EDINBURGH 2017: BWW Q&A- True Stories Live

Tell us a bit about True Stories Live
True Stories Live is an event at which real people tell true stories in front of a live audience about their own experiences, inspired by a theme which we have set in advance. In Edinburgh the theme will be Lost and Found. Stories usually last between 5 and 10 minutes and are told without notes or a script. Themes can be interpreted however the speaker wishes. They're just a starting point.

The event has been running successfully in Norwich for over a year - shows sell out very fast. Previous stories have covered the whole range of human experience and emotion and the audiences have responded accordingly.

Often our speakers are very nervous, and may not have done anything like this before. We welcome and encourage contributors who aren't professional performers; promoting the idea that we all have a story to tell and a voice worthy of being heard.

The Edinburgh Festivals are the UK's premier creative showcases. It is a great privilege to be invited to be part of the Unbound programme within the Book Festival. We also know that the good people of Edinburgh will have some very fine stories to tell and we are looking forward to hearing them.

TSL is a very "real" experience. There is no fourth wall. Anyone can get up and tell a story and the audiences appreciate and understand that. Stories are true and are told from the heart and so speak very directly to those listening. The unscripted nature of the stories also means that, although we know roughly what the stories will be about because we ask for a synopsis in advance, in reality - anything can happen in the telling. So there is an element of risk or danger for all concerned. Audiences do not seek to be impressed as they would with e.g a stand-up comedian, and we always make it very clear that we want non-performers to take part. In Norwich storytellers have included a professor, a mental health nurse, a poet, a teenager, a thatcher, a guy who works in the local Coop.... you get the picture.

Back home, we run a series of workshops to support and encourage anyone who is thinking of telling a story and the Edinburgh event will be preceded by a workshop in just the same way.