Udaipur Tales Festival celebrates oral storytelling with diverse artists

“It’s a platform where we just tell stories. It’s not a literary festival. It’s three days of uninterrupted storytelling,” says Sushmita Singha, co-founder of Udaipur Tales International Storytelling Festival. Returning this year for its seventh edition, the festival has consistently carved a unique niche for oral storytelling in its most original form.

Founded by culture curator and writer Sushmita Singha along with social entrepreneur Salil Bhandari, Udaipur Tales was conceived almost a decade ago. “The idea for the festival came about 10 years ago when we were discussing how we could bring together and preserve the stories of tribal communities and the land. We didn’t want to do a music festival or anything like that because there was so much out there already. What we felt was missing was a space dedicated to the stories,” she says.

At the time, the founders were unaware that adult storytelling festivals even existed. “The more we thought about it, we realized how much of our oral tradition has been lost over the years,” she says. The first edition was modest in scale but enigmatic in impact. “Initially, we didn’t expect more than 100 people and had seating for about 80. By the third day of the first festival, we had about 120 people attending. Then we realized it was actually working.” She reminds.

Over six editions, the festival has evolved from an experiment in nostalgia to a place of reflection, interpretation and lived experience. Salil says, “We started with the idea of ​​pure entertainment. There was a kind of romanticism to it – listening to stories the same way we used to listen to them as children.” What changed, he says, was a more profound understanding of form. “We began to think of storytelling as something deeper than entertainment. Every story, regardless of genre, has a strong central message.”

He recalls the past of Mandodari’s story as a turning point. “The storyteller shared his vision, but the audience took very different meanings from it. The strength of the story lay in how it allowed people to interpret it through their own lens.” He believes this is why audiences come back year after year.

The 2026 edition brings together a wide range of storytellers and artists, including Divya Dutta, Rajit Kapoor, Arif Zakaria, Danish Hussain, Divya Nidhi Sharma, Miang Chang, Mayur Kalbag, Prithviraj Chaudhary, Geetika Lidder, Vilas Janeway and Jyoti Pandey. Genres range from contemporary and romance to saga, history, mystery, horror, thriller and folkloric. The format intentionally remains analog, foregrounding sound, presence and attentive listening as the core of the experience.

The three-day event will unfold through a curated mix of solo storytelling sessions, music-based narratives and folk performances rooted in regional traditions. Along with established voices, the festival continues to create space for emerging storytellers through open-mic sessions and competitions, cementing its role as both a platform and pipeline for the arts.

Inclusivity remains central to the festival’s approach. This year’s edition will include performances by inmates of Udaipur Central Jail, sign language interpretation in select sessions, participation of blind school students and a dedicated children’s segment.

As it enters its seventh year, Udaipur Tales positions itself not as a spectacle-driven cultural event, but as a sustained listening exercise. One that privileges depth at scale, and treats storytelling as a lived, shared human experience.

Udaipur Tales International Storytelling Festival is being held from January 9 to 11 at Park Exotica Resort, Udaipur. Tickets at ₹250 on BookMyShow.