By Isle of Wight Observer
Where do you find the inspiration for stories? If you had come to the IW Story Festival, at Quay Arts recently, you would have found the place buzzing with inspiration and creativity. Some of the best children’s authors shared their thoughts.
For example, MG Leonard (Hunt for the Golden Scarab) told of her inspirational trip to Tutankhamun’s tomb, and Maz Evans talked of writing as a way to cope with feelings that are too big to contain.
It wasn’t just inspiration that was provided, there was guidance on how to turn ideas into a story from Naomi Ishiguro, Kathryn Rosatti, and Chris Stevens, with help on hand to develop illustration skills with Adam Gaterell.
Jules Marriner created a gorgeous ‘Secret Library’ full of tiny book nooks and mini dioramas. Here children listened to tales, examined miniature bottles and wrote their own stories in an other-worldly quiet space.
There was an endearing portrayal of Pinocchio, an environmental message in the puppetry of Woodland Tales, with Grandad, and stories in dance from Asian Cultural Club. These all provided a stark contrast to the thought-provoking performance from Pink Cow Theatre’s ‘Brutal’, which explored how young people might be caught up in gang culture.
Steph Brittain, Sue Bailey and Holly Medland all held their audiences captive in their story-telling performances. Sue said: “Seeing these young faces all totally engrossed, joining in with suggestions and helping the stories grow, is a magical feeling. One child described the festival as ‘Fun, funner and funtacular’. I totally agree!.”
Festival director, Elspeth Giddens, said: “With yet another absolutely fantastic IW Story Festival under our belt this year and with happy audiences, old, young and in between, enjoying our unique events, we cannot wait to create a ‘not to be missed’ IW Story Festival in February 2026.”
Mal Butler