Fantasy Festival brings magic into the classrooms

There are forces in Esbjerg that cannot be defeated – only held down. When storyteller Ellen Mortensen stands before a hall filled with schoolchildren at the Main Library, she brings the city’s hidden stories to life: darkness beneath the harbor, flashes of light on the waves, and secrets kept away for generations.

The story The Villains Return is part of this year’s Fantasy Quest Esbjerg, but already now the municipality’s schoolchildren get to experience it from the very front row.

The Fantasy Festival is not just about three magical days in September. The festival spreads across the entire municipality and has become a permanent offer for schools.

A total of 17 schools are participating

This year, no less than 57 classes from 17 different schools are taking part in the story, where students discover how words can transform into images, and how a single voice can open portals to new worlds.

“I hope the students have a captivating experience and feel what oral storytelling can do,” says Ellen.

“And that perhaps they will be inspired to read more fantasy or even step into the story themselves when Fantasy Quest Esbjerg unfolds in the city streets during the festival.”

The story lasts about 25 minutes and ends with a small task as a taste of Fantasy Quest Esbjerg. In this way, the students are not just listeners, but participants in Esbjerg’s very own fantasy tale – long before the festival begins.

The magic continues

But it’s not only Ellen who meets the students ahead of the Fantasy Festival. Actor André Andersen also performs The Brothers Lionheart for a total of 200 fifth-grade pupils at Ansgarskolen and Ådalskolen in the week leading up to the festival. This gives even more children the chance to experience how fantasy can unfold – this time through the magic of theatre.

The Fantasy Festival also reaches out to the municipality’s high schools, where project manager Jacob Holm Krogsøe is currently giving lectures for students. Here, the fantasy genre is presented as a living cultural form that can inspire and engage across age groups.

In this way, the Fantasy Festival is more than just a weekend in September. It is a cultural lift for the whole of Esbjerg Municipality, where fantasy moves into classrooms and high schools – as living stories, literature, and interactive experiences that awaken both imagination and curiosity.