The revival of the spoken word and storytelling genre has become a popular artform across Ireland. Take a look at some storytelling events coming up this month across the country.

Trá Tales is a poetry and storytelling event series hosted by Derek Flynn in Tramore. Running on a monthly basis in Croke's Pub. The event features spoken word, poetry, stories, and even the occasional song. Readers are welcome and admission is free. The November Trá Tales event is on the 5th November.

Candlelit Tales is a dedicated organisation that run events specializing in retelling the stories of Irish myths as they were traditionally told. They have a series of nights across the month with a theme harking back to Irish myth and folklore. As well as organizing storytelling nights in and around various venues across Dublin and Ireland, Candlelit Tales have created children’s shows, theatre shows, festival shows, and a podcast. And they keep finding more stories and more ways to tell them. Candlelit Tales retell the stories of Irish mythology and folklore in an expressive, natural and accessible style accompanied by musicians with immersive, evocative and original music. Events presented by Candlelit Tales this month are: A night of Irish Storytelling, Music, Myth & Folklore, a weekly night in the Parnell Heritage every Tuesday. The Woman King based on the Medb, a warrior, mother, lover, and above all, ruler, Medb brooked no compromise and went to any lengths to assert her status. She reshaped the landscape, and waged the bloodiest war in ancient Ireland. This event has three dates this month running on the 6th November in The Harbour Bar, Bray, on the 15th November in Dark Horse Pizzas Bellurgan, and on the 27th November upstairs at The Stags Head in Dublin.

In Kilkenny, the November Storytelling Circle is a storytelling evening in Billy Byrne’s Bar. The aim of Kilkenny Storytelling Circle is to promote the storytelling platform as a universal and traditional art form. The evening will feature storytelling, poetry and music. Their ethos outlines how art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. The evening is an open invention for sharing personal and fictional stories with some music between each story. Each evening there are approximately ten stories told with music or poetry performed at intervals. The November Storytelling Circle is on 18th November in Billy Byrne’s Bar.

Described as: ‘Galway's Warmest Arts Night’, Moth and Butterfly Storytelling and Improvisation is a popular arts storytelling night that incorporates Improvisation, true stories & fictional tales, with contributions from the crew and the audience. Running the third Wednesdays of the month, as well as festivals and events throughout the country, and throughout the year. Moth style stories are short, true, thematic, and feature the teller themselves as the central character. A homage to the wonderful 'Moth' storytelling, stories run about 8 or 9 mins but shorter is fine. This is a night for oral storytelling, so no reading or notes allowed – just pure story! The night is for both tellers and listeners. The theme for the November 20th Moth and Butterfly event is 'Rain or Shine'. Admission is €7 with concession rates available, and taking place in Katie’s Claddah Cottage in Galway.

The Cork Yarnspinners are a community storytelling and performance group who aim to keep the ancient Irish arts of storytelling and song alive through myth, legend, humour and folklore. They gather for monthly sessions in Cork City to hear and tell old stories and new, often inviting special guests, and also offer storytelling for children and organise theatre-based performances. There is no set entry fee but donations are very welcome. Cork Yarnspinners host their November Open Mic Session on 21st November in Crawford and Co. Bar in Anglesea Street, Cork City.

In Dublin, Mother Tongues with Swahilipoint presents Swahili Stories & introduction to Ki-swahili. Swahilipoint is a platform to speak and promote Swahili and provide education on the Language and culture through the sharing of experiences and stories. Mother Tongues is a non-for profit organization aimed at promoting multilingualism in Ireland. Working with schools, families, community groups and artists through a range of activities that allow children to experience language in new and exciting ways outside the home environment they run events promoting bilingualism and plurilingualism. They believe that children should experience their heritage language and communities need to come together and enjoy linguistic diversity. Swahili Stories & introduction to Ki-swahili is on 30th November in the Teacher’s Club, Dublin.

The Yarn Storytelling Festival at the Mermaid Arts Centre in Bray have an extensive programme of storytelling events running from the 7th to the 17th November. Famous storytellers Liz Weir, Niall De Búrca, Hjörleifur Stefánsson, Colm Sands, Helena Byrne and many more have events running throughout the month in Bray with installation events by storytelling groups Candlelit Tales and Moth & Butterfly. Information for all these events and more November spoken word events can be found on the Boundless & Bare Gig Guide Page.

Storytelling Events this November