Svend-Erik Engh is a Danish Storyteller living in Edinburgh.
His specialty is Viking stories, Norse myths and Scandinavian folktales and legends. He were born and raised in Denmark with a Norwegian mother, so these stories are in his blood and bones.
He has a true passion for stories and has collected many on world travels that took him as far away as Namibia and China.
Now that Scotland is his home, he has become deeply inspired by the Scottish history and traditions, in particular its relationship to the Vikings. He has found and created many tales that share the history of Vikings in Scotland.
Svend-Erik offers storytelling workshops in schools, community centres, and private events which often include Viking games as well as Viking stories and myths of the Norse Gods.
He also leads walking tours of Edinburgh while sharing tales of the city’s history often adding stories of the relationship between Edinburgh and Scandinavia to these walks.
In his own words:
"I like my storytelling to be as fun as possible. I am a very physical storyteller thanks to my theatrical training at Odin Theatre in my youth. My audiences always seem to enjoy this."
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Svend-Erik is a creator and performer of full length shows and theatre works that have performed all over Scotland, England and at European festivals.
Since his arrival in Scotland in 2017 he created two shows with storyteller Alice Fernbank. Their signature show is ‘GIANTS'. In 2020 the couple created 'Orphan James and The Prince of Denmark', about James the VI of Scotland and Shakespeare's Hamlet.
With musician Neil Sutcliffe Svend-Erik created and performed 'Walk the Oars' at the Edinburgh Fringe, a Viking story of a young man travelling in his own ship to Shetland. You might read the review here
In 2021 and 2022 Neil and Svend-Erik created 'Wolves Within' – stories of Wolves. Both shows have toured in England and Scotland.
For the Scottish International Storytelling Festival 2024 together with local Mairi Campbell and Danish illustrator Tea Bendix Svend-Erik Engh created a show called ‘Once upon a time there was a war’, which received five stars in The Quinntessential Review by William Quiin. You might read the review here
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Engh is immensely personable, his easy manner making present hurt of wounds decades or centuries’ old.
His first book in English is called ‘Danish Folk Tales’ published by the History Press in 2023. It is a collection of his favourite traditional stories from Denmark.