No, not the soft, brown, winged insect, but a live, themed storytelling gathering modelled on the popular New York version, founded in 1997 by poet and novelist George Dawes Green.
So why is it called the Moth? Well the writer wanted to recreate the feeling of sultry summer evenings in his native Georgia when moths were attracted to the light on the porch where he and his friends would gather to spin spellbinding tales. Green and his original group of storytellers called themselves ‘The Moths’, and that name took flight as a movement of storytelling in New York City with over 600 different storytelling events a year across the US.
Storytelling is a powerful tool of connection. When Mandy Nolan from The Echo, and Creative Mullum reignited The Echo’s short story competition, the view was always to have the stories shared in a Moth. ‘I love storytelling,’ says Mandy, a comedian and author of five books. ‘I have been running writing workshops over the last few years, so I know how many talented and budding writers we have here. Finding an ignition to get them writing was stage one! Stage two was to get those stories on stage!’
Hence the final of The Echo Short Story Competition which garnered almost 250 stories that were all required to theme with ‘hitchhiker’. ‘I was just blown away by the quality of the stories,’ said Mandy, ‘I loved how many were locally-themed. It’s so powerful when writers tell stories about things and places they know. It certainly layers what you are reading with a sense of place that we can relate to. The stories were excellent, I was particularly impressed with the work of the under-18s. We even have a 12-year-old storyteller, Pearl Bannister, reading her story on the night!’
Ten stories were chosen. Five of them were from adults, and five from under-18s. Each of the writers has been invited to read their story at Mullumbimby’s Top Pub on Monday, 30 March at 7pm, with the winners taking home prize money of $1,000 from the Top Pub for adults, and the youth section first prize of $500 from IGA.
The judges on the night will have already read the stories, but it’s important to see how those stories sit in the public space. How they affect an audience, or readership. Judges are: Jessica Alice, the Festival Director of the Byron Writers Centre; Alan Close, author and writing coach; Merryn Morrison, a curator from the arts sector representing Creative Mullum; and The Echo General Manager Simon Haslam.
‘I will be hosting the evening,’ says Mandy Nolan, who welcomes the community to come and be part of this auspicious occasion. ‘Telling stories is what makes us human. In a world where AI is on the rise, our insights, our wisdom, our heartbreak, our suffering, our joy, our loves, our failures … that’s our creative strength!’
The first Mullum Moth is next Monday, 30 March at the Top Pub in Mullumbimby at 7pm. Come early for dinner! This show will sell out, so grab your tickets for $15/20 from https://events.humanitix.com/mullum-moth/tickets.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
