Here Where I belong

The natural landscapes of Europe are an important part of its cultural heritage.
Observing the changes taking place in our natural landscapes allows us to study the interaction of past with future, as they reflect the passage of time and the development of new technologies and their effect on society. Often we live in places for years without understanding how our lives are shaped by stories of the place and the people who lived there before us.

5 storytellers from Malta, Slovenia, Italy, Norway and Hungary met between the 29-31 March, in Malta, to explore how each culture frames its connection to nature and which aspects of our tangible and natural heritage needs to be given more attention. During this three-day activity, the storytellers discussed storytelling methods that can help bring people closer to nature and shared stories from their countries. Some of these stories may be well-known or they may just have been written for the purpose of this exchange. On the second and third day of the meeting, the storytellers ran a series of public workshops targeting adults and children. We had over 60 participants who responded overall positively to the programme, requesting that other such events be held in the future.

The resources gathered will be curated and placed on www.ligninstories.com for shared use.

The storytellers are thinking about the future and possible collaborations in order to take this very important work forward and involve more people and countries in the process.

We also succeeded in obtaining more funding from the Malta Arts Council to turn five of our stories into handmade books. These will be professionally illustrated by an artist called Julinu and made into books by Kotba Calleja. The books will be finished by February 2020.