Tod Tales Oral History Book Launch (FREE EVENT)

Todmorden Book Festival launches Tod Tales, a new publication that draws together stories from the Tod Tales oral history project, at a special event at Todmorden Town Hall. The event will include a selection of readings from the book.

Oral history can document stories passed down from generation to generation, record the changing and enduring nature of a place and highlight the ‘unheard voices’ of people often excluded from traditional records. Tod Tales captures the memories, experiences and anecdotes of an older generation from when they were growing up in Todmorden.

A diverse selection of 15 participants were interviewed for Tod Tales in 2021 and 2022.  Three of these interviews were conducted in Punjabi by trainee oral historian Mehwish Khadam and translated by her into English. Extracts from the interviews form the basis of Tod Tales. The tales that are told are extremely varied, at times amusing and entertaining and often deeply moving.

Tod Tales project leader and oral historian Ian Alderson has worked on a number of oral history projects in the north west. He is a member of the Oral History Society.