, I sat down with festival director Donald Smith in the impressive surroundings of the Storytelling Storytelling Centres theatre to talk about this years programme and the fascinating art and traditions of storytelling .

What can audiences expect from this years festival?

The storytelling festival celebrates live storytelling, all its different traditions and forms; some involving music, some straight spoken storytelling, none of it involving scripts or reading it’s all about the created improvised storytelling experience which of course is very ancient but is also having a contemporary renaissance across the world. This years festival is looking at our Scottish traditions alongside the traditions of China, Japan, India, Malaysia and all points in-between. One of the most incredible achievements is getting Mia Xiaolong from Yangzhou who’s managed to keep alive a tradition of intimate storytelling through Mao’s cultural revolution and beyond.

Storytelling is a community thing and it’s important that people take hold of it themselves

One of the most interesting aspects of this years festival is the inclusion of Storytellers from the Ainu community.

Well there’s a very interesting story behind that. The Ainu are the oldest inhabitants of Japan living in the northern islands, they’re a very ancient farming and forest dwelling culture and there’s a particular connection to Scotland. The Ainu say they were saved from extinction by a Scotsman called Dr Munro who was the personal physician to the Emperor of Japan. Munro took up their cause of the persecuted and marginalised Ainu and he campaigned on their behalf to the Emperor and they credit him as having saving them. Bringing the head man of the Ainu alongside the leading traditional storyteller accompanied by his log beater, because storytelling in the Ainu culture is accompanied by log beating is part of an exchange with this culture through our Scottish storytellers, particularly George McPherson of Skye, ongoing for the last three or four years and they will not only be appearing in Edinburgh but also in Inverness and Findhorn.

This years festival is looking at our Scottish traditions alongside the traditions of China, Japan, India, Malaysia and all points in-between

What is the history of the Festival?

Well the festival is actually 21 years old and until recently it operated on a fairly modest scale with many of the events taking place in schools and libraries. Since the opening of the Storytelling Centre, the world’s first purpose built storytelling centre, in 2006 the profile of the festival has climbed steadily. There are a couple of reasons for this: firstly, the uniqueness of this centre existing and also the active support of the Scottish Government’s festivals expo program which has been about promoting Scottish Culture through key Edinburgh festivals not only bringing great artists here but also sending Scottish storytellers out and that, I think, for the whole storytelling scene has been fantastic and it has exploited a Scottish strength as we really are big on this Storytelling tradition.

Would describe storytelling as the original artform?

It is, it’s the oldest form of culture the second oldest form of human entertainment. What I think is very interesting about it, is that storytellers have always been a gateway to the other arts and you see that in these different traditions, how storytelling is intertwined with music and dance and drama and the visual arts like the wonderful Bengali storytelling scrolls we have on exhibit in the centre which are a marvellous piece of folk art that’s still a contemporary popular tradition. You can see film and cartoons, but it’s still good to celebrate the incredible skill someone has, purely through words, gestures and facial expressions to conjure up the whole world of a story with a live audience and we want to celebrate that and explore it in the festival.

Storytellers have always been a gateway to the other arts

What would you say are the similarities and differences between eastern and western storytelling?

The big similarity is that there are different traditions within different countries. In Scotland there’s a very strong hearthside tradition sitting round the fire sharing stories. It’s very intimate but alongside that is what you’d describe as the bardic tradition a far more performative style of storytelling and most of the cultures we have this year have that performance tradition and the great thing about the festival and the centre is we can accommodate both the intimate and the performance based forms within our venues and getting to see these two forms feeding off each other is fascinating.

One thing that I found very interesting is I had always thought the traditional old fashioned idea of a ceilidh, not a big dance but of everyone providing the entertainment, was distinctly Scottish but the idea of the Japanese tea ceremony has incredible similarities where stories are told and everyone was equal.

You have a lot of events taking place around the city and the rest of Scotland.

There’s different layers, numerically there are actually more events going on outside the Centre, either at our partner venues, The Filmhouse, Botanic Gardens and the Scottish Seabird Centre and also our visiting storytellers are going out to share events with storytelling groups in Glasgow, Argyll and Bute, the Highlands and Tayside and the storytellers really appreciate the chance to see more of Scotland. We’ve also got a family programme and many school visits. Of course on 29th October there’s: Tell a Story Day: we’ve got more than 100 events with people creating their own stories in schools, libraries and homes across the country. Storytelling is a community thing and it’s important that people take hold of it themselves.

Why should somebody take part in the Festival?

Well it’s enjoyable, it’s relaxing and it’s entertaining. Storytelling would never have survived as an art form if it hadn’t been entertaining. At the same time it’s very culturally rich and interesting, you learn a lot about other cultures about humanity about human experience of all kinds. They used to say that storytelling was a poor persons art and it’s participative: without the audience it doesn’t exist. It may be the poor persons art but it’s also very enriching.

As well as the workshops about developing your own storytelling skills we also have storytelling clubs which are like open house events, many fine storytellers turn up whether they’re on the bill or not just because they enjoy the environment and the experience.

People who come to the festival tend to go to more than one event and really take part, they get to meet the storytellers and at the end people go away saying “that was just a great experience.”

The festival is on for 10 days what does the Scottish Storytelling Centre offer outside that period?

Well the big opportunities to participate and develop your own storytelling, the clubs, storytelling cafés, family events and and special events featuring Scottish and visiting storytellers continue 12 months of the year. The festival is the culmination of all that, a shop window which we can make international contacts and draw people into the storytelling network locally and nationally who can go on to make contributions to the storytelling throughout the year.

Visit: Scottish Storytelling Centre