Chennai Storytelling Festival 2025

 

 

52 Workshops and Other Sessions –

 

 

Weekend #1

 

1) Fri 31 Jan, 5:00pm-6:30pm, Sheettal Rayathatha (Chennai) and Truptti Sayani (Chennai), Workshop: "Stories that Heal and Inspire: Empowering Parents and Teachers to Assist the Development of Young Minds".

 

2) Fri 31 Jan, 8:30pm-10:00pm, Karin Wedra (Germany), Workshop: "Biographical Storytelling".

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3) Sat 1 Feb, 10:30am-Noon, Vijaylakshmi Nagaraj (Bangalore), Workshop: "Chorus of Colours: Storytelling with Hand Puppets".

 

4) Sat 1 Feb, 4:00pm-5:30pm, Marijana Mrvos (Croatia) and Elizabeta Alkovic (Croatia), Talk and Tales: "Croatian Author Ivana Brlic Mazuranic's Stories, Including Ways She Wove Slavic Mythology into Her Stories".

 

5) Sat 1 Feb, 7:00pm-8:30pm, Laura Simms (New York), Workshop: "The Holy Grail of Braiding Stories" (Part 1 of 2).

 

6) Sat 1 Feb, 8:30pm-10:00pm, Aparna Athreya (Bangalore), Workshop: "Understanding Mountains through Stories".

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7) Sun 2 Feb, 3:00pm-4:30pm, Srividya Veeraraghavan (Chennai), Workshop: "Story-Concept Creation for Teachers".

 

8) Sun 2 Feb, 5:30pm-7:00pm, Vidya Porselvi (Chennai), Workshop: "Eco-Feminist Approaches to Folktales".

 

9) Sun 2 Feb, 7:00pm-8:30pm, "Healing Story Circle" led by Circle of Love – Geetanjali Shetty Kaul (Mumbai), Poonam Joshy (Bangalore), Ramya Iyer (Bangalore), and Sowmya Srinivasan (Coimbatore).

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 Weekend #2

 

10) Thurs 6 Feb, 5:00pm-6:30pm, Neena Girish (Thiruvananthapuram), Workshop: "Storytelling Pedagogy: Ways to Train Mentors to Teach Concepts of Subjects".

 

11) Thurs 6 Feb, 6:30pm-8:00pm, Sharada Sampathkumar (Pune), Workshop: "Match Your Nature with Nature".

 

12) Fri 7 Feb, 5:00pm-6:30pm, Ambika Arunachalam (Chennai), Workshop: "Exploring Logical Reasoning and Emotional Intelligence through Storytelling".

 

13) Fri 7 Feb, 8:30pm-10:00pm, Jamie Brunson (Pennsylvania), Workshop: "Storytelling In Action".

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14) Sat 8 Feb, 10:30am-Noon, Ramya Srinidhi (Bangalore), Workshop: "Artful Narratives: Enhancing Expression with Indian Picture Storytelling and Kamishibai".

 

15) Sat 8 Feb, 4:00pm-5:30pm, Sudha Umashanker, Workshop: "Helping People to Create Stories Relating to the Environment".

 

16) Sat 8 Feb, 7:00pm-8:30pm, Laura Simms (New York), Workshop: "The Holy Grail of Braiding Stories" (Part 2 of 2)

 

17) Sat 8 Feb, 8:30pm-10:00pm, Les Schaffer (Virginia), Workshop: "The Lizard in the Fire: Utilizing African and Indian Dilemma Tales".

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18) Sun 9 Feb, 9:00am-10:30am, Marleny (Colorado), Workshop: "Captivate Your Audience: Storytelling from Myths to Modernity".

 

19) Sun 9 Feb, 2:30pm-4:00pm, Banumathy H. (Coimbatore), Workshop: "Recall, Reflect, Resonate: Enhancing Storytelling with Pre- and Post-Storytelling Activities".

 

20) Sun 9 Feb, 4:00pm-5:30pm, Samatha Sharma (Chennai), Workshop: "Creating and Telling Healing Stories".

 

21) Sun 9 Feb, 5:30pm-7:00pm, Nyanna Tobin (Massachusetts), Workshop: "Flip-Flop Stories: Recrafting a Negative Experience into a Healing Story".

 

22) Sun 9 Feb, 7:00pm-8:30pm, David Heathfield (UK), Workshop: "Tell a Child in Gaza's Tale: Sharing our Humanity".

 

23) Sun 9 Feb, 8:30pm-10:00pm, Maria LoBiondo (New Jersey), Workshop: "Storytelling and the Labyrinth Archetype".

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Weekend #3

 

24) Thurs 13 Feb, 5:00pm-6:30pm, Smita Rajan (Mumbai), Workshop: "Storytelling Through Movement".

 

25) Thurs 13 Feb, 6:30pm-8:00pm, Ambujavalli N. (Chennai), Workshop: "Story Alchemy: Tweaking Tales to Fit Any Context".

 

26) Thurs 13 Feb, 8:00pm-9:30pm, Nicholas Pawlowski (Minnesota), Workshop: "Telling Stories to Children, and Leading Children in Story-related Activities".

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27) Fri 14 Feb, 5:00pm-6:30pm, Eric Miller (Chennai), Workshop: "Ways of Using Storytelling and Drama for Teaching and Learning; and Oracy (Learning through Speaking)".

 

28) Fri 14 Feb, 8:30pm-10:00pm, Jennifer Ramsay (Spain), Workshop: "Working Creatively with The Dream Makers, a Scottish Folk Tale".

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29) Sat 15 Feb, 10:30am-Noon, Sheeja Nair (Chennai), Workshop: "Using Roleplay and Other Methods to Explore the Story, Dreams and Aspirations: Maya's Inspiring Journey".

 

30) Sat 15 Feb, 4:00pm-5:30pm, Renu Narayan (Chennai), Workshop: "Healing Sound Therapy".

 

31) Sat 15 Feb, 7:00pm-8:30pm, Sarah Howell (Italy), Workshop: "The Oracy Bridge: From Reluctant Speaker to Confident Storyteller".

 

32) Sat 15 Feb, 8:30pm-10:30pm, Magdalene Jeyarathnam (Chennai), Workshop: "Psychodrama and Dreams".

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33) Sun 16 Feb, 9:00am-10:30am, Regina Ress (New Mexico), Workshop: "Fashioning Fiction from Fact: Re-imagining Our Personal Stories".

 

34) Sun 16 Feb, Noon-1pm, Jasmina Žiljak (Croatia), Talk and Tales: "Storytelling and Teaching-and-Learning with Young Children".

 

35) Sun 16 Feb, 2:30pm-4:00pm, Lavanya Prasad (Bangalore), Workshop: "Kolam – A Journey Within".

 

36) Sun 16 Feb, 4:00pm-5:30pm, Meera Venkatesan (Bangalore), and Meenu Sivaramakrishnan (Bangalore), Workshop: "Integrated Learning: Putting Together the Learning Puzzle through Stories".

 

37) Sun 16 Feb, 5:30pm-7:00pm, Lalitha Thilak (Chennai), Workshop: "The 4 C's of Life: Choice, Chance, Change, and Creativity – Knowing Life Through Stories".

 

38) Sun 16 Feb, 7:00pm-8:30pm, Bruce Kirchoff (North Carolina), Workshop: "Group Improvisational-Storytelling".

 

39) Sun 16 Feb, 8:30pm-10:00pm, Despina Ariou (Greece), Workshop: "Celebrating Strong Women from the Past to the Present: Medea and Us".

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 Weekend #4

 

40) Thurs 20 Feb, 6:30pm-8:00pm, Debjani Bhaduri (Chennai), Workshop: "Scripting and Sculpting Characters of Stories".

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41) Fri 21 Feb, 5:00pm-6:30pm, Anupamaa Venugopal (Bangalore), Workshop: "Exploring Gender Issues Through Stories".

 

42) Fri 21 Feb, 8:30pm-10:00pm, Rebecca Lemaire (Spain) and Jim Brulé (New York), Workshop: "A Transformational Journey: Dying and Living".

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43) Sat 22 Feb, 9:00am-10:30am, Audra Sisak (Washington State), Workshop: "Storytelling and Autism: Focus on Practical Issues of Telling and Listening".

 

44) Sat 22 Feb, 10:30am-Noon, Ayushi Agrawal (Bangalore), Workshop: "Emergent Stories: Stories Coming Alive Through the Arts".

 

45) Sat 22 Feb, 4:00pm-5:30pm, Sridevi Srinivasan (Chennai), Workshop: "The Art and Role of Story Reading (Reading Aloud) for Facilitating Literacy and Creativity".

 

46) Sat 22 Feb, 5:30pm-7:00pm, Rohini Jayanti (Hyderabad), Workshop: "Using Story to Reconnect with One's Inner Child".

 

47) Sat 22 Feb, 7:00pm-8:30pm, Sowmya Srinivasan (Coimbatore), Workshop: "Exploring Emotional Worlds through Sangam Landscapes".

 

48) Sat 22 Feb, 8:30pm-10:00pm, Carol Birch (Connecticut), Workshop: "It's How You Say It!".

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49) Sun 23 Feb, 2:30pm-4:00pm, Haritha Kannan (Chennai), Workshop: "Small Yet Mighty".

 

50) Sun 23 Feb, 4:00pm-5:30pm, Krishna Chaitanya (Hyderabad) and Lalitha Sastry (Hyderabad), Workshop: "Burrakatha, Then and Now".

 

51) Sun 23 Feb, 5:30pm-7:00pm, Shraddha Nigavekar (Pune), Debjani Bhaduri (Chennai), Meenu Sivaramakrishnan (Bangalore), and Pretigaya Haran (Chennai), Workshop: "Improv to Improve!"

 

52) Sun 23 Feb, 7:00pm-8:30pm, Les Shaffer (Virginia), Workshop: "Speaking Comedy to Power".

 

 

 

 

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