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Hastings Storytelling Festival 2023 – all you need to know!

Hastings Storytelling Festival is back bringing quality storytelling for the 13th year. To kick off the nine-day festival on Saturday 14 October at 11am, writer and performer, and one half of pop duo Rizzle Kicks, Jordan Stephens and illustrator and designer Beth Suzanna come together at Hastings Library to discuss their book, The Missing Piece.  Sandra Hui writes. 

On Sunday 15 October, 11am at Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, Bev Lee Harling will be holding a workshop to demonstrate how ganseys, the traditional fisherman’s jersey, are made along with how to incorporate family into the design. At 7.30pm, she will perform at Hastings and St Leonards Angling Association, where she will introduce a female’s perspective of a life at sea with a new song commissioned for the festival.

Bev Lee Harling

On Monday 16 October at 7pm the festival celebrates Black History Month with Phil Okwedy bringing his moving and heart-warming book The Gods Are All Here to the Sussex Hall in the White Rock Theatre, exploring equality, freedom, racism, family and growing up without his parents.

Tuesday 17 October at 4.30pm brings a colourful puppet show, WOW! Said the Owl, written by Tim Hopgood and performed by Little Angel Theatre, to Sandown Primary School.

On Wednesday 18 October at 7pm, we have award-winning clown/director/teacher/lover of humans, Lucy Hopkins, with Dark Mother, a display of womanhood and motherhood told in the comparative darkness of a womb, performed in Durbar Hall at Hastings Museum.

Tasneem Abdur-Rashid

British Bengali writer Tasneem Abdur-Rashid has us rooting for Zara to find love, in Finding Mr. Perfectly Fine at The Nest in The Old Town Hall on Thursday 19 October at 7pm.

On Friday 20 October from 4pm, Zeroh is presenting an interactive workshop on Chiltern Drive, Broomgrove, where the community can get involved with designing their own moth wing patterns, which Zeroh will turn into 3D models to be part of an engaging swarm.

On Saturday 21 October, we have storytelling from Out of The Bag Theatre with Is It a Dragon? at 10am and 11:30am at the Mini Playhouse (26 White Rock, Hastings TN34 1JY). Plus at 2pm, established author and illustrator Thomas Taylor presents the last book in the Eerie-on Sea series Mermedusa at Sussex Hall in White Rock Theatre.

Later in the day, iconic performer Billy Childish and the Chatham Singers will be performing at the White Rock Theatre. Billy has specially designed a tote bag in a limited edition for this event, which can be reserved on the festival website.

Billy Childish and the Chatham Singers

The festival finale at the Stade Open Space will be Children’s Day on Sunday 22 October from 12pm, including storytelling, workshops and a puppet show. Artists include Ben Watson, Gary & Pel, Murmuration Arts, Circo Rum Ba Ba, Ella Mesma, Richard Storybeard, Xena Flame, Open Door Drummers, and Get Lost and Found. A carnival parade will be making its way around Hastings from 3pm.

This event has performances suitable for all ages, but some are restricted due to the nature of the acts. Tickets to Hastings Storytelling Festival and information for all the performances is available on the Hastings Storytelling Festival website.

Also in: Literature