Whether it’s listening to a joke or hearing an after-dinner talk, scanning a newspaper or reading a novel, we all love a story. Early memories of being read to as a child by a parent or teacher are among the most powerful. While the pace of technology means stories can be delivered today in a multitude of ways, there’s still nothing to match the magic of opening the pages of a book, sitting at the feet of a storyteller or stepping inside a theatre (whatever our age).

The model for story centres and children’s literature venues hasn’t changed significantly since they were first introduced around 20 years ago – but they have never been so popular.

“I think it’s because life is so techy,” says Cathy Agnew, project director of Peter Pan Moat Brae – the place where JM Barrie conceived Neverland – due to open in Dumfries, Scotland, in 2017. “We want person-to-person contact. There’s ­nothing more comforting than having someone read to you, that one-to-one engagement.”

“Bells and whistles have their place,” according to Ruth Weyman, who works alongside a team of “story builders” who lead a variety of events at Discover Children’s Story Centre in London.

“But, there’s nothing as challenging or rewarding as being able to interact with a child when you’re telling them a story.”

Visitor figures for these venues are growing year on year. Centres are expanding their reach through touring exhibitions; book clubs, book festivals and events at bookshops are ­thriving and new storytelling facilities are ­opening. Internationally, there’s a great ­collaboration of resources and expertise.

CHANGE IN STATUS
“There’s been a change in the status of children’s literature in the cultural landscape,” says Kate Edwards, CEO of Seven Stories in Newcastle, England.

Opened in 2005, Seven Stories is perhaps one of the key contributing factors to this growth in the sector. Attracting 80,000 visits a year, it’s housed in a converted Victorian warehouse and was the idea of two forward-thinking women who had long championed children’s literature locally through their jobs in education and bookselling. Their vision was to establish an archive of work from children’s writers and illustrators in the modern period. “There was no organisation which saw its role as saving and celebrating the literary heritage for children,” Edwards says.

Focusing on original material from the 1930s onwards, Seven Stories is a national and international resource, loaning its exhibitions to numerous venues across the world. Its seven floors house galleries for exhibitions, performance and creative spaces, a children’s bookshop and café.

“Look at the popular arts, film and theatre and you’ll see children’s literature plays a huge role in driving the cultural economy. But we also hold the firm belief that children’s books change lives; we believe they bring about better life chances,” she says.

Edwards acknowledges that the change in use of libraries, which have fallen in number as a consequence of our shift to digital media, has perhaps played a part in the development of story ­centres. “Twenty years ago it would have been inconceivable that there’d be any other place than a library to experience a wide range of children’s books and storytelling.” It seems that the threat posed to libraries has helped increase demand for these physical venues where parents and children can interact with one another.

DIGITAL STORYTELLER
In Japan, a modern library built to serve three local preschools became a surprise visitor attraction. Created by the architect Tadao Ando in 2003, the Museum of Picture Books in Iwaki City proved hugely popular and in response now opens to the public every Friday. The 6,500sq ft (600sqm) building houses 1,300 picture books, each displayed face-out on the walls, like exhibits, with the bright book covers bringing the colour to the space.

In London, an archive of illustrators’ work opened as a visitor attraction this year. The House of Illustration attracted huge attention through its launch exhibition of the work of founder Quentin Blake. In April, the Story Museum opened in Oxford, UK, a centre which started life as a virtual museum in 2003.

“Telling a story may not seem like education, but you’re learning language, sentence structure, speaking skills,” says co-director of the Story Museum, Kim Pickin. “Our educational programme is a bit like strawberries rather than spinach. One’s good for you but you don’t enjoy it, and the other’s good for you and delicious.”

Now the museum is being turned into a visitor centre. Currently it offers the immersive, multi-sensory 26 Characters exhibition, which tours next year. “We have a ‘digital storyteller’ in residence,” says Pickin, “to help us find new ways to engage digital natives who’ve grown up with technology.”

There’s also a tablet in each room, which plays extracts of different stories read by well-known actors or interviews with authors. “The digital revolution is all the more reason to support older forms of storytelling, such as oral storytelling and reading: children still need to develop their imaginations,” she says. “Our aim is to excite people of all ages about story.”