Your Story

Tell your story

If you are interested in speaking at one of our events, please send a short synopsis to truestorieslive@gmail.com. Stories need to be under ten minutes, should be true and about you. At each event we set a theme, which can be interpreted in any way that works for you.  

The audience is almost like being encompassed in a big hug

– RUTH KATRA

You can find out upcoming themes by visiting our events page. 

Please see our Story Guidelines below to ensure your story is suitable. 

Thank you for expressing an interest in taking part in a True Stories Live (TSL) event. To help all of us make the most of this occasion here are some guidelines for you to bear in mind when preparing to present your story together with information about what may happen to you story once it is told and agreements about its future use:

• Your story must be true and personal to you – i.e. not: 'my friend told me...'

• You should be prepared to deliver it to a friendly and supportive audience without notes.

• Each True Stories event will have a theme. The theme is for inspiration and can be interpreted in your own way.

• Your story needs to follow a narrative arc - it should have a beginning a middle and an end.

• The telling should normally take between 5 and 10 minutes. An ideal length is 7 minutes. We will expect your story to be completed within 10 minutes and will encourage you with visual prompts to wind up within that time.

Please note that our evenings are curated and that we seek to offer our audiences a balance of stories and experiences. We cannot therefore guarantee a speaking slot to everyone who submits a story summary for a regular event or a tour event. If this happens – don’t worry – keep trying – that story or another one may be suitable on another occasion.

Diversity and discrimination

TSL actively promotes diversity and as a consequence no story will be selected that promotes discrimination, harassment or victimisation on grounds of age, caring responsibilities, disability, gender, nationality, race, religious belief (or no belief), sexual orientation socio-economic class or trans and whether such an identity is actual or perceived or whether this is by association with persons from any of these equality strands. We state this to be clear as these are values that we hold dear.

For our regular events: 

Please submit a summary of the whole story to truestorieslive@gmail.com as soon as you can and preferably at least 7 days before the date of the event. (A few sentences will be sufficient). You will be told as soon as possible before the event whether your story has been chosen. Some events may involve entries being drawn from a hat on the night. The event publicity will make it clear if that will be the case.

On the day of the event you will have a chance to do a run through of your story in the venue if you request that and we ask all storytellers try to be available a little before doors open for a sound check.

Rights and recordings

Performances may be recorded in any media. By entering your story and telling it you agree to any such recording taking place and to the reproduction and adaptation of it for any purpose. In particular, stories told at TSL events may be included in podcasts and broadcast on radio. In order to comply with relevant broadcast legislation and guidelines, stories may need to be edited for this purpose. We reserve the right to not include any story in any podcast or broadcast.

You also agree to your name and likeness being used for reasonable promotional purposes including use on social media platforms.