April 2023 Newsletter
Storytelling Association (Singapore) is hosting our first
Story Web
Story Web is a gathering where members to tell their stories and/or share updates with fellow members in an informal setting.
Date: Saturday 15th April 2023
Time: 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm Singapore time
Where: 5000N Marine Parade Road, #04-59 Lagoon View SG 449295
Fee: Free for SAS Members.
Space is limited to 10 members, on a “first come, first serve” basis
Light refreshments will be served, though you are welcome to bring something to share if you wish.
Introduction to Storytelling I and II.
(Organised by the Singapore Book Council Academy.)
Interested in storytelling but don’t know where to start? These workshops by professional storyteller Sheila Wee are for you.
In two 7-hour modules of hands-on training (over 2 consecutive Saturdays), you will gain a firm grounding in storytelling skills. You will leave with one ready to tell story and the tools and confidence to learn and tell more stories.
In a warm and supportive group environment you will learn why storytelling is such a powerful form of communication; how stories can be structured to hook listener’s attention, and discover your own personal storytelling style. Through group, partner and individual exercises, you will be guided through a step-by-step method of learning to tell a story without memorising the words. You will also discover how to add details to make the story uniquely yours, and learn effective story rehearsal and performance techniques.
About Sheila Wee:
Sheila Wee is a professional?storyteller, and?storytelling?teacher with 24 years’ experience. Because of her work to pioneer the movement to revive the use of?storytelling, she has been described as a Godmother of Singapore?storytelling.
She co-founded Singapore’s first professional?storytelling?company and is a founding professional member and the past president of the?Storytelling?Association (Singapore). As well as running her?storytelling?business?Storywise, Sheila is a founding director of the?Federation of Asian?Storytellers.
Special offer for SAS members!
20% off Introduction to Storytelling I
OR
10% off on the heavily discounted bundle Storytelling I and II
Dear SAS members, if you wish to access the discount, please write to sheilamwee@gmail.com . We will send you the discount code that you can then enter on the registration link.
To register and find out more about the facilitator and the program, please click the registration link.
Events in Singapore & Around the World
Free Online Storytelling
Take a journey with us through time and taste buds, to experience mouth-watering stories, featuring a delectable blend of folktales and personal memories. You may meet a wicked witch who lives in a gingerbread house that is adorned with all types of candy, or a child at the corner store who can’t make up his mind as to which lollies to purchase with his few coins. What were your favourite confectionary treats as a child? – Musksticks, freckles, jelly babies, jaffas, Minties, lollipops, sherberts, Fantales, milk bottles, licorice allsorts, jelly beans, lifesavers, fruit tingles …. or something else?
If you would like to tell a prepared story of 5-6 minutes, email Christine Carlton at storyaus@gmail.com to be put on the list to tell a story. Your story could be a personal story, myth, legend, folktale, or contemporary fictional story.
When: Wednesday 19th April 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm SGT
Where: Online on Zoom (link will be provided)
Register on Eventbrite to receive the zoom link
This is a free online event organised by the Australian Storytelling Guild (NSW) For more information go to australianstorytellers.org.au/events
Come as a listener or teller. All welcome.
Join Noa Baum, in a FEAST LEARNING CAPSULE to discover how a memory can be crafted into a story that can inspire listeners.
Noa Baum will guide us in an interactive process to explore some of the basics of crafting personal stories. You will begin to identify and talk about meaningful narrative events in your life in a way that is inspiring, empowering and can impact others.
Since SAS is an institutional member of FEAST (Federation of Asian Story Tellers), 5 members of SAS can attend this workshop at FEAST member’s rate of SGD$6 (standard rate is SGD$13). Sign up quickly to be the first 5 SAS members to enjoy this rate! Email feastwebinars@gmail.com to get this special rate.
Date: Thursday 20th April 2023
Time: 7:30pm to 9:00 pm (Singapore time)
Where: Online on Zoom
To find out more about Noa Baum and to register, click here.
FEAST has numerous events (some free and some for a small fee) every month. To find out more go to their website here.
Submissions are now open for storytellers, authors and performers to apply to take part in this year’s Yorkshire Festival of Story (YFOS) programme. The two-week storytelling festival will take place online and in-person in North Yorkshire in November 2023.
Throughout the festival Settle Stories will be responding to the provocation,
‘If stories and fairy tales speak truth to power, how can they help us to achieve justice in the world?’
So, if you have an event idea relating to the provocation and would like to be part of YFOS23, please complete this online submission form by clicking here or heading to https://settlestories.typeform.com/YFOS23.
Please apply by the 17th April 2023
The Beyoutiful She Turtle –
ADULT OLIO Storytelling Programme
Four women from different generations and different cultures have come together. The result is four personal stories about freedom, about womanhood, woven in one traditional tale. Despite their diversities, as they spoke, they realised they were united by many things. Regardless of the thousands of miles between them, they share their dreams, their fears, their strengths, their happiness through ” The Beyoutiful She Turtle“.
When : Thursday, April 13, 2023 7:30PM to 9:00PM SGT
(Check the time in your own time zone here)Fee : Free for members ; $7 SGD for non-members
Stories! Stories! Stories!
If I were the ruler of a land, I would declare a holiday on World Storytelling Day falling on 20th March! People of my land would set aside all chores for the day, sit with friends and family and share engrossing stories of all kinds – short stories, long stories and personal stories.
What is life without stories? Boring reality? Every once in a way it is good to ignore reality, and cruise along in a land of make believe!
World Sparrow Day, International Day of Happiness, and World Storytelling Day all fall on 20th March. Is that a coincidence? I associate sparrows and stories with happiness, and hence the fact that celebrations for all three of them are on the same day doesn’t surprise me.
The theme for World Storytelling Day 2023 was “Together We Can”. Yes, “together we can.” For instance, increased awareness of the dangers of extinction has led to a rising sparrow population in Chennai, India. The chirping of sparrows in Chennai, like the chirping of mynas in Singapore is an added attraction and one never feels alone with their reassuring chatter.
As kids we revelled in all kinds of stories; Tenali Raman, Akbar and Birbal, Aesop’s Fables, Naseeruddin Hodja, and Vikram and Betaal. The last ones were written in the 11th century by a Kashmiri poet, Somdev Bhatt. These are spellbinding moral stories told to a wise king by a witty but serious ghost.
Most of these stories are timeless, and relevant even today. These stories are sometimes witty, sometimes wise. Their message can be so subtle that one may miss it completely. The stories are pedagogic in nature with a hidden lesson in them. These wisdom tales highlight the fool within us, as we are prone to doing silly things every day. The self-deprecating humour in the Naseeruddin Hodja and Akbar-Birbal tales helps us recognise this foolishness effectively. They hold up a mirror to society, often asking people to reflect on their behaviour through simple everyday anecdotes.
We learnt much through these stories. Their never ending supply ensured that we were never bored during school holidays and the pleasure derived was lasting.
“Good stories surprise us. They make us think and feel. They stick in our minds and help us remember ideas and concepts in a way that PowerPoint presentations crammed with bar graphs never can.”
– Joe Lazauskas and Shane Snow, The Storytelling Edge
Here area few funny stories to help us remember that a wise fool lives in all of us!
Naseeruddin Hodja
Naseeruddin Hodja had lost his donkey and was searching all over town for it. He searched across fields, valleys and rivers, but he had no luck. Instead of being upset, as he searched, he smiled.
Onlookers were puzzled! Someone asked, “Why are you smiling when you have lost your donkey?”
Hodja replied, “I am smiling thinking how lucky I am! If I had been riding my donkey, I would be lost as well.”
Akbar-Birbal
Emperor Akbar asked his wise minister Birbal to find him 10 fools. He said, “As an emperor I meet only wise men, but I would like to meet 10 of the greatest fools from my land.” He gave Birbal one month to find them.
And so, Birbal set forth to find 10 fools He found a man riding on a donkey carrying a bundle of wood on his head. Birbal was puzzled and asked the man why he had placed the bundle of sticks on his head instead of the saddle behind him. The man said that his donkey was old, and he did not wish to burden the animal any further. Birbal had found his first fool.
He found his second fool; a man was frantically searching for something when Birbal asked him if he had marked the place where he had buried his treasure. The man retorted that he wasn’t such a fool, and indeed he had marked the place as there was a beautiful cumulonimbus cloud right above that spot. With a wide grin Birbal was pleased to have found the second fool. He managed to find 8 fools, before returning to court to present them to the emperor.
Akbar asked him, “Where are the ninth and tenth fool?” Birbal told him, “Your highness, I am the ninth fool as I wasted my time in finding the fools, and you are the tenth fool as you set me this task.”
The entire court burst into laughter and the loudest laugh was that of Emperor Akbar! He indeed had a sense of humour!
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
– William Shakespeare