Art of Storytelling: What Makes a Story Stay With Us?

Talks on Tuesdays is a live event series bringing big ideas, real experts, and curious minds together - at your favourite local venues. Think thought-provoking lectures, audience questions, and post-talk mingling over drinks and dinner.

This isn’t a uni lecture. It’s a social, intelligent night out.Come alone or with friends, leave with something to talk about.

Event Schedule:

At Brick Lane guest can arrive anytime from 5pm to order food or have pre-lecture drinks and mingle.

7pm Lecuture Starts

7.45pm Q&A

8pm Talk Concludes

8.30pm Event Closes.

*Please arrive close to 6.30pm

A La Carte menu and full bar available throughout the night - pay as you go.

Your Topic:
Art of Storytelling: What Makes a Story Stay With Us?

Stories have engaged us for as long as we’ve been able to share them. We grieve with characters, root for their success against impossible odds, and celebrate their triumphs.

But why do stories have that power? How do they move us and inspire us?

Les Zig talks about the different components of storytelling. From why we relate to characters who might be living the most extraordinary circumstances, to how stories are structured to engage us, to what we get from stories on intellectual, emotional, and spiritual levels.

And, beyond that, beyond the architecture of how stories work, why are they so important to us in whatever form they take?

Drawing from his experience as a published author, screenwriter, and director, Les will unpack the mechanics behind great storytelling across literature and film, while sharing insights into creating layered characters, building tension, and finding a unique creative voice. Whether you’re an aspiring writer, filmmaker, creative, or simply someone fascinated by the stories we tell ourselves and each other, this is an evening designed to pull back the curtain on the craft of storytelling.

Your Speaker:

Les Zig is the author of Just Another Week in Suburbia (ECG Press 2025) Any More Complicated Than That (ECG Press 2024), This (MidnightSun Publishing 2023), Prudence (ECG Press 2023), and August Falling (Pantera Press 2018) and, as Lazaros Zigomanis, This (Midnight Sun Publishing 2023), Song of the Curlew (ECG Press 2022), The Shadow in the Wind (ECG Press 2021), and Pride (Busybird Publishing 2017).

His stories focus on characters facing adversity trying to find their place in the world.

He’s had four screenplays optioned, and unproduced screenplays shortlist in over one hundred competitions. His stories and articles have been published in various print and digital journals. He also runs workshops on writing, editing, and publishing.

He blogs, often yelling at clouds, at www.leszig.com.