Meet our 2024 Festival Artists
Welcome
Welcome to the 6th annual Listowel International Storytelling Festival hosted by Kerry Writers’ Museum. As the seasons change with long nights drawing families and friends around the hearth, our festival is inspired by the Irish Rambling House tradition and its sense of togetherness – a community gathering full of tales, recitations, music, songs and ballads.
Performance, workshops, spoken word, drama, story walk & tour, and children’s events radiate out from the Kingdom’s cultural capital, as the best of Kerry’s storytelling talent merge with invited national & international guests, offering locals and visitors an opportunity to celebrate and discover oral traditions.
Featured Artists 2024
Here you can find out more about our local and visiting artists for Listowel International Storytelling Festival 2024
Shane Ibbs
Born in East Anglia, the oldest of six children Shane grew up with stories around the hearth and never dreamed that he would end up telling stories in; Canada, Holland, Morocco, Sweden, Ireland, Sri Lanka, and all around the UK. Shane has been working with the transformative power of stories for nearly 30 years, first as a social worker and then as a therapist with children and adults, during this time Shane turned to telling to audiences.
Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh
Muireann has enjoyed a successful career as a touring artist, with over thirteen years experience as lead singer and flute
player with the Irish traditional supergroup Danú, as well as a many years performing as a solo artist. She holds an MA in Traditional Music Performance from the University of Limerick. In 2022 Muireann was awarded “Best Folk Singer” at the RTÉ Radio Folk Awards, and amongst many other awards, was Amhránaí na Bliana at the TG4 Gradaim Ceoil in 2011.
Cillian Brennan
Cillian has been telling stories for over a decade at festivals and private events up and down the country. The resident storyteller at Springfield Castle County Limerick since 2016, he has also performed as special guest at Listowel Writer’s Week, the Cape Clear International Storytelling Festival, the Yarn Storytelling Festival in Bray and at Yarnspinners Cork.
Mary Kate O’Flanagan
Mary Kate is a script consultant who specialises in teaching screenwriting and uncredited rewrites. Her main work is in helping writers to write cinema stories that cross borders, while preserving their authentic voices.
Mary Kate is an undefeated Champion Storyteller at The Moth. She became Ireland’s first Grand Slam Champion Storyteller at The Abbey Theatre in October 2015 and won the title Grand Slam Champion Storyteller at The Moth in Los Angeles in January 2017.
The Yershovy Sisters
Originally from Sevastopol, a city on the shores of the Black Sea, The Yershovy sisters, together with their mother Olena and father Maxim fled to Odessa in 2014 following the Russian annexation of Crimea. They moved to Ireland in March 2023 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Steeped in music from birth the five sisters Ksenia (18), Yevlalia (16), Olena (14), Natalka (11), and Sofiyka (7) play a range of instruments including violin, viola and cello.
Pakie O’Callaghan
In a long career Pakie has worked on stage, TV and radio. In his native Cork, with the Everyman Theatre, he appeared in a wide variety of productions including lead roles in Translations, Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf, One for the Road and many others. In the mid-nineties Pakie played a lead role in the TV series Bull Island. He did many of the political “voices” on Tonight with Vincent Brown and also appeared in Browns TV series Midnight Court. In 2004 Pakie joined Joe Duffy’s Funny Friday Show as a writer/performer and has been there ever since.
Stephen Murphy
Stephen has often been called the people’s poet. His work is scathing, controversial, warm and full of insight into the world of today. He tackles the things which matter to us as individuals and as a collective and draws his inspiration from the wildness of the land that shaped him. Far from just being a ‘protest poet’, Stephen’s live shows and his work are interwoven with ample warmth, wit, and humour that bring his audiences on a journey that is more of a communal gathering than a performative act.
Maria Gillen
Maria is a well-known popular storyteller on the storytelling circuit in Ireland and on the Cyberspace Platform. She was Storyteller in Residence for Kerry Writers Museum from 2019 to 2022 and Artistic Director of Listowel International Storytelling Festival 2020 to 2022. Maria is currently working as an archivist with Sheahan’s Storytelling Cottage – a 300 year old traditional Rambling House in Finuge, Co. Kerry
Sonny Egan
There has never been anyone before quite like Sonny. He is not just a champion storyteller, he is a musician, a singer, a podcaster, and an actor.
A native of Kilflynn, where for many years he ran his popular Rambling House, Sonny is reigning All-Ireland Storytelling Champion from Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann 2023.
Frances Kennedy
Even though Frances now lives in Listowel, she is quick to point out that she is very much a Cork woman. The youngest of a family of eleven, songs and stories were always part of her home life. Neighbours called at night and her father would fill them up with all sorts of stories, so it was easy for Frances to fall into singing and telling the odd story. But it was in Listowel that Frances first started singing in public and everyone in Kerry had a story to tell, so she just joined in.
Tom Dillon
A native of Listowel, Tom is one of Kerry’s leading historians. He has researched many aspects of Kerry history from the county’s Big House families to the First World War and 1916 Rising. Throughout the recent Decade of Centenaries, he delivered numerous public lectures, published articles and spoke on TV and local radio on these subjects and more. In 2020 and 2021, he served as the Kerry County Council historian-in-residence.
Sonia Elston
Sonia graduated from Newcastle University with a degree in English and a primary school teacher’s certificate. She also has a background in drama and on moving to Ireland in 2001 she joined the Group Theatre and Tralee Toastmasters. She established the Ragged Road Theatre Group in 2020. Since retiring from teaching Sonia has devoted her time to writing, particularly comic verse, and was placed in the prestigious Bard of Armagh competition. She established the highly acclaimed ‘Bard of the Kingdom’ competition in Tralee.
REVIEWS
What people are saying about us
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Popped in here to escape the rain and get a cup of tea and cake. Very reasonable prices and great service. Then noticed the little hare jumping around on the wall when I used the toilets! Looked very intriguing and prompted us all to buy tickets to the museum. Wow! So worth it as the exhibits and the way it was presented was lovely, really unusual. So informative and so different to other museums. Really good value for money and a real highlight to the town.
Great Service (Trip Advisor Review)
– March, 2023
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Most impressive is how ingrained in both The Creative & local communities The Seanchaí is, from the workshops, coffee mornings & plain old drop ins, To Book launches, poetry recitals, projects & engagements with the local schools. The Seanchaí is a much loved and universally treasured cultural icon. By the inhabitants of Listowel, most of Co. Kerry and West Limerick.
Mark Ollerhead (Google Review)
– March, 2023
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We had requested the 30-minute tour, but happily lingered for an hour longer than we had planned. As we exited, we looked at each other and laughed out loud at our good fortune. We could have so easily missed this experience that left us feeling moved, intrigued and a bit more educated about the Kerry writers. In our delight, we failed to tip our guide but I will be going to your donations page to make a modest pledge in gratitude for our host whose name we did not record to memory.
Jane Braswell (Google Review)
– March, 2023
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Our visit to the Kerry Writers Museum was a very memorable experience from beginning to end. Cara, who was working at the centre that day, was very welcoming and most helpful. The exhibition of the Kerry writers was imaginative and most engaging. The seanchai relating the background stories each writer was magic! A wonderful experience all round.
Cara (Google Review)
– May, 2021
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This museum has been developed with great care and meticulous attention to detail. The audio elements are matched perfectly to the installations which are beautifully presented. The option to activate the audio guides in each room without resorting to the use of handheld devices worked very well. This is a must see/hear for anyone with an interest in Irish writing. There is also a little coffee shop and gifts on sale.
Beautifully Curated (Trip Advisor Review)
– July, 2019