We had great audience turnouts throughout the festival, often of 100 people in the room. The sessions were often filled to the brim. The tellers told engaging stories and kept parents and children engaged.

Irish Folksinger, songwriter, and modern-day Seanchaí from the Glens of Antrim visited Singapore last month. A few of our members had the oppotunity to meet him. Here are some pictures.

Events in Singapore & Around the World

Mindy Neo from SAS is doing a workshop for the Storytelling in Education Global Conference in October this year.

Click here to find out about the sessions in the conference & to buy tickets.

Attendees at the last two story swaps have enjoyed a wonderful range of stories about trees. There are others who still wish to tell a Tree Story, so we continue with this wonderful theme.

Across cultures and centuries, people have turned to trees for wisdom and meaning. They mark sacred ground, shelter moments of history, and stand beside us in our quiet encounters with life. This session, we continue to honour that presence through stories — legends, folktales, and personal memories

If you would like to tell a prepared story in 5-6 minutes, email Christine Carlton at storyaus@gmail.com  to be put on the list to tell a short story about a Tree or a Woodland of Trees.  The stories are told, not read.

This is a free online event organised by the Australian Storytelling Guild (NSW) Come as a listener or teller. All welcome. 

• Wednesday, 15 October 2025
• 4.20 – 7.00 pm Singapore time 

Register on Humanitix to receive the Zoom link to attend the session

??? ???? ?????????? ???? ?? ?? ???????, ????? ?? ?? – ?? ????????? ????. The ???? ??? ????????? will go out in November 2025.

The FEAST Conference is built on workshops that spark learning, creativity, and connection. So what does it take to craft a workshop that truly resonates?

Before our Call for Proposals opens, FEAST invites you to a special online panel:

Date: Monday 13 October 2025

Time: 5.30pm – 6.30pm Singapore time

Check the time in your time zone here: https://tinyurl.com/WorkshopPanelTime

Panelists: FEAST Directors; Kiran Shah, Roger Jenkins, Sheila Wee and Krupa Vinayagmoorthy

In this conversation, you’ll discover:

•?  ?What FEAST values in workshop design

•?  ?How to balance inspiration with practical take-aways

•?  ?Tips to strengthen your proposal before submission

Whether this is your first conference proposal or your fiftieth, you’ll gain inspiration and practical tips to make your workshop impactful, engaging, and meaningful.

Register here: https://tinyurl.com/RegisterPropPanel

While registration is free, it is required to get the zoom link.

Saturday, October 11, 11 pm SGT

Have you ever wanted to add music to your stories, but you weren’t sure where to start? In this workshop, you’ll learn basic music theory principles and how to apply them to songwriting. Come prepared to play and create. We’ll start with the elementary elements, so no music experience is necessary.

Taught by: Paige Funke

Register here to find out more and get a FREE zoom link.

Our Libraries – Our Treasures 

“A library is a good place to go when you feel unhappy, for there, in a book, you may find encouragement and comfort. A library is a good place to go when you feel bewildered or undecided, for there, in a book, you may have your questions answered. Books are good company, in sad times and happy times, for books are people-people who have managed to stay alive by hiding between the covers of a book.” – E.B. White

On a rainy morning on September 5^th, I was at the Library Supply Centre (LSC), where I got firsthand knowledge of how library materials are received, processed and catalogued before they are placed on display for patrons to browse and borrow them. 

Nearly 3000 new books are received daily, which makes over a million books a year! Think of the team behind the sorting and choosing of those books that we enjoy on a regular basis.

The LSC is the central warehouse and processing center for the National Library Board’s (NLB) network of 28 libraries. Additionally, the NLB has also set up over 300 community reading corners across Singapore. 

I also learnt about conservation and preservation of books from some friendly library staff.

I think libraries are magical places with a wealth of stories and knowledge. My visit to the LSC led me to read about unique libraries around the world and here I share details of two unusual libraries.

A library with no walls and no doors. – The Garden Library for Refugees and Migrant Workers

This library is in Levinski Park by the Tel Aviv central bus station. It is a place where migrant workers gather on their days off without fear of being questioned or checked for identification.

The library has two bookcases, a tall one with books for adult readers and a shorter one that’s easily accessible to children.

The door of the tall bookcase opens up to form a canopy that provides shelter from rain and sun to both the structures. It is a space for people to gather, to read, to browse and to have social meetings. The door of the smaller shelf swings down to form a parquet floor for people to sit on and read. The bookshelves are transparent and illuminated from within and when it is dark the books glow in the dark park.

The two libraries house nearly 3500 books in Mandarin, Turkish, Bengali, Romanian, Tagalog, Arabic, Thai, French, Spanish, Nepalese, Amharic, and English. The smaller cabinet also has books in Hebrew. 

What’s unique is that the books are not catalogued by conventional methods but according to the feelings they arouse in the reader. The books wander between the shelves like wandering nomads. The placement of a book carries the emotional history of its readers. Even if fifty readers think a book is humorous, and if fifty-first reader thinks it horror, the book is moved to the horror section. With the next reader, perhaps the book is placed in a different section.

The Donkey Library – Biblioburro 

Luis Soriano, a primary school teacher in La Gloria, Columbia enjoyed reading as a child and experienced its transformative power, due to the effort of a professor who visited his village twice a month. 

Luis obtained a college degree in Spanish literature and went on to become a primary school teacher. He witnessed the power reading had on his students, most of whom had lived through violent conflicts all their lives.

In the late 1990s he decided to use his spare time to bring smiles to kids in rural areas. He began a portable library, loading his two donkeys named Alfa and Beto with books to carry around communities in Columbia’s Caribbean Sea hinterlands. His library began with 70 books.

When people heard of his venture, a flood of donations poured in, and the collection soon grew to nearly 5000 books. 

Children’s adventure stories have always been one of the most popular genres delivered by the Biblioburro. 

Once, robbers stole a copy of Brida by Paulo Coelho and tied Soriano up after attempting to rob him, before realizing he had no money and that his wealth was his collection of books and the smiles and solace it brought to children’s lives. An adventurous life indeed!

Hence the proverb, “Knowledge is the only treasure which cannot be stolen.” 

“In libraries, you do not need any money, because you are not going to buy anything. But every time you visit a library, you will go home with something new.” – Unknown

References

Wikipedia

Burro – a small donkey used as a pack animal.