dlr Yarnspinners: Storytelling Circle for Adults

For our very first Yarnspinners event on 15 February, we welcome actor, storyteller, author and broadcaster, Nuala Hayes, who will open the session by sharing some tales and will then open to the floor.

Nuala Hayes, Storyteller, Wed 15 February

Over the years, Nuala  has been a frequent contributor to Sunday Miscellany, the popular RTE radio programme,  She has also made radio documentaries on storytelling in the Midlands and on the growth of Yarnspinning in Northern Ireland.

Her interest in Storytelling began about  25 years ago when she set up Two Chairs Company with musician Ellen Cranitch to explore stories and music in performance. This coincided with a revival of interest in the art of oral storytelling, not only in Ireland but across the globe. Since that time, she has embarked on a journey of exploration, using story and music as her compass. Stories have brought her to all parts of Ireland and indeed many parts of the wider world. She has performed at Festivals across Europe and in the U.S. and Canada.

Nuala was the founder and director of Scéalta Shamhna, Dublin’s first Storytelling and Music Festival, which she organised each November from 1991- 2001, in many venues throughout Dublin City and County. She was co-curator of the Farmleigh Festival of Story and Song, which took place at Farmleigh House in the Phoenix Park. Up until recently she was chairperson of Storytellers of Ireland/Aos Scéal Éireann

Nuala enjoys listening to the sharing of stories, which is the ethos of the Yarnspinning movement and is delighted that dlr Libraries are embarking on a new initiative to encourage the sharing of oral stories in the beautiful and storied building overlooking the harbour of Dún Laoghaire; a place of comings and goings and many stories.

Máirín Mhic Lochlainn, Storyteller, Wed 15 March

As Ros a’ Mhíl ó dhúchas do Mháirín, agus tá cónaí uirthi anois i mBaile na mBrabhach. Tá roinnt duaiseanna bainte amach aici in Ealaíon na Scéalaíochta, ina measc Corn Neidí Frainc ag an Oireachtas. Tá sí ina ball do SOI, nó Aos Scéal Éireann.
Bíonn sí ag déanamh Ceardlanna ar fud na hÉireann agus i dtíortha thar lear freisin,  chun ealaín na Scéalaíochta traidisiúnta a fhorbaird agus a chur chun cinn; agus a cuid scéalta a roinnt le sean agus óg. 
Siad na scéalta Fiannaíochta, nó na Scéalta Gaisce a rogha scéil; scéalta a chuala sí cois teallaigh, óna hathair, Beartla Ó Maoileóin. Agus insíonn scéalta beaga agus scéalta móra faoi na ceantar dúchais chomh maith faoi a rinne a hathair roimpi, agus a mháthair siúd roimhe sin. Bhí an-tionchur ag na Scéalta Gaisce uirthi, mar ba bhreá ó Bheartla craiceann a chur ar scéal. Mar a deir sí féin, ba mhinic léi agus í ina gasúr, tuitim ina codlaigh ag éisteacht le fuaim na seolta móra pucóideacha pacóideacha (ina hintinn).
Tá Máirín ina Scéalaí Cóínaitheach in Ionad Léann na nÉireannach in Ollscoil na Gaillimhe don bhliain 2023.

Living in Indreabhán, Co. Galway, but originally from Rós a Mhíl, Máirín is an award-winning storyteller, claiming many prizes including the Corn Neidí Frainc at the Oireachtas festival.
Developing the craft of story-telling is a mission for Máirín and she has conducted workshops in story-telling throughout Ireland, Wales and Denmark. Her story-telling repertoire includes the Scéalta Fiannaíochta. Máirín grew up listening to stories and cites her father, Beartla Ó Maoileoin as the first storyteller that she heard and his dramatic renditions have had a long standing influence on her. As she say herself, she often went to bed listening to the sound (in her imagination) of the Seolta Móra pucóideacha pacóideacha being hoisted… Máirín has told stories across the globe to both children and adults.
Máirín is Storyteller in Residence at University of Galway’s Centre for Irish Studies 2023.

Helen Hutchinson, Storyteller, 19 April

Bio to follow