After an overwhelming response for the previous 2 editions, the 3rd edition of Udaipur Tales, a 3 day, international storytelling festival is expected to see participation of over 25 professional storytellers, authors, theatre artists and actors. The venue will be given a look of Festival village and will host stalls showcasing handmade products, exquisite handicrafts from different regions of India.

Veteran actress Bhagyashree will be gracing the Festival Village area to inaugurate the same. Udaipur Tales will be held from 21-23 February at Park Exotica, Opposite Shilpgram, Udaipur. This edition will touch upon some interesting genres like western, suspense, magical, realism, humor, fantasy, mythopoetic, Romantic, fable, satirical, contemporary, and classic.

Oral storytelling has flourished in several ancient civilizations. In India our epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata were recited orally by storytellers travelling from one town to another. Humans have a natural predilection for stories, which is why their preservation and perpetual narration is crucial.

This edition will be packed with more powerful performances and a grand marathon of stories from different genres. There will be 3 stage platforms – Dream Times (for children), Jumghat (for one and all) and Shu Chang (for discerning youth n adults). This edition will see performances from bands like Mukt along with some Sufi and folk vocal by Mirande Shah along with the well-known ghazal vocalist Begum Vidya Shah. One will also witness Radhika Bagdai’s Book Release - कला की जगह - By Bhagyashree. Some real life Heros like: Gangesh Khaitan, Former National Golf Champion, will narrate his life story.

What’s new this year is that Udaipur Tales has given a chance to the budding storytellers and artists through this platform and scheduled few sessions with the new talent as well. The entries for the same were invited from all across. Surplus funds (calculated at the end of the festival) will go towards the education of the children of My Anchor foundation.

Professional storytellers, authors, theatre actors and personalities presenting at Udaipur Tales this year include Vicky Ahuja - Indian film Actor, who has worked predominantly in Bollywood; Piyush Mishra - an Indian film and theatre actor, music director, lyricist, singer and scriptwriter; Shantanu Guha Ray - award-winning journalist, author and storyteller; Vilas Janve - One of the best known Mime Artists of India; Vikram Shridhar – A professional storyteller who believes in stories as a strong medium for conservation; Bongiswa Kotta Ramushwana from South Africa, who uses storytelling as a tool to heal and spread cheer; Chamseul Kim - Korean Storyteller; Sanjukta Sinha - one of India's leading Kathak artists of her generation, known for her technical expertise and immense artistry; Valentina Trivedi - a Teacher Educator and Storyteller who specializes in approaching the learning process from a child's perspective; Usha Venkatraman - a professional storyteller with 23 years of experience performing traditional stories, folktales and myths for children and adults; Seema Wahi Mukherjee - an innovative and experiential storyteller; Syed Sahil Agha - a writer, author, and storyteller from New Delhi, India who specializes in the verbal art of dastangoi and Kabuki Khanna – Opera Singer