A 2024 National Storytelling Festival Preview
In the gray urban landscape of her home base in London, Sarah Liisa Wilkinson often dreams of green forests, clear streams, and dark skies streaked with the Northern Lights. 
The storyteller, who has always lived in England and speaks with a British accent, grew up with Finnish as her first language. She learned it from her mother, who’s Finnish, and whose family was the reason for magical vacations at their Scandinavian summer house when Wilkinson was a kid.
As she has gotten older and grown more tethered to adult life in the UK, Wilkinson’s fluency with the language has faded. But the magic — and the stories — are all still there.
As a new voice at the National Storytelling Festival this fall, Wilkinson plans to share the rich folklore and mythology of Finland, as well as traditional stories from all over the European continent and beyond. Her stories have the power to transport listeners to those green forests and clear streams, stirring the sense of wonder she has felt for the natural world since she was a child.
“I think storytelling is magical,” she says. “There’s such a depth to the old stories and fairy tales. It’s incredible to be transported away just by somebody speaking to you.”
Wilkinson finds depth and comfort in the timeless imagery of traditional stories. She was a fan of the art form first, and her craft extends naturally from that enthusiasm. She was working as an actor in London (but mostly earning a living as an assistant at the Royal Shakespeare Company) when she attended her first storytelling show. While it would take many years and workshops to transition her own work into the world of professional storytelling, something immediately clicked.
“I felt like I was getting a really good meal when I watched these storytellers tell really full-blooded, long fairy tales and wonder tales,” she says. Where her acting career had been full of the drudgery and business of finding work, storytelling helped her connect with some of her most treasured memories: those summertime vacations abroad, days spent lost with her nose in a book, and bedtime stories from her dad and her nan.
She immediately sensed that storytelling wasn’t just a job. It had a spiritual dimension, and a surprising capacity to cultivate wonder.
In Jonesborough, Wilkinson will share some of her most beloved tales and lush landscapes with her audience.
“I always feel very comfortable when I’m telling stories that are set in the Finnish landscape,” she says. “I like dwelling near the lakes and in the forests. I suppose Finland is sort of like my happy place.”
Sarah Liisa Wilkinson is the latest featured teller in our New Voice series, a preview of the 52nd Annual National Storytelling Festival. You can read our profiles of Sufian Zhemukhov and Lipbone Redding on the ISC website. Watch for one more profile next month, and learn about our other featured storytellers here. Join us for the Festival in Jonesborough October 4-6, 2024.