Our Accredited Course Offerings
Kathalaya felt the need to take deeper roots and in 2003 set up the International Academy of Storytelling, the first and only independent and globally recognized academy for storytelling with Geeta Ramanujam as its Key facilitator and Director.
Kathalaya’s International Academy of Storytelling was conceptualized as a Global Institute with Accredited courses to facilitate and train professionals in the art of Storytelling. KIAS adopted varied modules to attract interested individuals from Institutions across the World which included software professionals, journalists, students, doctors, lawyers Teachers, educators, Scholars, folklorists Storytellers and individuals from Corporate sectors including Parents, grandparents Rotarians, film makers, artists and artisans, poets, writers and authors to attend the course.
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KIAS soon became the only globally recognized Academy offering professional storytelling courses. The various modules are customized by experts with decades of experience in storytelling and related fields of education, leadership, and communication.
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Today, KIAS has spread its roots and set up new centres in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Chennai, the Himalayas, and Bangalore, its main training centre. KIAS is now offering online courses, too.
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KIAS has trained over 2000 storytellers through its courses, and KIAS has completed over 180 batches of its Beginners course and over 37 batches of its Diploma courses.
Kathalaya has also trained over 99,500 storytellers across the world through workshops and webinars.
Level 1
Intensive Beginner’s Certified
Course In Storytelling
Great stories have always inspired the way people think. Great philosophers and motivational speakers use stories to state a fact or to drive home a message effectively.
Storytelling Taps, Tells and Transforms people to craft their stories to stimulate an emotional and intelligent response from the participants. They are engaging and effective because they activate the listener’s imagination.
Storytelling techniques helps people to communicate the story effectively using the right language tone and voice.
Level 11
Certified Diploma
Course In Storytelling
The Diploma course opens you to a whole new dimension of Storytelling. You will explore and discover stories that have evolved through times in the different regions of the World. You will travel to myths and mysteries of the fantasy worlds and discover the difference between a legend and a fairy tale or the time difference between a folk tale and a fable. Why were they told and what did it mean to people will be the journey that will leave you with awe and a sense of wonder. And so connect you to your own source. We equip you with new skills from the music, arts and crafts fields besides allowing you to discover your own potential to discover yourself as a truly professional storyteller.
Intensive Batch 179 April 2025
Workshops
WORKSHOPS are mainly conceptualized to help people become aware of Storytelling- an offering of the varied approaches though short understandable and practically applicable modules both for Education as well as for other professions like health, corporate communications, Diversity and Inclusion, Career growth, Special needs in Education, Mental wellness, Emotional Wisdom, and so on .
Since 1998 through our workshops we have reached AS MANY AS 99,206 PEOPLE to become aware of STORYTELLING AS A MEANS TO ADDRESS ANY ISSUES.
For Children
KATHALYA’ STORYTELLING EXPERIENCE since 1998 began with schools to make concepts interesting in Education. Though we had positive responses all children were not able to participate in the workshops offered to them within the school premises. That is when we at Kathalaya customized workshops for children under different headings like “Story Weavers” “Storytelling for young adults” “Kathakalash” etc.
After offering it as a monthly program and customizing them Kathalaya through a consistent diet of storytelling helped students to reflect on their own positions in society subtly choosing tales with an underlying message or value.
Stories and storytelling required children to actively engage through activities following the story using both their emotional intelligence and their cognitive ability.
They liked the storytelling sessions because of their entertainment value like the fun value and recently Amrit after watching Ramayana felt that Kumbhakarna was "funny," "cool," and "loving."
Kathalaya’s workshops are theme based which help children make connections to their own lives as well as relating empathetically with others. Every storytelling workshop helps children participate primarily as a listener and then a teller.
Storytelling for Grownups – The Kathalaya Way
​Storytelling enlivens and makes concepts much easier to understand. Data can be boring and stories help them come alive.
The foundation of all learning begins with listening. Effective communication is possible only when the storyteller begins to listen to his listeners. When as grownups we listen wholeheartedly with interest to and experience, an anecdote in History, or to a story of relationships, our ears and our whole being is alert.
Just how do we hone the tricks and techniques of telling and transmitting stories from one heart to another?
Only through workshops and webinars can one slowly and steadily begin to hone the skills. After the experience of each telling we tend to become more confident and polish both our inner stories and our outer tales to engross the listener into our own stories. Every word and letter you speak makes an impact on the audience.
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What are the tools required to tell stories?
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The best tool is our own selves. Our own internal faith and strength creates the right atmosphere for telling stories. We need to believe in stories ourselves in order to create that faith in people around us.
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So, once we believe in it the story is transmitted automatically with the feelings we add to it just as we add the ingredients for cooking it becomes a lovely dish.
Our Corporate Shout
Founded in 1998 with a vision to create positive social change through education, Kathalaya’s Academy of Storytelling soon expanded its reach beyond classrooms into the world of business and leadership.
Today, Kathalaya brings the transformative power of storytelling into corporate spaces—using it as a dynamic tool for building leadership skills, enhancing communication, fostering inclusion, and strengthening teams.
In our programs, stories are not just told—they are experienced. Each narrative becomes a mirror through which participants discover their own meanings.
A story may come from the outside, but its true resonance emerges from within. And when that happens, the insight it leaves behind stays long after the story ends.
Storytelling, at its core, is a shared process between the teller and the listener—a bridge of emotion, understanding, and empathy. In the workplace, it becomes a powerful medium to communicate values, vision, and purpose—cutting across barriers of hierarchy, age, and ideology.
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For leaders, stories are more than metaphors—they are instruments of change. Through Kathalaya’s specialized programs such as “The Art of Storytelling”, professionals are guided to rediscover their authentic voices, craft compelling narratives, and embody the change they wish to lead.
At Kathalaya, we believe that every individual carries a story worth sharing—and through storytelling, organizations can connect, inspire, and transform from within.