This article is from page 28 of the 2008-01-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 28 JPG
STORIES and the ways in which they are passed on and retold is the central theme of the 2lst Annual Spring Conference which takes place next month. The conference, which is entitled ‘Narratives of People and Place: Burren Stories, Told and Un- told’, takes place in the Burren Col- lege of Art in Ballyvaughan from February | to 3.
“Stories knit community together – both the telling and the listening of a story bind us. As I have been organising this conference, I have been amazed by different conversa- tions I have overheard walking down
the street. In Ireland we don’t seem to disguise our telling of a story. We don’t hide it,” said conference direc- tor Anne Byrne.
“If I tell you a story, you are bound to me through the telling of that story and I to you. In the Burren it- self there is a lot of activity going on around that idea. It’s almost like the old community 1s still held in our minds and in our imaginations and it just needs to be expressed and found ayers be
“All the time you hear it said that there is no such thing as community anymore, but as long as you tell sto- ries the community can be given life here 00 ae
The conference will include a number of expert speakers who will each aim to explore different elements of conversation and storytelling in a Burren context. Speakers include Daithi O’hOgainof the Department of Irish Folklore in UCD, writers Re O Laighleis and Kieran Sheedy, Celtic Scholar Sean O Duinin, Lelia Doolin and Donnachada O’Corrain.
‘This year we are trying to draw at- tention to the stories that we tell our- selves, but also about the places we live in and the people who populate those place. Some of those people way well be gone and forgotten, or gone and remembered, but the con- ference is about bringing attention to
the story,” continued Anne.
‘We have a wonderful collection of speakers but it’s important not to for- get that this is just a representation of some of the people who tell stories.
“The Burren is an organising de- vice – it’s a place where nature meets you face to face, there are no distrac- tion. I think that does something, it helps the creative process. These are all creative people – whether they are farmers or people working in art or in film. They are all people who have a passion about storytelling.”