Yorkshire Festival of Story 2025 – Preview 

YFOS25 Event Artwork. Credit. Image Credit: The Yorkshire Festival of Story.

Launched by arts charity Settle Stories, the Yorkshire Festival of Story (YFOS) returns this autumn with its most ambitious programme yet. Running from 3-9 November, the hybrid festival blends in-person events in the Yorkshire market town of Settle with global livestreams. 

Bringing together storytellers, writers, and artists from around the world, YFOS connects local communities with global audiences. This year’s theme, “Courage: Stories that change the world,” invites participants to explore how bold, moving narratives can spark connection, inspire bravery, and ignite conversation in times of change.

The 2025 programme offers a rare opportunity to experience storytelling collaborations that span continents. From Kenyan caves to Celtic myth, events unite voices across borders. Following the recent success of ‘The Goddess and the Shadow,’ a live-streamed event from Kenya, comes a bold new cross-cultural production: ‘Where Lions Meet Selkies.’ Weaving African and Scottish myths, the award-winning Mara Menzies and Musa Papillon honour the landscapes of Scotland Africa. 

Mara Menzies – Goddess and the Shadow. Image Credit: Yorkshire Festival of Story.

Other highlights include ‘Sand and Stone’, a participatory workshop inspired by a Palestinian folktale of wisdom, courage and reconciliation. In addition, ‘The Life and Death of Madan Lal Dhingra’ presents a gripping, true-crime-style journey into nationalism, sacrifice, and the complex line between resistance and violence.

Despite its global reach, YFOS remains deeply rooted in Settle’s people and places. Alongside international names, the programme features a vibrant lineup of local voices which celebrate the community’s spirit.

This year, local writer Wendy Bowers explores how poetry, walking, and reflection can restore balance. Settle Stories Artistic Director and CEO Sita Brand takes audiences on a journey through Laos in ‘Bombs at my Feet’, uncovering ancient tales that shed light on the country’s devastating secret war. Meanwhile, Bob Swallow offers a personal perspective on legendary fell-walker Alfred Wainwright, sharing stories and memories from their friendship.

Sita Brand – Bombs at my Feet. Image Credit: Yorkshire Festival of Story.

YFOS is more than entertainment. It’s about feeling stories, sharing them, and discovering what they mean in today’s world. From creative writing workshops to interactive discussions, the festival isn’t just something to watch. It’s something to be part of, giving audiences tools and inspiration that last well beyond the final event.

This commitment to impact is best reflected in one of the festival’s cornerstones: its free schools programme. In recent years, it has brought world-class storytelling to over 7,000 children in 239 schools. The 2025 schools programme runs throughout the festival week from ‘The Brave Little Parrot’, a heartwarming fable of courage and compassion, to ‘The Gunpowder Plot’, an electrifying retelling of Guy Fawkes’ story (from his Yorkshire roots to Bonfire Night).

YFOS24. Image Credit: Yorkshire Festival of Story.

Across every event, YFOS offers stories that challenge, uplift, and remind us what truly matters. Some truths are difficult to hear, but they offer hope. Other tales are ancient, yet they speak directly to today. The festival will make you laugh, it may move you to tears, but all the stories will stay with you long after they end.

***

The Yorkshire Festival of Story runs from 3–9 November 2025, with events in Settle and online. Many online events are free, with paid tickets available for in-person sessions and participatory workshops.

Explore the programme and book now: https://yorkshirefestivalofstory.com/festival-programme-2025/