Do enjoy a good yarn? Would you like to learn storytelling skills? Between the 4th -10th August 2008 audiences and prospective storytellers will get the chance to take part in the Shetland Arts Storytelling Festival.

The festival has been developed in partnership with the Shetland Story Tellers. It will run parallel to Fiddle Frenzy and has been based on the model of the highly successful annual fiddle summer school. The festival will offer core workshops each morning and cultural trips with story tellers in the afternoons. Storytelling will also be integrated into the Fiddle Frenzy concerts at night.

The Story Tellers have always been a fundamental part of the experience visitors get when taking part in Fiddle Frenzy and 2008’s festival will see the development of this partnership into the creation of the their own festival which will feature the story telling talents and skills of Lawrence Tulloch, Davy Cooper and from the Scottish Highlands, Bob Pegg, a man who weaves music and song into his tales. Between them, these three masters of the story telling craft have performed far and wide across the globe - from America to Sweden and from London to Iceland – as well as in Shetland itself.

There will be a festival club in the Grand Hotel, Commercial Street, Lerwick, where the storytellers will have their own dedicated space to run a feast of activities including a tall tales competition, share a story box and host an evening for everyone to share their ghost stories alongside Fiddle Frenzy’s session rooms. Participants in both festivals will be able to freely circulate and enjoy the music and tales.

The series of workshops will include sessions on: where to draw inspiration from; voice techniques; how to build a rapport with an audience - this workshop will be open to musicians and will look at the use of storytelling techniques in communicating with an audience; storytelling for children and teaching children to tell stories.

Anyone wishing further information should contact Richard Wemyss by email: richard.wemyss@shetlandarts.org  or by telephone: 01595 743 843