Storytellers

Ciaran Mulholland

Ciarán Mulholland is a musician and singer-songwriter who lives close to Slemish Mountain. He has been playing the fiddle since he was 11 years old and is the regular fiddle player for Haste to the Wedding ceilidh band based in Larne and is also part of a new three piece band called Ceolta.

Colin Urwin

Colin Urwin is a storyteller and singer-songwriter who lives on a small hill farm near Glenarm. His storytelling repertoire includes mainly Irish and Scottish traditional folk tales and many of his own stories written in a very traditional style and always set in his beloved Glens of Antrim. Back by popular demand!

Denise Weir

Denise Weir lives in Larne and shares her stories in a warm and engaging style, often while working on crafts such as patchwork or felting during courses which she teaches to lucky listeners.

Eamonn Keenan

Come away, come away, come away to hear stories of heroes, the fairies, ghosts, witches, death and love. Eamonn’s way of telling stories is engaging, gentle, dramatic, fun, emotive and filled with the values of love, humour and wonder.

Frances Quinn

Frances Quinn grew up in a tradition where story, song, poetry and music were not so much a choice as a social obligation.
She comes from a background in acting throughout the UK and Ireland and has toured many states in the US storytelling. Having also taught in various capacities she is interested in the use of story in education.
Frances has a keen interest in folklore and she researched and recorded a cd The Cúchulainn Saga. She also researched and collected stories for her book Armagh Folk Tales published by the History Press.

Geoff Hatt

Geoff Hatt is a singer songwriter, playwright, actor and all round entertainer. With 2 albums and a psychedelic musical under his belt, expect variety and fun.

Jaff Aodan Jeffries

Aodán ‘Jaff’ Mac Séafraidh is an experienced storyteller and uilleann piper who uses stories and legends associated with traditional music to create a world of legend and delight.
Storytelling has been central to community life in Ireland for centuries. As a well-known piper, Jaff brings this ancient artform to new audiences throughout this country and beyond.

Janice Witherspoon

Janice Witherspoon has been working as a professional storyteller for more than 10 years. Entertaining audiences of all ages across Scotland, England and now back in her native Co. Antrim, Janice has a wide repertoire of legends and lore of these islands. As a former gardener, Janice loves to tell seasonal and environmental tales.

John Savage

John first became involved with storytelling while working at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum . John has a great love for traditional tales especially ones with a bit of humour. Before the lockdown he often told stories in local residential care homes as well as charity nights fund raising for the restoration of the Sir Samuel Kelly lifeboat. He was originally from Newtownards but has lived in Donaghadee for past 15 years.

Karen Edwards

Karen Edwards hails from the Glens of Antrim and delights her audience with a range of folk, fairy and comical tales, enhanced by tunes on her Killarney whistle

Liz Weir

Having told stories for over 40 years Liz is the first recipient of the Armstrong Storytelling Bursary and has been Storyteller in Residence for Libraries NI since 2016 . She is a skilled workshop leader and trains storytellers as well as telling stories to people of all ages and abilities, She has travelled the world sharing and promoting the traditional art for which Ireland is famous.

Mabel Jenkins

Mabel Jenkins, who is from Antrim, is a former visitor guide at the Folk Museum in Cultra and has a wealth of knowledge about folklore.

Madeline McCully

Madeline is a storyteller and writer living in Derry. She is the author of several books including "Derry Folk Tales","Haunted Derry", "Haunted Antrim" and "Haunted Donegal". She has deep interest in Irish folklore and often sings and plays autoharp which is very popular during sessions she delivers for people living with dementia.

Marianne McShane

Marianne McShane is a children’s writer and storyteller from Co. Down.
Marianne is the author of two picture books, Rónán and the Mermaid and The Fog Catcher’s Daughter, both published by Walker Books. Her forthcoming book, The Belfast Gingerbread Girl, will be published this summer, in English agus as Gaeilge, by An tSnáthaid Mhór, Belfast.
You can read more about Marianne at www.mariannemcshane.com

Masako Carey

Masako was born in Tokyo, Japan.Her increasing repertoire of traditional Japanese tales, some comical, some serious, is now expanding to include tales from around the world. She recently completed a National Open College Network Level 2 qualification in oral storytelling, a course supported by funding from Libraries NI.

Nandi Jola

Nandi Jola is a poet, storyteller and playwright. She was born in South Africa and grew up under the apartheid regime until she was 21, when she moved to Northern Ireland,. She has been active in the arts community as a writer, schools ambassador, artist and facilitator. Nandi tells folk tales from the African continent.

Pat Ryan

Patrick Ryan has worked as a teacher and professional storyteller for over thirty years. He regularly tours Britain, Europe and the US performing, lecturing and conducting a variety of workshops. Born in Illinois, he had been based in London but recently located to Belfast, a place where he first told stories in the 1980’s.

Raquel McKee

Raquel McKee is an individual of many talents, from storytelling to poetry to acting and singing she’s no stranger to the limelight. Raquel lives in Antrim but is originally from Jamaica. Racquel has had an interest in the arts for years and started writing from a young age. She performs Dub poetry and prefers free verse to rhyming couplet and tells her stories drawing from her acting to ass zest to her tales.

Sharon Dickson

Born and reared in Belfast, Sharon evokes memories of the past with her Belfast Blitz monologue which she has performed to audiences right across Northern Ireland. Her repertoire of folk tales from Ireland and beyond is suitable to entertain listeners of all ages.

Stephen O'Hara

Stephen O'Hara is a retired English teacher who owned Ireland's only Storytelling Cafe, until the pandemic forced its closure. He tells tales from Irish folklore and mythology, and takes a special interest in the lived experience of people in history, and how their lives became woven into the oral storytelling tradition.

Steve Lally

A native of Co Kildare now based in Co Armagh, Steve Lally has worked as a storyteller and visual artist for over fifteen years. He writes his own fresh material as well as re-imagining folk tales, myths, legends, recitations and story songs, and is the author of several books of folk tales.

Vicky McFarland

Vicky McFarland, a storyteller and writer based in Larne. Originally from England, Vicky has been telling (and writing) stories for and to children for the last twelve years. Over lockdown Vicky has been building her repertoire for adult audiences. Drawing on traditional European folktales, fairy tales and myths, Vicky loves to reimagine the stories that speak to her soul and bring a fresh feminine voice to her storytelling.