Storyhouse Childless returns for a 5th year to Chester’s Storyhouse on Friday 12 – Sunday 14 September 2025

Storyhouse Childless is a weekend of events to explore living without children. The pioneering programme creates space for honest, nuanced, and empowering conversations about living without children and allows attendees to build community, share stories, raise awareness and make connections.

Since 2019, Storyhouse have brought together hundreds of people through keynotes, panel discussions, performances, and workshops that reflect the full complexity of non-parenthood. Each year, the programme grows in depth, diversity, and reach.

The weekend is for all adults without children, whether that’s through infertility, life circumstances, or perhaps a choice to be childfree, as well as for friends and family who want to find out more about how they can support the non-parents in their families and communities.

Nicola Haigh, Community Manager for Storyhouse says: “Storyhouse Childless is not just an event — it’s a community, a platform, and a growing movement that challenges the dominant narrative around parenthood and creates a space for connection, visibility, and solidarity. This festival now in its fifth year has been co-curated with a volunteer focus group made up of the childless and childfree community.”

The weekend begins with an evening of live music and connection, followed by opening reflections from Dr Dawn Llewellyn, Associate Professor of Religion and Gender at the University of Chester, who will frame the festival’s timely place in conversations about pronatalism, identity, and belonging.

Across the weekend, attendees will experience powerful panel discussions, creative workshops, and performance. Highlights include a candid session on chronic illness and childlessness, a vibrant Creative Power Hour led by artist Claire Beerjeraz, and a new strand of discussion groups shaped by audience feedback, introduced by Elizabeth Harkness of the Other Than Motherhood podcast.

Saturday’s programme also welcomes journalist and broadcaster Bibi Lynch, leading a panel on the stigma around singlehood and non-parenthood, followed by an evening of theatre, comedy and cabaret, featuring Otherhood by Old Bird Theatre, a reading from Robert Nurden’s new play Empty, and a comedy line-up hosted by the TOKEN Collective.

Sunday offers a reflective start with breakfast gatherings and body-mapping sessions, followed by a keynote from TEDx speaker Emily Monsell-Holden on her personal journey as a non-mother. A panel of voices will join her to share diverse stories of navigating a world shaped by parenthood norms. Creative writing and visual arts sessions led by Gayle Letherby and others round out the day.

The festival closes with a bold panel chaired by Dr Llewellyn, asking: Is childlessness an intersectional issue? Guests include activist Hafsa Qureshi, Pride Cymru trustee Kate Hutchinson, and author Yvonne John, exploring how race, sexuality, and identity intersect with the experience of being without children.

FULL LISTINGS :

Speed Friending & Live Music  

• Garret Theatre and Bar  
• Friday 12th September  
• 6pm – 8.30pm  

TALK: Welcome to Storyhouse Childless! 

• Saturday 13th September  
• Main Theatre  
• 10.00 -11.00 

TALK: Stories from People Living with Chronic Illness 

• Saturday 13 September  
• 11.30 – 12.30pm  
• Main Theatre

Storyhouse Childless: Creative Power Hour & Open Mic 

• Saturday 13 September 11.30 and 3pm  
• Garret Theatre

Storyhouse Childless: Discussion Group – When Things Don’t Go to Plan  

• Saturday 13th September  
• 1-2pm
• Main Theatre and Garret Theatre + Bar  

Storyhouse Childless: How to Survive Being Single Living Without Kids 

• Saturday 13th September 
• 3pm – 4pm 
• Main Theatre   

Storyhouse Childless: Discussion Group – How to Survive Being Single Living

• Without Kids 
• Saturday 13 September 
• Main Theatre  
• 4pm – 4.45pm 

Storyhouse Childless: Cabaret 

• Saturday 13 September 
• Garret Theatre 
• 5:00pm – 7:30pm

Storyhouse Childless: Welcome Desk and Bag Check in (Sunday) 

• Sunday 14th September 
• The Kitchen  
• 9am – 10.15am

Storyhouse Childless: Sunday Morning Meet-Up

• Sunday 14th September  
• The Kitchen  
• 9am – 10.15am

Storyhouse Childless: Body Mapping Your Story 

• Sunday 14th September  
• 9.15 – 10.15am 
• Garret Theatre

Storyhouse Childless: What Is Your Life If It Isn’t Being Parent? 

• Sunday 14 September  
• 10.30 – 11.30  
• Main Stage

Storyhouse Childless: Creative Writing Workshop 

• Sunday 14 September  
• 10.30 – 11.30  
• Garret Theatre

Storyhouse Childless: The Community of Art  

• Sunday 14 September 
• 11.45 – 12.45  
• Main Theatre

Storyhouse Childless: Sunday Discussion Group 

• Sunday 14 September 
• 11.45 – 12.45 
• Garret Theatre

Storyhouse Childless: Is Childlessness an ‘Intersectional’ issue? 

• Sunday 14 September 
• 2.15 – 3.15pm   
• Main Theatre

For more information visit www.storyhouse.com.