The main idea of Tallinn’s year as the European Capital of Culture – “Stories of the Seashore” – was the inspiration for this unique international online storytelling competition.  The organisers wished to gather together stories in different languages from all over Europe and give the Europeans a chance to contribute to such an important year for Estonia. The organisers also wanted to present the stories of amateur writers in front of a live audience, as opposed to tens of thousands of other writings which are only available online. Therefore, a jury came together this year to choose the best stories among the 250 that were submitted to the competition.

Stories and poems were submitted in six languages from nearly 20 countries. One third of the authors wrote about farewells, break-ups or death by the sea. Beach as a division line between water and land is definitely one of the strongest boundaries in the nature. A farewell depicted in stories can either be temporary or final, unwanted or longed-for, real, a memory or simply a vision. A personal relationship was also one of the main themes in the stories – the beginning, the highlights, the end of a relationship or merely a memory of what seems intense when reminiscing on the beach.

Many of the stories were written by German-speaking authors who have also used the website of e-Stories to publish their other writings. It was surprising that there were many stories submitted from outside the European Union: Russia, Ukraine, Israel, El Salvador and also the USA. So the proverbial creative “stone” which the organisers of the storytelling competition threw into the sea in Tallinn “created waves” even on the other side of the ocean.

The stories will be read in the Tallinn Art Hall gallery (address: Vabaduse väljak 6) at 18:00-20:00 in six languages by actresses Anu Lamp, Jekaterina Novosjolova and theatre students of the Old Town Educational College, Mona Mi Mikkin and Ott Raidmets. The audience can read the translations on the screen. At the same time, there is an exhibition “Viewfinders” by a young artist Paul Kuimet open at the gallery. The doors are open to the public during the course of the event; hot tea and gingerbread are offered to the guests.

Before the storytelling event you are welcome to visit museums – in collaboration with the Tallinn City Museum and the Puppet Museum, 10 museums will open their doors to the public free of charge. Bring your children to participate in workshops in the Puppet Museum and the Miia-Milla-Manda Museum, listen to medieval music by Corelli Music in Kiek in de Kök and discover the secrets of gingerbread art in the Design and Architecture Gallery (address: Pärnu mnt 6)

After the storytelling event we recommend “O’Adonai“,  a concert by Tõnis Mägi, Vox Clamantis, Robert Jürjendal and The Girls Choir of the Old Town Music House in St. John’s Church (address: Vabaduse väljak 1). At 20:00, the final ceremony of the European Capital of Culture will begin with Margo Kõlar’s unique composition “Song of the Tower Bell’s” and Taavi Varm’s video projection on the facade of the St. John`s Church.