Hannah Kaner, the organiser of the Fireflies storytelling event, believes that storytelling is both a revolutionary and revelatory act – one which breaks barriers and allows people to learn more about one another.

Seated across a table at Café Pembroke, she tells me: “It’s interesting listening to what people say, what they don’t, and how they feel comfortable speaking to a crowd of strangers about things they wouldn't tell their most intimate friends…You can see how they express themselves: their dialect, their attitude.”

This is the premise behind Friday’s event, themed ‘Wanderlust’ and run by the newly-launched Cambridge creative writers’ network Chameleon. People interested in telling their stories can submit their names at the start of the evening. From these, 10 storytellers will be chosen at random, and given five minutes each to deliver a topic over the microphone on any topic they wish. And “if anyone wants to tell a narrative poem, they are welcome to do that.”

The only rule? The stories must be true. Says Hannah, “It's not going to be PC, ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’. People might talk about lust, about sex, getting into fights on a holiday…”

Still, there are as many versions of ‘truth’ as there are people who tell them. “Even when people tell each other secrets in a private setting, they are never going to tell the full truth. It’s these impressions of truth which are really interesting.”

Hannah later points out an intriguing difference between the written and spoken word. “When you listen to a spoken story, you won’t ever remember the whole thing, but you will retain parts of it that really struck home.”

A third-year English student at Pembroke College, Hannah came up with the idea for a story slam event after being inspired by the storytelling events by US non-profit organisation The Moth she attended when she was in New York over the summer.

She plans to hold a Fireflies event once every fortnight over the next two terms. It is likely that this will be reduced to two events in exam term.

While Hannah has never performed stories on stage before, she tells me, “I often tell stories to random people on trains. I just find people very fascinating, and love starting conversations with people I've never met. I have friends from London who can't comprehend how I can sit on the underground without my headphones in. It's just because I am really nosy!"

Hannah continues, “I think in Cambridge it’s really easy to just interact in tiny circles. It’s easier not to speak to people, or learn things from each other, because you already have people you feel safe with.”

At least 45 people are expected to turn up on Friday. The stories will be informally scored “so people can feel gratified that they are doing it well, and to see what the audience is getting out of it.” Also, pens and slips of paper will be distributed among the seated audience, allowing them to write short, anonymous stories to be read out later on. There will be opportunities for members of the audience – among whom will be students from other universities like Anglia Ruskin – to mingle during intervals.

Hannah will perform five two-minute “weird stories” about herself on Friday. She admits: “I’m scared too. I am going to be negotiating the whole night, getting people to stay, feel excited, and be willing to go on stage. It means I have to be the sacrificial lamb.”

Fireflies will be on at The Fountain on Friday 18th October, 6.30-9.30 pm