Irish Storyteller

I am an American seanchaí!

A seanchaí (pronounced SHANN-a-key) is a traditional Irish storyteller. The word literally means a bearer of “old lore” (seanchas). Perhaps “custodian of tradition” is as good of an English translation. In the ancient Celtic culture, the history and laws of the people were not written down but memorized in long lyric poems which were recited by bards and storytellers.

As I travel across the country, telling tales from ClanDonnell: A Storied History of Ireland and other tales I’ve learned along the way, I’ve realized that storytelling has a long tradition, but is somewhat of a lost art. There simply not a lot of us doing this!

I must confess that I create and organize my stories on my laptop. I’ve simply learned to be more creative and organized on a keyboard. The result is that many of my stories are written down. That’s not exactly how the seanchaí did things. Then again, they didn’t have the benefit of modern technology.

From time to time, I will post my transcribed stories on this web site. I’m doing this for no particular reason. Some of these stories are much better when told, rather than when read. The written word cannot always reflect the proper pause, tone of voice, inflection, accent, etc., that come from the spoken word. Nevertheless, the written stories are here.

The preface and table of contents for ClanDonnell: A Storied History of Ireland, as well as the introduction and table of contents for Buy The Horse A Guinness, are on the pdf links below. There is also a link to page with some of my other stories.

Bain sult as! (lierally “take pleasure in”, or “enjoy”).

The illustration The Seanchai is by Irish illustrator Hugh Thomson (1860-1920) of Coleraine.