News and Events

It was midday June 16  and I was alone in the San Sebastiani Basilica on the ancient Roman road in Ostia.   It was empty, cold and musty.

I was exhausted from a chaotic two week concert tour with my choir in northern Italy, and had contemplated leaving for home many times. 

Exactly one year previously, in the very last minutes of the National Storytelling Network conference in Tacoma, Washington, the Irish teller Liz Weir had casually mentioned the 2025 FEST conference in Rome. 

The dates lined up with my choir tour.  I wondered how complicated it would be to stay for an extra 12 days, travel on my own to Rome, and participate in the conference and festival?

Well, plenty complicated as it turned out:  misplaced passport, lost phone, locked in 3 bathrooms, missed train trips, lost walking poles, leg injury, costly beyond belief… my oft-used conversation opener was Scusi, sono perdito (Excuse me, I’m lost)… yet It was SO Italy, maddening, inspiring, delicious!

The shuttle arrived, doors opened, and a few dozen men and women of all ages, speaking Italian, French, Dutch, Swedish, German and Romanian entered San Sebastiani.  

My soul leapt.   

I recognized them at first glance. The storytellers are here!

Here were my people.

All would be well.

The Federation of European Story Tellers Conference 2025, and Raccontamiunastoria International Storytelling Festival on the theme Muses and Pilgrims unfolded over the next week.

It was a festive celebration -  oftimes raucous -  of the rich, ancient, pagan and Christian Roman heritage, a true crossroad of cultures, people and civilizations for thousands of years.  Many powerful biographies, folktales, legends, myths were well-told.  

With a passionate commitment to cultural inclusivity,  tellers had been invited from  the Middle East : Lamiri Montasara (Tunisia),  Sarah Kassir (Lebanon), with a featured contingent from Palestine:  Fidaa Ataya (Ramallah), Alham Saed (Gaza),  and a group of 8 emerging tellers from the Art of Storytelling Academy of Ramallah, Palestine.  Sadly, with the intense complications of army checkpoints, airports and visas, only Alham Saed was able to make it to Rome.    

Tragedy followed.  Her mother passed two days later, en route to the hospital in Gaza.  

We held a remembrance for her, and astonishingly, the cicadas stopped their loud singing when our two minutes of silent prayer began. 

Nature reflects human soul.

It was in the presence of these remarkable tellers from the Middle East that I experienced the strength of storytelling as a profound cultural necessity.

And, in Fidaa’s absence, her longtime colleague, Toronto’s Sarah Abu-Sharar, ably lead her workshops. They have been collaborative tellers and social rights advocates for years.

The conference featured innovative story technique workshops, story application explorations, masterclasses, voicework sessions, and the range of creativity we enjoy in our SC-CC events.

Two impressive new projects were:  the Cassandra Project, an emerging tellers training program for 15 tellers in five countries, and the launch of a Master’s program in Performance Storytelling at Roma Tre University, beginning this year.  

I was thrilled to be at this conference and festival. 

I loved walking the ancient hill on the evening of  June 21 to mark the summer solstice, stopping at six places along the path to hear world tales of sun and moon, and to conclude with a festive circle dance behind San Sebastiani at midnight as the candles flickered along the stone pathway.

I warmed to the instant camaraderie, meeting so many new storypals throughout Europe, and receiving invitations to participate in new events.

I relished swimming every day in the Mediterranean!

I loved telling Skeleton Woman, an Inuit legend, and have it simultaneously translated into Italian.

I was inspired by the range of narratives, world tales, political insights, discourses and debates.

I am now an associate (non-voting) member of the Federation of European Story Tellers.

I invite other SC-CC members to join.

Many of us won’t be traveling to National Storytelling Network events in the USA anytime soon.

Reflect on our PM’s decision to travel first to Europe.

Consider joining. https://fest-network.eu/

Let’s strengthen world ties of storytelling.

Our work is the same:  to keep the oral tradition alive, to tell contemporary narratives to awaken, inspire and transform. 

The times are treacherous...long live storytelling.

BTW FEST 2026 Conference is in Stockholm, Sweden and the 2027 conference is in Dublin, Ireland!

Let’s go.

By: Abegael Fisher-Lang