Roundstone Storytelling Festival

Founded on the belief that a story is a starting point rather than a consumable end product, the Roundstone Storytelling Festival is a three-day celebration dedicated to the intersection of storytelling, literature, and community participation. Created by the award-winning independent publishing house Bog Bodies Press, the festival asks what literature can genuinely do: bring people together, build connections, and send attendees home with something new.

If you love Irish storytelling, mark your diary for a three-day gathering for genuine human connection, belonging, and understanding.

Created by Bog Bodies Press (an award-winning independent Irish publisher stocked in 55+ bookshops worldwide), this event steps away from standard stage setups to honour an inheritance where stories are deeply tied to the landscape.

Set in the beautiful coastal village of Roundstone, the festival focuses heavily on audience involvement, offering everything from participatory storytelling circles and open-mics to traditional music sessions and publication workshops.

2026 Schedule of Events

LINEUP FRIDAY 18.09

• 13.00 – OPENING OF THE FESTIVAL WITH BOG BODIES PRESS
• 14.00 – READINGS BY CHARLIE JERMYN AND MUSICAL GUEST PADDY ROGERS
• 16.00 – WORKSHOP – A STORY IS A BRIDGE
• 17.00 – MNEMOTOPE RESTROSPECTIVE
• 19.30 – THE BELLWETHER: A PUPPET SHOW BY MANY BATS
• 20.30 – CEOL

LINEUP SATURDAY 19.09

• 13.00 – PALESTINIAN-IRISH STORYTELLING CIRCLE BY MAHMOUD BICHTAWI AND MOHAMED BECHTAWI
• 14.00 – AUTHOR TALK BY SEÁN ÓG Ó MURCHÚ
• 16.00 – ROUNDSTONE CONVERSATIONS WITH JOHN TUOMEY
• 17.00 – STORYTELLING OPEN MIC
• 19.30 – THE WILD HEART: A SHOW BY ÓRLA MCGOVERN
• 20.30 – CEOL

LINEUP SUNDAY 20.09

• 13.00 – ANALOGUE DE STAIC: A SHOW BY AINDRIAS DE STAIC
• 14.00 – STORIES OF ROUNDSTONE CIRCLE
• 15.00 – CLOSING OF THE FESTIVAL WITH BOG BODIES PRESS

Festival Highlights & Lineup

Designed for full audience participation, the weekend features participatory storytelling circles, traditional music sessions, open-mics, live performances, and collective workshops. Featured artists and events include: The weekend will feature intimate conversations with writers and artists, including:

• Aindrias de Staic & Órla McGovern – Renowned storytellers delivering captivating performances.
• Mahmoud Bichtawi – Writer and director leading a Palestinian-Irish storytelling circle.
• Charlie Jermyn & John Lappin – Reading from The Boy, The Bucket and The Persistent Tide, accompanied by live original musical compositions.
• Seán Óg Ó Murchú – An intimate conversation with the novelist on his unique approach to writing.
• Lucy Hodge-Sellers & Dora Heller Russell – Live artistic performance.
• ‘Stories of Roundstone’ Open-Mic – An invitation for locals and visitors to share their own tales.

Around the Village

• Festival Hub & Pop-Up Bookshop: Located at An Siopa Samhraidh in the heart of Roundstone village, stocking titles from Bog Bodies Press alongside independent literary works. Visitors are invited to drop in and contribute to the community festival journal.
• Interactive Prompts: Keep an eye out in local bars and restaurants for custom beer mats featuring engaging writing and storytelling prompts inspired by mnemotope magazine.

Event Details & Updates

• Cost: Free
• Organiser: Bog Bodies Press
• Full Programme & Information: bogbodiespress.com/roundstone-storytelling-festival

Artists BIO

• Seán Óg Ó Murchú
  • @SEANANSEANCHAI
  • Seán Óg Ó Murchú, a Cork-born writer and activist currently working out of Belfast, will be giving a talk on his approach to writing on the Saturday of the festival. Ó Murchú is a storyteller who is able to effortlessly capture the realities of spoken language in his writing by using colloquialisms and phonetic rhythms in his writing.
    This is particularly apparent in his deeply moving LS debut novella which was released this year, 'Erin go Brách', which follows a love story across a class divide in Belfast. The talk will dive into how dialect, Gaeilge, colloquialisms and spoken language influence his writing style. If you've been following District recently you are likely already familiar with Ó Murchú's work from his recent piece about the Belfast Riots.
• Órla McGovern
  • @THEORLAMCGOVERN
  • Award-winning storyteller, performer and writer Órla McGovern will bring The Wild Heart to Roundstone. During this performance, Órla will use her innate storytelling talent to explore questions through the storytelling such as: What is the wild heart? The whisper of nature? The origin of things? Or perhaps even the awakening of truth in a person?
    McGovern is based in the west of Ireland, but has performed everywhere from the Finnish forests to the Glens of Antrim. She's also the author of Dublin Folk Tales for Children and Wild Waves & Wishing Wells, and Artistic Director of Galway storytelling collective Moth & Butterfly. This will be storytelling at its most captivating.
• Mahmoud Bichtawi
  • @MAHMOUD.BESHTAWI
  • Palestinian artist, performer and filmmaker Mahmoud Albishtawi will be leading a storytelling circle on Saturday, connecting festival attendees in Roundstone with those at a community center in the Shatila refugee camp for Palestinians in Lebanon via video link.
    Albishtawi's artistic style is known for being constantly connected to reality yet simultaneously full of fiction. He has performed and exhibited internationally, with appearances in Paris, Oslo and Brussels, and his work is deeply rooted in lived experience.
• Aindrias de Staic
  • @SMALLTOWNSEANCHAI
  • Aindrias de Staic is the person to go and see on the Sunday of Roundstone if you want to see the art of a traditional Irish seanchaí in full flight. Aindrias de Staic has worked towards mastering the art of storytelling by captivating audiences both abroad and at home with tales about folklore, music, and place for more than 20 years.
    Aindrias de Staic's performance at The Roundstone Storytelling Festival is not going to be his standard storytelling session. Instead, he will perform Analogue de Staic, a performance which draws on rediscovered cassette recordings from 1970s and 1980s West Clare.
• Charlie Jermyn
  • @CIAOLEMAGNE
  • Dublin writer Charlie Jermyn will read from his debut book, The Boy, The Bucket and The Persistent Tide, alongside new, unpublished work, accompanied by live original music on the Friday of the festival.
    Jermyn is a writer who has lived around the world, in places such as Hong Kong, London and Milan, as well as Ireland. Now based in Amsterdam, Jermyn writes about travel, landscape, music and art, with work published by The Irish Times and Bog Bodies Press among others. If you're after a merging of music, storytelling and literature from a contemporary perspective, this is well worth putting in the diary.