TELLERS & ARTISTS 2026
Amy Douglas
Shasana / England
Award-winning author and storyteller, Amy Douglas has been integral within the modern British storytelling landscape as performer, promoter and advocate for the past three decades. She was a founder member of the international Festival at the Edge, served two years as a Director for the Society for Storytelling and is now part of Step Up, running commissions and mentoring to support wordsmiths take the next step in the careers.
Her three folk tale collections have all received Storytelling World Awards. After winning Young Storyteller of the Year at 16, Amy Douglas apprenticed to world-renowned traditional Scots Traveller storyteller and ballad-singer, Duncan Williamson, and now holds many of his stories and ballads in trust.
A storyteller of integrity, wit and subtle humour, Amy is a pioneer for taking storytelling into new arenas and formats, including recent projects in VR and blended performance. She currently runs BLAST! storytelling performances and the first online storytelling talk show of its kind, Taking the Tradition On. Amy has 30 years of experience telling stories to all ages, from one-off performances, to leading projects spanning several years. Amy works extensively in education, particularly in Wales as a Creative Agent and mentor for teachers within the Creative Leadership Scheme.
Aideen McBride
Éire / Ireland
Aideen McBride was born in County Carlow. She heard her first stories from her father, Jack Sheehan as a child. She has been telling stories professionally since 1995: in libraries, schools, nursing homes and at festivals both through the medium of English and as Gaeilge. Aideen also gives workshops to all ages in oral storytelling, story-making (sometimes connected to creative writing), and storytelling in education.
She has worked on a number of story collections: Memories from the Grassy Margins (2006) with Traveller Women from Carlow Town; International Tales - a collections of stories from refugees and asylum seekers working with SPIRASI in Dublin; Carlow Stories (2014) collected through the libraries in County Carlow. Publications include: Carlow Folk Tales (History Press 2014); Tipperary Folk Tales (History Press 2016); and Scéalta ón mBíobla do Pháistí (FAS 2020).
Peter Chand
Shasana / England
With a deep understanding of story and narrative Peter Chand he is a powerful and dynamic storyteller who sees storytelling as a means of connecting, entertaining and as a call to social action.
He has shared his tales across Britain and has also performed in Norway, France, USA, Lithuania, Austria, Canada, and Singapore amongst other countries.
Peter is also a trainer of high repute, leading workshops with teachers, librarians, budding storytellers, university students, business leaders, health professionals, and anyone trying to find their voice and gain confidence when performing in public.
He is one of Europe’s most renowned storytellers and is constantly in demand for his tales of life, love, and the supernatural. From a Punjabi background, he regularly visits family in India to collect and translate traditional folktales which he shares with audiences of all ages.
Peter is proud to have been recently awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the University of Wolverhampton for his Storytelling activities and for championing storytellers from a global majority heritage.
“This is like an audience with Paulo Coelho! Storytelling is divine”. Kemi B. Litera London
Sarah Liisa Wilkinson
An Fhionlainn / Finland
Sarah Liisa Wilkinson is a storyteller who delights audiences with her always engaging, energetic and playful performance style. She has a particular interest in the folktales and myths of Finland and other Nordic lands, but loves to tell tales from all around the world.
Drawing on her English-Finnish heritage, Sarah creates performances full of vivid imagery, humour and emotional depth, bringing ancient stories thrillingly to life for contemporary audiences. She has told stories to people in the UK and internationally in theatres, festivals, clubs, pubs, churches, boats, front rooms and all-night sleepovers, including appearances at venues and festivals such as the British Library, Kings Place and Oxford Storytelling Festival.
She regularly works and performs with performance-storytelling pioneers, The Crick Crack Club, and is part of multi-disciplined storytelling and music group, The Embers Collective.
Kevin Doherty
Éire / Ireland
Kevin Doherty has been writing and performing his music for almost forty years. Starting out in Country and Bluegrass bands in Donegal, Kevin provided original compositions to accompany the classics of those genres. From this grounding he was taken up by the members of the fledgling group Four Men and a Dog. And became lead singer and songwriter. 'The Dogs' still travel the globe performing to audiences that now bridge several generation gaps!
Kevin has also released four solo albums and two collaborative projects. His songs have been covered by many artists including legends ‘The Band’ in the States and Mary Black in Ireland. Kevin has worked on projects with the Smithsonian in Washington DC and Poetry Ireland and the Abbey Theatre in Ireland. He had more recently stepped back from music to an extent as he completed a PhD on childhood memory in the poetry of Seamus Heaney but there will be new music to come in 2026.
Diarmuid Ó Drisceoil
Guest Teller 2026: Éire, Oileán Chléire / Ireland, Cape Clear Island
Liz Weir
Guest Teller 2026: Tuaisceart Éireann / N. Ireland
Liz Weir is a storyteller, writer and arts educator from Northern Ireland with an international reputation for her work in storytelling. She was the first recipient of the International Story Bridge Award from the National Storytelling Network in the USA, recognising her work promoting storytelling between Ireland and other countries. In 2019, she was awarded an MBE for services to the arts and education.
Liz has performed for audiences of all ages across five continents, appearing everywhere from festivals and theatres to schools, prisons and hospitals. Her work has brought her to venues including the Royal Albert Hall, New York’s Grand Central Station and major storytelling festivals in the USA and Australia. She is the author of more than twenty books, including Boom Chicka Boom, When Dad Was Away and Tales of the Road. Alongside her storytelling and writing, Liz has collaborated on music and spoken-word projects including All for the Dead Man’s Penny and A Cloak of Wisdom. Liz is a longstanding committee member of the Cape Clear International Storytelling Festival and the director of the Glens Storytelling Festival.
This year on Cape Clear, Liz will present Storywoman, a show reflecting on her life legacy in storytelling
Ger Wolfe
Guest Performer 2026: Éire / Ireland
Rooted in the depths of traditional and contemporary folk music,Ger Wolfe continues to be a gentle and consistent voice on the Irish homegrown music scene. Celebrating 3 decades of touring and recording this year, Ger takes to the road with songs from his vast repertoire including his latest offering “Songs from Freeman’s Ballyvourney Collection”, his tenth full album to date
A multi-instrumentalist, accomplished singer-songwriter and no stranger to the old songs, Ger has recorded 12 songs from the vast collection made by A.Martin Freeman in 1913-14: one of our most important collections of traditional song, contaning gems of song like the well-known Aisling Geal and brought back to the people of Múscraí Gaeltacht by Seán Ó’ Riada in the 1960’s.
Come and join Ger at the Cape Clear International Storytelling Festival this September 5th for a lunchtime performance, Cuir Cluas Ort Fein, along with storyteller Paddy O’ Brian and the wonderful Aideen Mc Bride.
“Ger Wolfe is the Dylan Thomas of Cork in the singular sincerity and purity of his words” (Seán Mac Carthy)
‘Creating carefully crafted vignettes of song for all who come to listen’ (Irish Times)
“Ger has an utterly original approach to his craft…his songs have a lyrical, timeless quality, pandering to neither fad nor fashion...a rare and unique creative talent" (Paul Dromey)
