Stories with and for science
Between February and March, young visitors to Montpellier’s public libraries had the opportunity to discover three science-themed stories, the result of the “Science Tells Stories” residency. A collaboration between laboratories and artists organized as part of the UM Via des sciences , certified as “Science with and for Society.”
Three sold-out performances! Nearly 500 people—children and parents alike—were able to see and hear *Lokili*, *Les mondes de l’eau*, *Cosmos des Minus*, and *Peut-on conter sur le moustique?* Three original stories for children ages 6–11, performed at the Emile Zola Media Library and created as part of the“Science Tells Stories” residency, which began in 2025 in the laboratories of the University of Montpellier (UM) and its partners with the support of the Montpellier metropolitan area’s network of media libraries and scientific culture. “To our knowledge, we are the first scientific university in France to organize a storytelling residency,” says Lou Deny , project manager for “Science with and for Science” in the Science and Society Department at UM.
Like all good ideas, this one is simple: form pairs or groups of three consisting of a storyteller and one or two researchers, and have them collaborate within the same laboratory. “ The storytellers were selected through an open call for applications, while we had already identified the researchers for theirs capacitys to popularize and share, explains the project manager. We then had them work together in a sort of speed-dating-style exercise to see who would get along with whom. »
Bringing the Magic Back to Science
Francine Vidal, from the theater company La Belle Aventure, caught the science bug alongside Mathieu Sicard, a researcher atISEM (Montpellier Institute of Evolutionary Sciences), and Claire Loiseau, a researcher at Mivegec (Infectious Diseases and Vectors: Ecology, Genetics, Evolution, and Control). Rémi Garcia Kerviel delved into the world of water with Caroline Lejars (CIRAD) and Géraldine Abrami (INRAE), a researcher and an engineer at G-eau, respectively. Finally, Gwladys Batta made herself very small alongside microscopy specialist Marie-Pierre Blanchard, technical manager at MRI (Montpellier Imaging Resources).
Once the pairs were formed, each lab was able to set its own residency guidelines . “Some preferred to host the artist for a full week, while others split the residency into several one- or two-day sessions.” In the end, each storyteller was able to spend 22 days in residence at the lab between October and December 2025. (Read: Lokili: When Science and Storytelling Give Rise to a Water Story, INRAE) “The exchange focused heavily on practices. The scientists told us that this experience had somewhat re-enchanted the way they view their work,” reports Lou Deny, who also discussed this collaboration on Divergence radio.
Stories to Pass On
It took twenty-two days of incubation for these three stories to hatch before we saw them take flight and live their own lives. “This residency is an experiment; the current result isn’t polished.” We hope that the storytellers will continue to carry their stories for a long time and that they will develop them as they tell them and through encounters with the audience. Perhaps they will even pass them on to other storytellers,” the facilitator envisions.
A process inherent to this oral tradition that the storytellers were able to develop while working with undergraduate students in the Science and Society track from September to December 2025: “They taught the students how to retell, in the form of stories, the scientific experiments offered to classes participating in the Univerlacitéprogram.”
Six elementary school classes took part in these activities, which combined storytelling, hands-on experiments, and scientific discovery, right within the partner schools. And in February 2026, six other classes also participated directly at public libraries (Émile Zola in Montpellier, La Gare in Pignan, Françoise Giroud in Castries, Albert Camus in Clapiers, and Garcia Lorca). To share these workshops with us, Lou Deny herself took on the role of storyteller…
Gwladys in the Land of the Infinitely Small
“I picture a storyteller wearing a long fairy dress.” As soon as she walks through the doors of Garcia Lorca Elementary School, bright little eyes are waiting to ask Gwladys Batta their questions. Is being a storyteller a real job? “ We all tell stories, ” Gwladys replies.“ Today, it’s your turn to listen and make some up.” She pulls out a small kalimba, and a gentle melody rises from her thumbs. Then… Not a sound. “It’s my instrument for taking off to the land of stories…”
After spending five months at the Institute of Human Genetics alongside microscopy specialist Marie-Pierre Blanchard, Gwladys shares her experience through a game. She asks,“What do you think of as ‘very big’? An elephant, a giraffe, the universe, the sun? And ‘very small’? An earthworm, a microbe, a virus?” The children stand up, take on the role of the universe or the microbe, and line up from smallest to largest.
Then the instrument sets the pace of the story once more, and the storyteller continues: “Coralie has a pet fly.”We have to observe it, come up with theories, wonder if it has feelings, if it could learn to read. Eyes wide, hands on their cheeks, the students react immediately: “I had a pet insect, too! ” Snails in boxes, which eventually escape. Without even realizing it, we observe, we research, we formulate hypotheses. The children tell stories, and without realizing it, they are already telling science.
Rémi and Story Island
Shoes are lined up in front of the entrance to the small storytelling area at the Emile Zola Media Center. We take them off as if crossing a threshold, as if entering another world. Whisper, whisper. A murmur: “My name is Rémi, and I heard my first story when I was your age, in the Forest of Brocéliande, in front of a tree. ” A revelation that says everything about this man and his relationship to stories. Not a room, not a stage: a tree. The forest as the first theater. The children want to know:
– What is the shortest story? And the longest?
– The longest story comes from the peoples who came before us, an attempt to describe the world as it is, to find the true name of every thing. The shortest story is the one yet to be born, the one that has not yet been told.
– Is there always a moral to the story?
Rémi doesn't like the idea that there's only one truth:
– Moral lessons vary by region, culture, and individual. A story is not a sermon.
– Why is it important to know fairy tales?
– You spend all day telling stories, even on your phone. And when all hope is lost, it’s the stories that bring it back…
Francine and the Mosquitoes
Francine Vidal and Chimène Mangoua Njonté, a sociologist at ISEM, invited three classes to the public libraries in Castries and Clapiers to “chat together.” As the conversation began with the story itself, the children were quickly encouraged to talk about science: microscopes, Albert Einstein, test tubes, rats, microbes, and… mosquitoes! This gave the sociologist the opportunity to share a traditional Cameroonian song and follow up with some facts about it.“There are 3,500 species of mosquitoes, but only 100 of them bite humans!”
The workshop covers the diseases transmitted by this insect vector, as well as its role in the ecosystem as a food source for swallows, frogs, and spiders, and as a pollinator. “But how do mosquitoes mate?” Aquestion that only children seem to know the answer to—and one that the hour-long workshop wasn’t long enough to fully address.
From Fairy Tales to Podcasts
To continue the adventure at home with the family, podcasts based on the stories from these storytelling sessions will delight listeners of all ages. The storytellers, joined by the scientists who participated in the residencies, perform a series of original tales centered on the themes of mosquitoes, water, and the infinitely small. Through stories that blend imagination and scientific knowledge, they invite young listeners to journey between science and storytelling. For 15 minutes, children ages 6 to 11 can open their ears wide and dive into imaginary and scientific worlds.
Coming soon to Spotify, Deezer, YouTube Podcasts, SoundCloud, and Apple Podcasts.