Name: Storyhouse Childless
Start: 2026-09-25T00:00:00+01:00
End: 2026-09-27T00:00:00+01:00
Location: Storyhouse

Storyhouse Childless returns this September – and today the programme for the pioneering annual event which explores living without children can be revealed.

The 2026 weekend takes place from 25-27 September 2026.

Storyhouse Childless, now in its sixth year, aims to create space for honest, nuanced and empowering conversations about living without children and allows participants to raise awareness, build community, share stories and make connections.

Founded in 2019, the annual event has since brought together hundreds of people through panel discussions, keynote speakers, performances and workshops reflecting the full complexity of non-parenthood.

This year’s Storyhouse Childless opens on the evening of Friday, 25 September with an informal evening of live music and an opportunity to meet others attending the weekend. The event in the Garret Bar and Theatre includes a welcome from the festival team, an optional ‘Speed Friending’ and a set from Hy Jove DJ.

The programme is launched in the main theatre on Saturday, 26 September with a Festival Welcome from Storyhouse Childless host Dr Dawn Llewellyn, Associate Professor of Religion and Gender at the University of Chester and who has been involved with the event since its inception.

The welcome will be followed by the first panel discussion of the weekend, Exploring Neurodiversity as a Childless/Childfree Person, featuring both men and women who will share their childless and childfree neurodiverse lives in a world designed for neurotypical parents.

Then in Birth Rate Panic! Not Our Problem, Why Non-Parents Won’t be Blamed for Capitalism’s Failure, Zoë Noble and James Glazebrook - the founders of We Are Childfree – explore and argue against the regular headlines about the global declining birthrate and the threat to social security systems, which often blame women, and reveal how the childless and childfree could actually be the key to a more sustainable future.

We Are Childfree is a community-supported storytelling platform that celebrates childfree lives. For more than 10 years they have shared the lived experiences of people who are childfree by choice, circumstance or just curious, to destigmatise decisions and create the community people all need.

Creative Workshop sessions will take place in the Garret Bar on both Saturday and Sunday, led by Storyhouse in-house artist and facilitator Claire Beerjeraz and giving participants the chance to write, sing, move, draw or play.

Meanwhile due to popular demand, Discussion Groups also return for 2026. Sessions will take place in the Garret Bar throughout the weekend – pick a topic and join others for a friendly and informal chat with old or new friends. Each informal session will be led by a Storyhouse Childless volunteer.

Following feedback, this year also includes a Men Only Discussion Group, offering a space for male attendees to continue discussions on topics surrounding childlessness and being childfree.

The Garret Theatre is the venue for Ageing Without Children: Who is Going to Look After Me When I’m Old?

Jody Day is one of the leading voices in the global childless community and founder, in 2011, of Gateway Women. Author of Living the Life Unexpected, psychotherapist and ambassador for World Childless Week, here she will be ‘in conversation’ with award-winning life and death coach Jane Duncan Rogers to talk about the idea of ‘alterkin’ – shorthand for Alternative Kinship Circle.

The Saturday programme concludes with a Comedy and Open Mic Night in the Garret Theatre. The open mic will be hosted by Claire Beerjeraz and followed by a comedy set from TOKEN Collective, returning to Storyhouse Childless for a second year.

A Sunday Morning Meet-Up in The Kitchen will be followed by a welcome to the second full day of events from MC Dr Dawn Llewellyn, who will reflect on the Saturday programme and then introduce a Men’s Panel in the Garret Theatre where those taking part will have the chance to hear about the highs, lows and unique reflections of childlessness and being child free from a distinct male perspective.

It’s said that no one had ever thought more about having children than the people who don’t have children. Following feedback from 2025, A Panel About Making Decisions – being held in the Garret Theatre – will consider the uncertainty which comes with the decisions many face when navigating through different journeys.

The panel will be chaired by Margaret O’Connor, psychotherapist and founder of Are Kids for Me?

The final panel event of the weekend is Community, Networks and Friends, which it is hoped will inspire attendees going forwards. Perhaps you would like to start a new hobby, set up a childless/childfree social group, start a Substack or tackle that workplace environment for good, but as a childless/childfree person in a pronatalist world it can be tough.

The panel will share their experiences of starting something new, giving people ideas and practical tools and tips to build community.

It will be followed by a Wrap Up and Open Mic with audience members able to share their best moments, takeaways and possible revelations, along with any creative artwork, writing or music. And the 2026 weekend ends with an After Party in the Storyhouse Kitchen.

Tickets for the two events in the main theatre - Exploring Neurodiversity as a Childless/Childfree Person and Birth Rate Panic! Not Our Problem, Why Non Parents Won’t be Blamed for Capitalism’s Failure – are available to purchase individually.

Entrance to the remainder of the programme requires a Storyhouse Childless Weekend Pass.

Storyhouse Community Manager Nicola Haigh said today: “This year we are delighted to welcome We Are Childless founders Zoë Noble and James Glazebrook. The festival started back in 2019 with one day of ‘childless not by choice’ stories, so this is an exciting evolution to welcome internationally renowned podcasters Zoë and James as keynote speakers.

“Zoë and James, who are currently living full time in their camper van Dolly, driving across Europe to meet the women and men whose stories need telling, will be on the main stage with Storyhouse Childless: Birth Rate Panic! Not Our Problem. Why Non-parents Won’t be Blamed for Capitalism’s Failure.

“You can purchase single tickets for this event, as well as Exploring Neurodiversity as a Childless/Childfree person, which both take place on the main stage on the morning of Saturday, 26 September. There are limited weekend pass tickets still available to access every event.”

For more details about Storyhouse Childless visit www.storyhouse.com

STORYHOUSE CHILDLESS 2026 LISTINGS

Informal Evening Get-together

Date: Friday, 25 September 2026

Venue: Garret Bar and Theatre

Welcome and Exploring Neurodiversity as a Childless/Childfree Person

Date: Saturday, 26 September 2026

Time: 10.30am

Venue: Main theatre

Birth Rate Panic! Not Our Problem: Why Non-Parents Won’t be Blamed for Capitalism’s Failure

Date: Saturday, 26 September 2026

Time: 12.30pm

Venue: Main theatre

Creative Workshop: Parallel Lives

Date: Saturday, 26 September – Sunday, 27 September 2026

Time: 11am and 2.45pm (Sat) 11am and 2.30pm (Sun)

Venue: Garret Bar

Discussion Group

Date: Saturday, 26 September – Sunday, 27 September 2026

Time: 12.30pm on both days

Venue: Garret Bar

Men’s Discussion Group

Date: Saturday, 26 September 2026

Time: 4pm

Venue: Garret Bar

Ageing Without Children

Date: Saturday, 26 September 2026

Time: 4pm

Venue: Garret Theatre

Comedy and Open Mic Night

Date: Saturday, 26 September 2026

Time: 5.30-7pm

Venue: Garret Theatre

Sunday Morning Meet-Up