Beth the editor at The History Press has now sent me on the proof of Galway Bay Folk Tales.
It was not an easy book to write. Or rather I chose not to write it the easy way. It would have been simple enough to gather together all the folk stories that are recorded about this part of the world, as well as the modern stories that I've picked up as a storyteller. But i wanted to try something a more creative and challenging.
The result was a book in two sections "Ancient Tales" and "Modern Tales"
For the "Ancient Tales I wove together a variety of strands: the big ancient myths of Ireland; the local folk traditions about the mythic heroes; archaeology; news theories of human settlement patterns in mesolithic and neolithic Ireland; and a splash of my own poetic imagination. Though the first section is broken up into seperate chapters it should be read as a complete narrative that takes the reader on a journey from the birth of the universe up to the arrival of Christian saints on the Aran Islands. Oh yeah and just to add to the fun, there's an intro examining what exactly is meant by storytelling and folktales. Its a roller coaster of a read, with Marina's wonderful pictures to add to the joy of it all
It was not an easy book to write. Or rather I chose not to write it the easy way. It would have been simple enough to gather together all the folk stories that are recorded about this part of the world, as well as the modern stories that I've picked up as a storyteller. But i wanted to try something a more creative and challenging.
The result was a book in two sections "Ancient Tales" and "Modern Tales"
For the "Ancient Tales I wove together a variety of strands: the big ancient myths of Ireland; the local folk traditions about the mythic heroes; archaeology; news theories of human settlement patterns in mesolithic and neolithic Ireland; and a splash of my own poetic imagination. Though the first section is broken up into seperate chapters it should be read as a complete narrative that takes the reader on a journey from the birth of the universe up to the arrival of Christian saints on the Aran Islands. Oh yeah and just to add to the fun, there's an intro examining what exactly is meant by storytelling and folktales. Its a roller coaster of a read, with Marina's wonderful pictures to add to the joy of it all
As well as the proof of the book, Beth has sent me the art work for the front cover. Its a beautiful picture by Katherine Soutar Caddick and is based on one of the stories in the second part of the book
RSS Feed