Notes on Unplugged Volume I/Unplugged Volume II approaches/Croydon Next Week

In full acknowledgement of the irony of writing an internet article about an event at which we banned technology

The summer has been steady as we make plans for the autumn. Our most recent Storytime took place on the fateful Thursday after England exited the World Cup in predictably hilarious and heartbreaking fashion. We gathered in a shaded part of Queen’s Wood in Highgate.

This is a secret place, a special place, a hidden gem, a literal wood with trees and all that not ten minutes away from the Northern line. How this exists is a continual source of wonder to me. What is all the more remarkable is that so few Londoners seem to be aware of it. It is a literally ancient wood, described in the 1100s by William Fitzstephen as part of “a vast forest, its copses dense with foliage concealing wild animals – stags, does, boars, and wild bulls”.

Mystical, magical, and a perfect place to host our first Unplugged.

As previously expressed on this page, we are leaning into the content and digital side of things with some of our other events. This is to spread the good word of Storytime and storytelling in London more generally. We want to grow our night and online is a good (and largely free - financially at least) place to do this.

But we think it is very important to retain some mystery, some of the unknown and unknowable aspects of a night where people come together to converse, read and listen to stories and play and hear music.

This is why we have set up Unplugged.

At these events, you will be asked to switch off your phone, no photos or recordings will be taken, and we will exist exclusively in the space for the short period of time that we are together. There will be secret readers, secret musicians and secret locations to come in the months ahead.

All I’ll say of Unplugged Volume #1 is that it is my favourite of the nights we’ve organised over the last three years. There was a warmth and a calm to the space and it felt very special. Thanks to all who attended and helped create the space with us.

Unplugged Volume II will take place in a secret East Central London (E1W) location on Thursday 27 August. Email us at stories@storytimelondon.com to confirm your attendance and receive the exact location.

Next week, we are running a night in collaboration with the Museum of Croydon. Perhaps it’s because it’s summer, perhaps it’s because we’ve never run an event in Croydon before, but the night is currently set to be attended by a very small number of lovely people.

In acknowledgement of this fact, and out of the debt I feel I now owe to you for reading this far, there are 20 £1 tickets here with the code THANKS4READING.

Snaffle while you can.