Legendary seanchaí to be honoured

WORLD famous seanchai Eamon Kelly will be remembered in his Kerry birthplace at the weekend.

The art of storytelling will be the theme of the Eamon Kelly Weekend, in Gneeveguilla, with children and adults taking part.

Kelly, who was born in Gullane, Gneeveguilla in 1914 and died in 2001, was also an accomplished actor who performed many times in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, and leading theatres overseas. This Friday night, September 30, well-known storyteller of the modern era, Raymond O’Sullivan will set the scene for the weekend with a visit to public houses in Gneeveguilla village and the local GAA club bar.

Mr O’Sullivan has also been visiting local schools to get children interested and there will be a children’s storytelling session in Teach Failte, Gneeveguilla, on Saturday from 5pm to 6.30pm. The children will also listen to stories and will learn how to construct stories.

At the same venue on Saturday night, there will be more storytelling, as well as music, song and dance, starting at 8pm. A feature of the night will be an interview with a member of Eamon Kelly’s family.

On Sunday, Gneeveguilla-born journalist and editor of the Sliabh Luachra Journal Donal Hickey will conduct a bus tour of the area. Starting in the village at 11.30am, the tour itinerary includes stops at the Eamon Kelly statue, his birthplace and the birthplaces of leading local poets Eoghan Ruadh Ó Súilleabháin and Aodhagán Ó Rathaille. The tour is expected to completed by 1pm.

Organising committee chairman Cormac Collins said that, as well as honouring Eamon Kelly, the aim is to keep the storytelling tradition alive in the Sliabh Luachra region. ‘’The area is already famed for its rich store of traditional music and dance and its poets, but the art of storytelling is also an intrinsic part of that heritage.”

The weekend is supported by Cumann Luachra, IRD Duhallow and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.