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14 Storytelling Books Every Trainer & Facilitator Should Read
Get better at finding, crafting and telling powerful, memorable stories in your workshops with learnings from these books.
FIND & CRAFT your stories
There are so many amazing storytelling books out there that it can be hard to know where to start. So let me make it easier. I've been working with storytelling in training and facilitation for years - reading, experimenting, teaching it. And I keep coming back to the same books again and again. I like to think of storytelling as something we develop in 3 steps:
- Find your stories - discover the ones hiding in your everyday life
- Craft them in a skillful way - shape them so they land
- Tell them in an engaging way - deliver them so people feel them
Here are my favorite storytelling books, organized around these 3 pillars.
If you only read one book from this list, make it this one.
One of the best storytelling books I've read - and I've read truly many. What makes it special is that Matthew Dicks walks the talk. He doesn't just give you tips - he shows examples for everything, building not just practical tools but a deeper understanding of how stories really work.
It's also the only book I know that will truly help you find your stories - the ones hiding in your everyday life that you don't even realize are there. And once you've found them, it shows you how to craft them into something meaningful.
📖 Resonate - Nancy Duarte
If you work in a business context and want to make your presentations less dry - without losing credibility - this is the one. What I love about it is how down to earth it is. It really understands the business world and shows you how to bring stories into that context in a way that feels natural and aligned.
It gives you a clear, easy-to-implement structure for how to think about your message - and then shows a ton of examples of how to bring that structure into reality.
Want to go beyond books?
Reading is a great start. But storytelling is a skill that grows fastest through practice and feedback - and that's hard to get from a book.
On Advanced Storytelling for Trainers & Facilitators we work with the techniques from many of these books - and many more - and put them into practice together. 2 full days of immersion, built around practice & real feedback, in a cozy group of fellow trainers and facilitators. Two options to join in 2026:
- London - 23-24 July
- Florence - 8-9 October (Early bird valid till mid-May.)
