Philip Byrne - Storyteller in Residence 2023

Mermaid Arts Centre is delighted to welcome Philip Byrne as our Storyteller in Residence 2023.

During his residency Philip will be collecting stories from across the county, which will be presented at the YARN Storytelling Festival in the autumn.

Philip has been telling stories all his life, long before he even knew he was a storyteller. In the highly successful ‘Industrial Yarns’ project some years ago he interviewed and recorded many of the people who worked in over 20 factories that once operated in Bray. All the factories are now gone and are no more than memories. However, these memories live on in the recordings and tell extraordinary tales.

From ‘Industrial Yarns’ Philip has developed a great interest in oral history. He realised that history is being made and lost every day. This is true not just for big events in history but in the daily lives of ordinary people. Everybody has a story even if they often don’t realise it.

As Storyteller in Residence at Mermaid this year, Philip is recording as many stories from people from diverse backgrounds and walks of life as the project will allow. These audio recordings will be curated and presented later this year. Stay tuned for more details!