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Isfahan to host 27th International Storytelling Festival
The opening ceremony of the cultural event is scheduled to be held at the historic Chaharbagh street, one of Isfahan’s most prominent public and cultural spaces.
A total of 61 storytellers will compete for the festival’s top honor across nine categories: Classic, Storytelling with Props, Sacrifice and Heroes, Religious, Sign Language, Narrative Poetry, New Stories, Ritual-Traditional, and Winners of the Previous Year.
Hamed Alamati, president of the festival, has outlined the festival’s overarching policies, emphasizing the need to broaden and popularize storytelling among the general public, expand storytelling education, and pay special attention to families and adolescents in both the practice and promotion of storytelling.
He has also highlighted the extensive use of media to make storytelling more accessible and people-centered, as well as the mobilization of all capacities of the CIDCA in support of the national storytelling movement.
Storytelling in Iran is regarded as a living and dynamic heritage, deeply rooted in the country’s long history and rich cultural traditions. Its most renowned and elevated form is “Naqqali”, the dramatic narration of epic tales from Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh and other stories of Iranian kings and heroes, traditionally performed in coffeehouses and public gatherings. This art form has been registered by UNESCO as an element of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Religious storytelling, which recounts episodes from the lives of the religious fogures through emotive and dramatic narration, also represents a powerful example of storytelling with ritual and social functions in Iran. In addition, folktales and fairy tales were historically shared in streets and marketplaces, forming an integral part of everyday communal life.
Iranian storytelling is closely intertwined with poetry, music, theatre, and visual arts, with improvisation playing a central role. Storytellers traditionally adapted their narratives to the audience, setting, and moment, using improvisation to keep stories vivid, relevant, and alive.