The House of the West Wind: College of Storytelling is delighted to present its Summer 2025 lecture. Writer and storyteller, Shahrukh Husain, will reflect upon and share her experience of family storytelling within her extended family.
“I was a toddler when my father told me he had rescued me from a goblin – my very first ‘yarn’ and my gateway into a world where stories surrounded me. Family anecdotes, wonder-tales, and magical adventures filled my childhood, mostly told by my grandmother, my great-aunt who lived in India and from various other relatives.
“The bookshelves in my family home in Karachi, Pakistan, overflowed with stories, from the magnificent Shahnameh of Persia and the Arabian Nights of Iraq to the myths of Greece, Rome, and Egypt. Alongside these ancient epics sat the American Junior Classics, retelling the best-known fairy tales of the Western world.
“Inevitably, my other career as a Jungian analyst began to merge with these narratives. The familiar characters of myth and folklore took on new dimensions, no longer just as symbolic functions in Propp’s ‘Morphology of the Folktale’ but fully realized individuals with depth beyond their structured journey. These fully realized characters have appeared in my four books for Virago Press, where I weave together myth, history, and psychology.
“My journey in the world of Story has taken many forms. My first book, Indian Myths and Legends, opened the door to a lifelong exploration of global storytelling. I later wrote the Ancient Civilisations series for children, bringing the past to life through engaging traditional narratives. Over the years, I have shared stories in schools, bookshops, and therapy groups, helping to keep the oral tradition alive and witnessing firsthand the power of stories to inspire, heal, and connect.
“And it has been a lifelong crusade to preserve and pass on these wonderful narratives so many of us grew up with, enrich them with stories from our diverse worlds, and continue to brew the alchemical cauldron of storytelling.”
Sharukh will share her story in an hour long lecture after which there will be time for Q&A.
A recording will be available if you can’t make it live, this will be emailed within 24 hours.