İKSV Alt Kat, with the cooperation of Istanbul Theatre Festival and the support of the Istanbul Development Agency, brought Turkish and refugee children in the 7-9 and 10-12 age groups together in a workshop where they created their own stories. The Istanbul Tales Writing and Storytelling Workshop, where children were encouraged to write stories about Istanbul by using different disciplines, was held for 12 weeks during March-June 2019. Deniz Soruklu Evren, the fairy tale writer and narrator leading the workshop, taught the children different fairy tale techniques and how to create fiction, character, time and space through various exercises and games.

The stories written or drawn by the children during the workshop became a book titled Naristan. The book printed in a limited quantity was shared with the institutions collaborating with the workshop. In addition to the storybook, the children told their own stories to festival audiences as a part of the free 23rd Istanbul Theatre Festival event Story Stage on Sunday, 1 December, 2019 at Salon İKSV.