A link down the ages

I am often reminded that our competitions are part of a great cultural tradition, a small part, I grant you, but a part all the same.

You see, stories have shaped the world in which we live and helped inform the way we think and continue to do so.

All across the world can be found great storytelling traditions dating back thousands of years. From Africa to Europe, North and South America to Asia with its Indian epic tales and the storytelling tradition in China dating back to 206BC, the telling of stories has been part of cultural development.

This train of thought was prompted by an recent entry into the November Global Short Story Competition from Hong Kong. Indeed, we receive entries from all over the world, fifty-plus countries last time we added them up.

But why storytelling? Well, a New York Times article from 2007 reported that researchers had found that the human brain, wherever it may be in the world, has an affinity for narrative construction, with people finding it easier to remember facts if they are presented in a story rather than as a list.
John Dean