​In times of collapse and transformation, when familiar ground gives way and long held certainties crumble, stories can offer us provocation, companionship and guidance..

 

In this two week course, we will explore our collective inheritance of oral wisdom traditions from around the globe, focusing on folktales and situating them in dialogue with our embodied histories and lived legacies. 

Participants will be encouraged to meet folktales not as fixed relics, but as living ecologies, rooted in their culture of origin, exploring whether and how they can help us metabolise and address cultural and collective inherited traumas as well as face current realities.  As well as developing and honing our storytelling skills we will discuss questions such as : What does old folktales wisdom have to teach us? What do these old stories need to shed, or be reimagined in order for them to be relevant for us now? And how they might help us compost what was once called ‘normal’ into new possibilities and imagined futures. Through thought provoking and playful exercises we will open spaces for meaningful, courageous and honest conversations, we will be activating our imagination to welcome emerging images, words and stories to help us map possible pathways forward. 

By conversing with contemporary conceptual frameworks such as decolonial work, eco-feminist thinking, somatic intelligence, and queering education, we will explore fluidity, complexity and diversity, as fresh lenses through which we can engage with old folktales.

This journey invites us as storytellers to take courage when needed, to creatively disrupt the status quo when needed, to love the world and sit with that which is messy and broken.  Re-storying a world in transition one story at a time.

 

 

Course Tuition Fee:

As a stand alone course £1150  (£1100 if paid in full in advance) 

As a part of the Storytelling Beyond Words Course March 2026 £1000

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​Accommodation and meals:

There is a limited number of rooms available in the student hostel on the Peredur campus. They are single rooms with shared kitchen and bathroom facilities. Each room contains a bed, wardrobe, desk, chair and washbasin. Peredur provides bedding and a towel. The cost is £35/night, for stays of longer than 7 nights the rate reduces to £28.57/night. Peredur operates on a strictly first-come first-served basis so it is advisable to book the room early. Peredur does not require a deposit, payment is due on arrival.

There is also a space in the car park for 1-2 self-contained campervans, at the rate of £10/person/night.

 To reserve a room please contact info@peredurcentre.org.uk or call  +44 (0)1342 312527

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​Alternatively please contact us for a list of friendly local accommodation.

Please note that this course is self-catering. An option for a light lunch may become available if enough participants will be interested. There is a pub serving food 5 minutes walk away from the venue and a well stocked corner shop.

The nearest train station is in East Grinstead and is just over a mile away. The town also has plenty of restaurants, supermarkets and a Travelodge. The village of Forest Row is only 4 miles away with good accommodation options, three supermarkets, whole food shops, cafes and restaurants. If you have a car, basic accommodation in Forest Row can also be booked as a visiting guest at Emerson College by calling 01342 822238.

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This course  can be taken on its own, or combined with other modules in the longer - Storytelling Beyond Words programme - A three months Storytelling course to meet the challenges of these times.

Starting in 2026, the School of Storytelling is offering its flagship three month course in modular units up to one month at a time, over three years to make it easier for people to carve out the time to attend. 

You can sign up to any unit or take the entire programme as follows:

Year 1 

27th Feb -1st March / Begin it Now - A weekend storyteller´s craft course for beginners

2nd - 13th March / Folktales in Troubled Times - A fresh and critical view of the wisdom of the oral tradition.

15th - 27th March / Once Upon a Lifetime - Weaving biographical storytelling and traditional wondertales to one performance

 

Year 2 

Eco-Mythology / working with the interweaving of land and myth

Voice and Movement 

Individual coaching

Module dates and price to be confirmed 

 

 

Year 3 

March 2028 

Applied storytelling project - Creating a storytelling performance or workshop

Voice and Movement 

Individual coaching

Module dates and price to be confirmed 

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