World Story Bank

arts, books, society, culture · EN

For most of human history, our accumulated wisdom was carried in a single, spellbinding chain of transmission: the folktale. Passed from voice to voice, generation to generation, these stories were – and remain – an instruction manual to the world.The World Story Bank gathers the folktales and traditional stories of humanity — from all points of the compass — and returns them, alive, to the world. Each episode is a single tale, told simply, named with the tradition it comes from.An initiative of the Scheherazade Foundation, the World Story Bank exists to gather this fragile and ancient wisdom, to protect it, and to rewild it back into modern culture. The project was launched in London in 2024, and celebrated its first anniversary in 2025 at an event hosted by Queen Camilla at Clarence House.Listening and retelling keeps the stories alive.https://www.sf.charity/world-story-bank