Simone Schuemmelfeder

Availability:

Full time and travels nationally and internationally

Repertoire:

Simone creates storytelling experiences for adults and children that are a refreshing mixture of little-known folktales, local lore, world and wisdom tales as well as modern stories with a twist. Weaving tales from her own German background together with stories from many different cultures, Simone’s shows are a story-quilt to warm the heart, inspire and enchant.

Background experience:

Born close to the Fairy Tale Road in Germany which connects the locations of many tales the Brothers Grimm collected, Simone grew up surrounded by stories. When she moved to Ireland, she founded the storytelling theatre StoryGate (www.storygate.net) together with Irish teller and puppeteer Michael Phelan. She has performed extensively across Ireland and abroad in schools and libraries, at festivals and for various institutions, including the German Embassy in Dublin, the Goethe Institut Dublin, Kilkenny Arts Festival, the Mountains To Sea dlr Book Festival, Ghosts in the Glens Storytelling Festival and the Cape Clear International Storytelling Festival. Together with Michael, Simone offers a unique storytelling experience for children with their shows that combine storytelling and puppetry, science and creative writing. She trains both adults and children in storytelling and creative writing and runs Ireland’s only Writing group specifically for children’s book authors at the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin.

Simone was Reader in Residence for Laois Libraries and Artist in Primary Schools for Tipperary Arts Office. She is a TAP (Teacher-Artist-Partnership) trained artist and member of Poetry Ireland’s Writers In Schools Scheme. She is a certified audiobook narrator and always on the look-out for a new story to learn. Her shows for adults are a refreshing blend of the old and the new, with folktales and modern stories, bridging generations and cultures to touch the listener’s heart with the oldest of all arts.