Stories across Boundaries: Bridging Intercultural Gaps
The Global Storytelling Festival is a bi-annual 45 day festival bringing about positive impact through the medium of stories and narratives!
There are three facets to the Festival:

Mini Story Contest
Mini-stories (150-200 words) which shine a light on the pivotal role of intercultural commonality as a tool to create social impact! Participants can win exciting prizes, and engage with leading social impact publications!

Impact Storytelling 101

Storytelling Showcase
A live celebration of impactful narratives! Featuring live-spoken word storytellers, spoken-word artists, and organizations, the storytelling for change showcase will culminate the Global Storytelling Festival with storytelling at its best!
Highlights from the Global Storytelling Festival 2021
- Impact Storytelling 101 Workshop – Demystifying the Art of Storytelling – Participants from Nigeria, Pakistan, India, the USA, Ghana, Cameroon, Germany, China, Chile, Peru, and more tuned in for our first-ever Impact Storytelling Workshop! With over 110 registrants, we saw active participation from diverse groups where budding storytellers explored the ‘knot’ model of storytelling with co-founders of Lighthouse, Ashitha Nayak and Camila Huecho.
- Mini Story Contest 2021 – Stories Across Boundaries – The contest focused on shining a light on the significance of intercultural commonality. Participants competed to win prizes worth 250$ USD and engage with leading social media publications. We received an overwhelming response of about 143 powerful and moving stories from 18 different countries! We went through narratives transcending race, creed, and boundaries from all around the world!
- Storytelling for Change Showcase 2021 – The maiden #GlobalStorytellingFestival – a 45-day long celebration of stories across boundaries was a fun and fruitful experience! Stay tuned for more such endeavors from us and our partners! The festival drew to a close with the Storytelling showcase featuring eminent speakers.
Speakers, Judges, and Performers

Dave Graham
Founder, Director – Stories for Change UK

Patricia Smith
Co-Founder – Melton Foundation

Maroussia Klep
Founder – Impact Storytelling, Brussels

Ashitha Nayak
Founder – Lighthouse Media

Camila Huecho
Co-Founder – Lighthouse Media

Sonali KM
Program Manager – Melton Foundation

Lars Dietzel
Director of Strategy – Melton Foundation

Alafia Stewart
Director of Learning – Melton Foundation

Vigneshwar Shankar
Associate VP, Darashaw

Harshinee Rajkumar
Fellow – Melton Foundation

Kwabena Ankrah
Fellow – Melton Foundation

Lirón Lirón
Impact Foundation, Cuenca Ecuador

Henrika Amoafo
Project/Programs Strategist, KonneKt World