In 2016, hosted at the Sydney Story Factory in Australia, the eight-week Scented Storytelling workshop nurtured a new generation of sensory-aware storytellers on a journey to rediscover their “Inner Noses.” As each week unfolded, participants dove into an immersive scent session to jumpstart their nasal skills. This unconventional approach sets the stage for a bouquet of carefully curated writing exercises designed to awaken participants’ olfactory awareness and stimulate their creative expression. Their literary voyage navigates the intimate triad of smell, memory, and emotion, inspiring them to create layered narratives imbued with multidimensional depth.  While we stimulate all senses, the spotlight was firmly cast on the untapped potential of our noses. This focus on olfactory perception offered participants a fresh lens through which they could better understand and articulate their surroundings. This sensory journey culminated in the delightful compilation book Tales that Stink. This collection served as a treasure trove of scent-inspired stories, a testament to the participants’ creative journey, and a keepsake of their transformative, scent-driven literary adventure.

Life begins with babies.
They’re humans but they’re small.
Some days they smell like diapers
Some days you can’t smell them at all.

But flowers on the other hand,
Always smell quite fresh
Until you forget to water them
And then they smell like death.

Let’s have a funeral for flowers,
And into ashes we will burn them
If the dirt is where we got them,
To the dirt we will return them.

The worms will Love the flower feast,
And the birds will love the worms
Then the vulture comes and eats them all,
And the garden smells like germs.

But please don’t start crying,
There is no need for tears,
These are the smells of life and death,
There is no time for fear.

The Magic of Life and Death by Pascal