Settle Stories

Settle Stories The home of adventurous storytelling Our mission is to collaborate with exceptional artists to create transformative experiences for people and communities.

Stories are the most powerful way to engage, inspire and move people to action. We teach the art of storytelling so you can make a difference. We share stories from diverse cultures across the globe, explore traditional myths and folktales and reveal current stories of today. We present stories through year round events and the largest free online storytelling festival globally, Yorkshire Festival

of Story. Our live and online workshops, retreats and learning programmes connect people and are open to all. Through our schools programme we work with thousands of school children annually. We work closely with our rural community by co-creating projects to gather people together, bring into focus hidden stories and enable the vulnerable and disinvested to have a voice. We are an independent arts charity in one of the most rurally isolated parts of the UK. From our venue, The Joinery, we challenge perceptions of art produced in rural areas. Stories change lives. Find out more and become a member at settlestories.org.uk

For those local to Settle, we are partnering with Action on Climate Emergency Settle to share the People's Emergency Bri...
05/09/2026

For those local to Settle, we are partnering with Action on Climate Emergency Settle to share the People's Emergency Briefing on Thursday 17th September at 6,30pm. You can sign up for the online viewing here: https://streamyard.com/watch/iCXFsMV3dWja

In the first session, almost everyone tells us the same thing: "I'm not really a writer."Clare said it too. After her ta...
04/09/2026

In the first session, almost everyone tells us the same thing: "I'm not really a writer."

Clare said it too. After her taster session, we asked if she still agreed. Her answer: it "unlocked something I've been blocked on for a very long time, solid gold."

All of them arrived as beginners. The doubt is normal, and it turns out to be a poor guide to whether the story is worth telling.

Try this today: say the first line of your story out loud, once, and then stop.

StoryLab starts 23rd September, £297, twelve places. Enrolment closes this Friday, 11th September.

Link in bio.

There's a lovely old story in this week's episode about a singer called Tansen, said to be the greatest in all of India....
03/09/2026

There's a lovely old story in this week's episode about a singer called Tansen, said to be the greatest in all of India.

When he sang for the emperor Akbar, people swore oil lamps would flicker to life on their own and wild deer would wander out of the forest just to listen.

One night Akbar told him no voice on earth could possibly equal his.

Tansen said there was one. His own teacher, a man who wouldn't sing for gold and wouldn't sing for a king. If Akbar wanted to hear him, he'd have to go to him, disguised as an ordinary beggar.

So off they went. And for days, nothing. The teacher wouldn't sing a note.

Eventually Tansen sang first, on purpose singing one note slightly wrong.

The old man frowned. "No. Not like that. Like this."

What happened next is genuinely one of our favourite bits of any episode so far, and honestly, it's as much about breathing as it is about singing.

This one comes with a proper practical exercise too, a simple breath technique that helps drop the tension most of us carry in our shoulders and chest the second we're asked to speak up. Handy for meetings, presentations, or just Sunday lunch when everyone goes quiet and looks at you.

Episode nine of The Storyteller's Toolkit is out now. Have a listen and let us know, does your voice change the moment you're put on the spot?

Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/

📖 Your Wednesday reminder is here!This Friday, we've got something wonderful waiting for your class - Anansi the Spider,...
02/09/2026

📖 Your Wednesday reminder is here!

This Friday, we've got something wonderful waiting for your class - Anansi the Spider, a new free story for KS2.

From 1pm on Friday 4th September, head to our page and press play. A real storyteller, beautiful hand-drawn illustrations, and pure magic - completely free, no strings attached.

At 3pm, it's gone. So set that reminder! 🎉

👉 settlestories.org.uk/stories-for-schools/fridaystoryclub

📖 Your Wednesday reminder is here!This Friday, we've got something wonderful waiting for your class - Chicken Licken, a ...
26/08/2026

📖 Your Wednesday reminder is here!

This Friday, we've got something wonderful waiting for your class - Chicken Licken, a new free story for KS1.

From 1pm on Friday 28th August, head to our page and press play. A real storyteller, beautiful hand-drawn illustrations, and two hours of pure magic - completely free, no strings attached.

At 3pm, it's gone. So set that reminder! 🎉

👉 settlestories.org.uk/stories-for-schools/fridaystoryclub

Calling all Craven families and friends! 🌱We're putting together something new for young people across Settle and the Da...
25/08/2026

Calling all Craven families and friends! 🌱

We're putting together something new for young people across Settle and the Dales, and we want them to help shape it. Think podcast studios, storytelling trails, bike workshops, community kitchens and more, there's a huge list of ideas on the table.

If you know a young person aged 10 to 25, please share this form with them and ask them to tick whatever catches their eye. It takes a few minutes, and every answer helps us build activities they'll genuinely want to turn up for.

👉 Fill in the form here: https://forms.gle/hXdtDESCQ5dsDNDW8

Please pass it on to anyone who might be interested. The more voices we hear, the better this will be.

Thinking about StoryLab but not sure yet? These are the five questions we get asked most, answered honestly.Have a look ...
22/08/2026

Thinking about StoryLab but not sure yet? These are the five questions we get asked most, answered honestly.

Have a look through, and drop any question we haven't covered in the comments. We'll answer it there.

Link in bio.

There's a properly strange old fairy tale in this week's episode and it's stuck with us all week.A princess has six brot...
20/08/2026

There's a properly strange old fairy tale in this week's episode and it's stuck with us all week.

A princess has six brothers, turned into swans by a jealous stepmother. To break the spell she has to sew six shirts from star flowers, and she's not allowed to speak or laugh for six years while she does it, no matter what happens to her in the meantime.

She holds her nerve. Even when she's wrongly accused and dragged off to be burned at the stake, not a word out of her. She just keeps sewing.

Last day, flames already going, six swans fly down. She throws a shirt over each one and her brothers are men again.

All but one. The youngest brother's shirt is missing a sleeve, she ran out of time. So he spends the rest of his life with a swan's wing instead of a left arm.

The bit that gets us: nobody tries to fix it. He just carries it. It's simply part of him from then on.

This episode's really about memory, and how a memory doesn't have to turn up whole and tidy to count. A fragment, a smell, a sound, the feel of someone's hand, that's worth just as much as a full scene.

Episode seven of The Storyteller's Toolkit, out now. Good one for the next dog walk or the drive home.

Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a46FI-LPPlA

Address

The Joinery, Dawsons Court, Market Place
Settle
BD249ED

Opening Hours

Monday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Tuesday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Wednesday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Thursday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Friday 9:30am - 5:30pm

Telephone

+441729822292

Website

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