A world without stories would be unthinkable. That is why Nairobi’s finest storytellers will gather at Kwani? to celebrate World Storytelling Day on 19th March, 2016 by launching a global online writing contest and recreating a magical day of storytelling!
The Storytelling Festival will showcase a gathering of storytellers, writers and artists who will come together to recreate a magical day of stories through interactive performances; reading nooks; workshops on illustrating, writing and poetry; an art exhibition and auction; a stories booth for the children to record their own stories; books stalls and much more. The celebrations will start from 11am to 9pm.
The theme for this year’s World Storytelling Day is ‘Strong Women’ and it therefore aims to celebrate women as well. The day’s performances will culminate in a riveting stage performance, where five of Nairobi’s most renowned actresses and poets, notably Sitawa Namwalie, Mumbi Kaigwa, Raya Wambui, Patricia Kihoro and Maimouna Jallow, will re-interpret five African novels by women authors for the stage.
The official launch of the Re-imagined Modern Tales website which will go live at midnight, will be the crowning of the celebrations. In this site, selected works will be published in an Anthology of New Tales and used in school and community performances nation-wide.
We will be a part of the Storytelling Day celebrations where we will hold a Teens Online Safety Training from 2.30pm to 4pm. The training will focus on:
- Online safety & caution
- Benefits of joining helpful online communities
- Glaring risks of encountering Cyber bullies, internet trolls and stumbling upon pornographic sites
- The risks that come with disclosing too much personal information online.
- Negative effects of joining the wrong forums
- General evils that come with anonymity provided by the internet.
The training is aimed at sensitizing the youth about the risks that come with use of the internet and will target teens aged 13 years and above, and their parents. Visit this link and register to attend the event. Tickets are limited and are on a first come first served basis.
The Storytelling festival is the first in a series of events by Positively African to promote oral storytelling and use the Modern Anthology of Tales to educate and engage both young and old alike on critical issues affecting the continent.
We hope you will be a part of this exciting event.
