Grand Finale- A Teller’s Farewell

Artists

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  Liz Weir MC
  

  Liz Weir

  MC

  Liz Weir is a storyteller and writer from Northern Ireland. She was the first winner of the International Story Bridge Award from the National Storytelling Network, USA, which cited her “exemplary work promoting the art of storytelling”.

  Liz Weir has told her stories to people of all ages on five continents. She has performed in pubs and prisons and hospital rooms. She worked on stages in the mighty Vanderbilt Hall of New York’s Grand Central Station and in the Royal Albert Hall.

  Liz Weir has worked for people with very different cultural backgrounds – for children from Israel and Palestine, at universities in Germany and Wales, on TV between South-Africa and Canada. And she appeared at major events, such as the National Storytelling Festival in Tennessee and the Australian National Storytelling Festival.

  Her voice can be heard on CDs like “The Wailing Of The Wind”, together with the Mavron String Quartet. Liz Weir has also written more than 20 books. For instance ‘When Dad Was Away’, which is a picture-book about a child whose father is in jail. Or ‘Tales of the Road’, a children’s book about Irish Traveller life.

  In 2014 after a commission from the Festival at the Edge she wrote “All for the Dead Man’s Penny”. Violin player Ciaran Mulholland Liz Weir telling at the Crosskeys Inncomposed the music for that story of World War One.

  Liz Weir does not only work as an artist. Advertising agencies ask her for concepts and she leads corporate training sessions, as storytelling has become more and more accepted as a marketing instrument. And for those working with Alzheimer’s patients, Liz Weir’s talks demonstrate that we can revitalize people by helping them remember and tell their stories.

• 

  Tom Muir Storyteller
  

  Tom Muir

  Storyteller

  Tom Muir tells traditional stories from his native Orkney Islands. He has a great love for both folk tales and local traditions, and his humorous delight in the humanity of the stories is infectious. He tells tales of sea monsters, trows/fairies, mermaids, fin folk and selkie folk, as well as stories about witches, shipwrecks, ghosts and humorous goings on.

  Tom was born on a small farm by the sea in Tankerness in the east of the Orkney Mainland in 1963, but his parents originally came from the North Isles of Westray and Sanday. As they were middle aged when he was born (the youngest of six), folklore and customs were still remembered in family stories, as were some folk tales. His love of traditional folk tales led him to republish the stories collected by Walter Traill Dennison (1825-94) in Sanday and the works of folklorist and local historian George Marwick (1836-1912) from Yesnaby on the west coast of the Orkney Mainland. He has also written a book containing as many supernatural folk tales from Orkney as he could find, ‘The Mermaid Bride and other Orkney Folk Tales’, first published in 1998 and later translated into Japanese and Icelandic. In 2014 The History Press published his book ‘Orkney Folk Tales’ as part of their county folk tale series. Tom has also published many other books on aspects of Orkney’s history, Nordic folk tales and the Icelandic Sagas.

  Tom’s storytelling skill has seen him perform in many countries, from Newfoundland and Greenland in the north to Slovenia and Hong Kong in the south, as well as all over Scotland, Scandinavia and Europe. He has even been storyteller in residence at the Storholmen Viking Village in Sweden for several years. His proudest achievement is having restored Orkney’s folk tales to a place of prominence and to see them used in schools, while the Scottish Government website, ‘Scotland’s Stories’, which Tom wrote and told stories for, is now used to promote traditional tales in Scotland’s schools. Tom’s Orkney folk tales are now featured in English language books in secondary schools in both Germany and France. He is also a founder member and president of the Orcadian Story Trust, which runs the annual Orkney Storytelling Festival.

  This will be Tom’s first time telling at the Cape Clear Festival and what a treat is in store!

• 

  Zahra Afsah Storyteller
  

  Zahra Afsah

  Storyteller

  Born and raised in Tehran, Zahra is a storyteller who crafts the ancient Persian stories she tells with precision and passion.

  She studied Persian Painting and Transcultural Visuality, examining the links between oral storytelling and Persian miniature painting exploring the direct influences of the oral tradition.

  Zahra has run workshops, performed and told stories in schools, museums, festivals, exhibitions as well as informal settings

• 

  Hjörleifur Stefánsson Storyteller
  

  Hjörleifur Stefánsson

  Storyteller

  Hjörleifur Stefánsson is a storyteller and farmer from Iceland. Hjörleifur Stefánsson was born in western Iceland in the middle of the second hay harvest in August 1979. He is a farmer, innkeeper, carpenter and a fan of all things brewed. Hjörleifur grew up on a farm with his grandparents living a stone’s throw away on the next farm over. 

  He was served stories of old Iceland as well as poems and songs along with his porridge for years, his grandparents being storytellers by nature. He has collected and shared tales for years, both with his kids, audiences and his sheep. Giants, trolls, hidden people and ghosts are his companions as well as Icelanders of the past and their traditions of song and stories.

• 

  Clare Murphy Storyteller
  

  Clare Murphy

  Storyteller

  Dublin born and bred, Clare has been a storyteller since 2006.  Travelling to more than 20 countries she tells for all ages on all kinds of stages.  She has performed to audiences from 5 to 5000 people.  She loves to tell myth, folklore, wisdom tales and fables.  Her inspirations are drawn from far and wide; syrian folklore to quantum physics to climate change to Irish mythology.  She has performed for President Mary Robinson, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Royal Shakespeare Company’s Writers Room and the National Theatre London.   When not performing she teaches, trains and consults on how Story can be of service in the world.  

   

  “masterly storytelling  – all delivered at a pace which meant there was never a dull moment”.

  Culture Whisper

   

  “Clare Muireann Murphy’s beautiful lilting Irish voice was in stark contrast to the darkly humorous stories she told us, and she her first-rate comic physicality only served to enhance her storytelling.” 

  Everything Theatre

• 

  John Spillane Storyteller
  

  John Spillane

  Storyteller

  John Spillane is a musician, songwriter, performer, recording artist, storyteller, poet and dreamer. Rooted in people, place and story, his music transports the listener and his live performances captivate audiences around the world. As an artist his music appeals to listeners across many genres and generations. His vocal style has a unique almost sean-nós like quality and his performances shimmer with the magic realism that permeates many of his songs as he effortlessly flits between beautiful poetry tinged with melancholy to roguish, irreverent humour. John has the ability to charm, mesmerise and entertain in equal measure.

  A native of Cork, the County he lovingly describes as “the centre of the universe” and a source of huge creative influence throughout his career. John’s music is inspired by and encapsulates Irish traditional music in its contemporary form – a reflection of Ireland today. A two-time Meteor Award winner for Best Folk/Trad act John is one of the most accomplished songwriters in Ireland. With an extensive back catalogue beginning with the 1997 album The Wells of the World, his songs have been covered by Christy Moore, Sharon Shannon, Sean Keane and many others.

  Twelve albums later in April 2021, John released his first independent album in 20 years, 100 Snow White Horses. In October 2022, John released ‘In Another Light’ a career spanning album recorded live at the Right Here Right Now Festival recorded at Cork Opera House in November 2021.