Network to preserve art of storytelling

A NEW organisation which aims to preserve traditional Irish storytelling has been established by a group of leading Irish academics and local historians.

The Oral History Network of Ireland will create a forum to advise and support practitioners of traditional storytelling and help community groups to preserve their oral heritage and folklore.

Supporters of the new network include Eunan O Halpin, professor of contemporary Irish history at Trinity College Dublin; Dr Catherine O’Connor, course director of oral heritage studies at the University of Limerick; and Regina Fitzpatrick of the GAA oral history project.

The network plans to work to preserve oral history collections and provide links between local oral historians and groups and academics nationally and internationally. “For the first time in Ireland, a unified network of practitioners is emerging,” Ms Fitzpatrick said.

The network hosts its first international conference on oral history in Kilkenny next September.