Masterful Dharawal storyteller Jodi Edwards will blend language, lore and spirit in her new piece See Kinn — Stories of Country and Sea Creatures, to be premiered at the Fireflies Multilingual Storytelling Festival. Photo: Matt Houston/Ironbark Photography.
When Lillian Rodrigues-Pang tells a story, people lean in. It’s not just her words that captivate, but also lyricism, the intonation of her voice and the flicker of emotions across her face. It’s the way time seems to slow down.
Later this week Rodrigues-Pang will finally realise a long-held dream: to bring Australia’s only oral storytelling festival to her home on Dharawal Country.
The Fireflies Multilingual Storytelling Festival is set to transform Wollongong Town Hall’s Music Lounge into something rare — a space where words alone paint the picture, and stories, told the old-fashioned way, weave their spell on the audience.
“Think old-school original style storytelling — no books, no images, just you, your ears and connection with a story. It’s the most intimate and connective way of sharing a moment,” Rodrigues-Pang says.
“We humans are a flash in the pan, time-wise. But these oral stories that’ve been around for thousands of years — well before the written word — endure because they hold a nugget of truth that connects with every single human.
“When you’re being told a story you’re not being fed images, your participation is the spark of imagination and the way you sink in, listen and feel.”
The Illawarra-based storyteller has spent decades using story to build community — in schools and preschools, hospitals and mental health centres, festivals and village halls.
Her own story is one of many cultures: Palestinian and Pipil through her mother, Portuguese and Scottish through her father.
“There was always this mix and transmission of cultures in my life,” she says. “Seeking stories has been a fundamental part of seeking my identity.”
It was a personal turning point that led her to storytelling full-time. After studying economics and politics in the hopes of “saving the world”, her family life was rocked when her brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
“The world shifted on its axis for all of us. The only way we could find common ground was through stories,” she says. “His reality was something I couldn’t understand, and storytelling became the only conversation we could have.”
Years later, after her brother’s death by suicide, Rodrigues-Pang walked away from policy and dived into the world of spoken word.
This year will be Rodrigues-Pang’s third attempt to pull off a full Fireflies Festival, after the first was derailed by COVID and the second by floods.
“I’m a storyteller. I love a third attempt,” she laughs. “It has to happen now.”
The two-day event includes five shows featuring international and local talent. The headline act is ETH-NOH-TEC, a San Francisco-based duo who perform in perfect tandem — finishing each other’s sentences, moving in synchrony, spinning tales like a dance.
“It’s like watching a form of verbal martial arts,” Rodrigues-Pang says. “They are absolute master storytellers.”
Other highlights include Hawaiian storyteller Alton Chung, whose rich, mythical tales are full of humour and wonder; a cello-and-song infused set from The Baltic Cellective; and a powerful new work by Jodi Edwards, a local Dharawal storyteller who blends language, lore and spirit in her piece See Kinn — Stories of Country and Sea Creatures.
Every story in the festival is told in English — but every teller is multilingual and will inject elements of another language and culture into their tale.
“I want to take the audience a little out of their context, give them flashes of how these stories might be experienced in other places, and let their imaginations do the rest,” Rodrigues-Pang says.
The Saturday night finale is an adults-only session where anything goes — a celebration of the mischief and bite that oral storytelling has always carried.
Rodrigues-Pang hopes the festival grows into a week-long event, taking stories into schools and community spaces.
“We want to remind people that they’re storytellers too. That it’s not about being polished or perfect — it’s about sharing. It’s the most human thing we do.”
Fireflies Multilingual Storytelling Festival takes place at The Music Lounge, Wollongong Town Hall on Friday 30 and 31 May.
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