YARN Residency Finalé: From Desert Sands to Island Shores (8pm)

An Irishman and a Moroccan woman share wisdom across land, gender & time. 

A highlight of our festival, please join us for this grand finalé event marking our International Residency Partnership, as Irish artist Joe Brennan and Moroccan artist Zakia Elyoubi celebrate the shared oral storytelling tradition of Morocco and Ireland.

This exciting artist residency is possible thanks to our partnership with the World Storytelling Café in Marrakech. Kindly supported by Killruddery House, Bray with funding from the Arts Council International Residency Initiative Scheme & special thanks to the Embassy of Morocco in Ireland.

See below for information on the artists and here for more information on the YARN International Residency.

Joe Brennan

Wexford storyteller Joe Brennan has been weaving tales of magic, wonder and adventure for the past 25 years. He has shared his collection of traditional and original stories with audiences of all ages in a myriad of locations, from classrooms to libraries to arts venues to hospitals.

He has featured in countless storytelling and arts festivals including Cape Clear International Storytelling Festival, Kilkenny Arts Festival and YARN Storytelling Festival. He has travelled widely telling stories, most recently to Hungary, Norway and India.

Joe is also a children’s playwright and the author of Donegal Folk Tales. He was the curator of the Children’s programme for Kilkenny Arts Festival and inaugurated the ‘Three Sides of the Same Sea’ International Storytelling Festival, Rametlon, Co. Donegal.

Zakia Elyoubi

Zakia Elyoubi is a teacher, a Friend of Fez Orphans and an oral storyteller.

She grew up listening to stories from her family members as a child. In 2013, she heard of a storytelling program at Café Clock in Fez called "Keeping the Heritage of Oral Storytelling from Dying" and jumped at the opportunity. In this program she learned the craft from the master of storytelling in Fez Mohamed Mokhlis.

After that she started telling at Café Clock as well as some private storytelling events.

She went to all American language centers in Morocco facilitating storytelling workshops for students under the title "Tell Your Story".

She also travelled in Morocco with a group of travel writers as a storyteller with the agency Deep Travel. She has participated in 4 storytelling festivals in Morocco.

Zakia's motto is "tell tell tell, cause storytelling can change the world, if not the whole then it will change yours".