Silk Road Stories

The Freer and Sackler Galleries’ Silk Road Storytelling group is made up of volunteers from the Washington DC community who have cultural ties to various sites along the ancient Silk Road. They trained with professional storyteller Louise Omoto Kessel to learn to tell stories from their homelands, including Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, China, Mongolia, Korea, and Japan. Here is a sample of their stories. We trust that listeners will experience the many ways that appreciation for family, meaningful work, truth, beauty, and mystery are expressed through these unique voices from along the ancient trading route.