Joe Brennan

Availability: Full time and prepared to travel nationally and internationally.

Repertoire:

Joe weaves a unique and rich tapestry of stories for each of his performances from his store of folktales, myths, legends and original stories. His telling is steeped in the rich storytelling heritage of Ireland while also drawing on tales from other cultures. He has a particular love for magical stories filled with wonder.

Background Experience:

Joe has been telling stories, and facilitating workshops, full time for over 20 years, having worked in radio and as a teacher previously. He has worked across Ireland and travelled widely bringing the joy of his telling to a wide range of audiences and cultures.

Joe is listed on Poetry Ireland’s ‘Writers in Schools’ and also delivers residencies as part of the Teacher Artists Programme(TAP) and Blast programmes, administrated through the county education committees.

Joe has performed at many storytelling festivals including Cape Clear International Storytelling Festival, Festival At The Edge(England), Glens Storytelling Festival(Antrim) and Listowel Storytelling Festival. He has also travelled to festivals in Norway, Belgium, USA, India, Russia, Lithuania, Austria, Egypt and Romania. He is the author of Donegal Folk Tales(2103) published by History Press Ireland which was chosen as the Read Donegal book in 2014.

Joe has delivered a wide range of workshops and residencies, to all ages in Ireland and abroad. He has worked in schools, libraries, community settings, health settings and third level colleges.

Joe was ‘Artist in Residence’ with Waterford Healing Arts in 2021, sharing stories with staff at University Hospital Waterford and facilitating workshops in storytelling.  He continues to tell stories on the Paediatric Ward and with other programmes run by Waterford Healing Arts.

In 2021 Joe delivered his project ‘Tale-a-Phone’ in response to Covid, offering a phone call to isolated older people in County Wexford for a chat and a story.

He was Artistic Director of Ramelton Storytelling Festival(‘13&’15) and was Children’s Curator for Kilkenny Arts Festival in ’09 & ’10. He is also a children’s playwright and the creator/performer of ‘Star Boy’ a theatre performance without words for younger audiences.

Joe taught storytelling skills at Atlantic Technological University Sligo, to childcare and social care students.