Scottish International Storytelling Festival:

The Laughing Mermaid & Other Stories

The Scottish International Storytelling Festival comes to Oban!

This Winter Festival, we welcome two events as part of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival, celebrating our region’s long tradition of storytelling.

Never been to a storytelling event before? This event is Pay What You Can, making it easy to try something new. Opt for a free ticket or set a price that is affordable to you. For any questions, please email arts@therockfieldcentre.org.uk.

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The Laughing Mermaid & Other Stories: Live Family Storytelling

Welcome to an hour of funny folktales from Denmark with storytellers Svend-Erik Engh and Alice Fernbank, bringing you an assortment of stories from Svend-Erik’s book Danish Folktales. Meet laughing mermaids, giant snakes, a fat cat, a runaway sledge, giants, devils, and of course Vikings! Not suitable for children under 7. 

Alongside this daytime event, Alice Fernbank will also be hosting an evening storytelling session: ‘Odin’s Eye and the Art of Seeing’. To find out more, click here.

Sven-Erik Engh

Sven-Erik Engh tells Viking stories, Norse myths and Scandinavian folktales and legends. He was born and raised in Denmark with a Norwegian mother, so the stories he shares are “in his blood and bones”. He has a passion for all good stories and has collected many on his world travels over the years. He has tales from Namibia where he worked in the 90s, China where he travelled to in the 80s, as well as many other stories from global traditions. Now that he calls Scotland his home, he has become deeply inspired by Scottish history and traditions, in particular its relationship to the Vikings, connecting Scotland to his own heritage. He has found and created many tales that share the history of Vikings in Scotland.

Alice Fernbank

“I tell old stories. Folktales myths and legends from all over the world which connect us to the lives we have led and the lives we are leading. Passed on for centuries, they hold the wisdom of the ages.

I tell new stories. Spontaneous tales. Woven in the moment, plucked from the immediate present and shaped according to what needs to be shared in that space, at that time with those people. These are stories to delight, to heal, to connect us to the present.”

Alice Fernbank’s stories come from world myths and folktales, with many from the Celtic tradition. They include tales of tricksters and shape-shifters; ghosts and mythical creatures; historical legends and epic myths. Alice loves to tell transformational stories of women and girls and their heroic adventures, and stories about the land and water of the East Anglian fen country, where she spent her childhood. She also practises the art of spontaneous storytelling; improvising stories in the moment.

Alice came to storytelling through her career as an actress in the theatre. She now uses her theatrical skills to enrich her storytelling, creating believable engaging characters interwoven within her telling. Igniting imaginations and connecting people young and old through story is a passion of Alice’s. She works with school children, teenagers, parents, teachers, university lecturers, and entrepreneurs, helping them to discover the power of storytelling.

Scottish International Storytelling Festival

This event is kindly provided by the Scotland International Storytelling Festival and TRACS (Traditional Arts & Culture Scotland), a co-operative network which champions our shared traditions of music, song, storytelling, dance, crafts, customs and local languages.

Join us as we explore, question and celebrate this year’s theme: Right To Be Human. This year, on the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we consider the many challenges we face, from human health and wellbeing to the health and future of our planet. However, there is also a worldwide movement to meet these challenges, and to exist imaginatively, fairly and in community with the whole diversity of life. Storytelling has embraced these values from the dawn of culture and stories today can help us be more connected to the world around us, as well as our rights, showing us how to be more alive and creative as humans.