I have been a fan of storytelling ever since I can remember, and before that too. I can remember watching and listening to Jackanory on the beeb as a very young boy, yes I was once a young boy. I can remember my parents reading fairy tales to me as I went to sleep at night to the likes of :
Fee-fi-fo-fum,
I smell the blood of an Englishman,
Be he live, or be he dead
I’ll grind his bones to make my bread
I’ve read stories, interacted with stories, played in stories and so forth. I’ve long been interested in the art of storytelling in virtual worlds and have recently been taking an interest in The Hypergrid Stories Project, which I think is a wonderful project. However before that I discovered a storytelling venture in Second Life, one that very much impressed me and that was Seanchai Library.
Inara Pey has been doing some wonderful coverage of Seanchai and it was on Inara’s blog that I discovered Seanchai was turning six years old in Second Life this week.
Seanchai explain the name behind their project on their website :
A part of the Community Virtual Library, The Seanchai (“Storyteller” in Irish) celebrates the Celtic tradition of stories told around the hearth or in the pub to friends, family, and welcomed strangers. The Seanchai Library brings stories of all kinds to life, in Second Life.
That’s what goes on there, they tell stories and as I said, they’ve been bringing stories to Second Life for six years as Caledonia Skytower explained in a blog post :
In 2008 our founder, Derry McMahon, founded the West of Ireland Library and Cultural Center into what would become the Seanchai Library. Who knew? Thousands of stories and thousands of hours later, Seanchai Library can be proud of six years of bringing stories of all kinds to life in Second Life through live voice presentations.
This is an impressive milestone and they are showing no signs of stopping, although this post is too late for the birthday celebrations I will point out their forthcoming stories :
Sunday, March 30th at 1:30 pm – TEA TIME at Baker Street – “The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot” with Caledonia Skytower, Corwyn Allen, and Kayden Oconnell.
Monday, March 31sth at 7 pm – FROM AN ALIEN POINT OF VIEW – “SKitty” with Gyro Muggins
Tuesday, April 1st at 7 pm – THE GIRL WHO CIRCUMNAVIGATED FAIRYLAND IN A SHIP OF HER OWN MAKING begins with Faery Maven Pralou
Wednesday, April 2nd at 7 pm – TIR NA N’OG Continues with Caledonia Skytower
Thursday, April 3rd at:
4 pm – STORIES FROM OZLAND PICTURES with Llola Lane
7 pm – GERAINT, SON OF ERBIN, Pt 1 (from the Mabonogion) with Shandon Loring
9 pm – SEANCHAI LATE NIGHT with Finn Zeddmore
All stories in voice and take place at Seanchai Libray on Imagination Island, unless otherwise noted. Schedule subject to change, because that is just how life is sometimes.
All sessions at the Seanchai Library are offered free to Second Life (c) Residents. Guests are welcome to join us in donating to our featured charity. Our featured charity for March – April is Project Children: building true and lasting peace in Northern Ireland one child at a time. Learn more about them at www.projectchildren.org .
Derry McMahon has apparently retired … I’m not sure about this. However Shandon Loring and Caledonia Skytower are still listed as staff and amongst their friends and storytellers they list :
- Corwyn Allen
- Bear Silvershade
- FairyMaven
- Finn Zeddmore
- Gyro Muggins
- Gina Pralou
- Kayden Oconnell
- Aoife Lorefield
- Crap Mariner
- Dubhna Rhiadra
- Elder Priestman
- Freda Frostbite
- Herndon Bluebird
- Marian Dragovar
- Rosslyn Guardian
All of them have played their part in this venture reaching its sixth birthday, long may it continue.
Seanchai Second Life Map Link : http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Imagination%20Island/46/211/29
Hi Ciaran! Thanks for the great write up about Seanchai. I’m so glad you find stories to be an important part of your life. They provide so much: joy, distraction, amusement, and more. Indeed, I retired from running the library about two years ago, but still pop by on occasion to share stories, or listen to others. I’ve always been proud of the people involved, and the wonderful work they’ve done sharing literature, and raising money for real life charities, and am delighted that Caledonia and Shandon are continuing the tradition. Long may it continue!
Hi Ciaran! Yes indeed, thank you for such a terrific write up! Seanchai is still going strong in SecondLife and will continue. We are also in Kitely now in a big way. We have a huge 4-region hub world, and 8 themed worlds for storytelling and exploring. So if anyone wants to visit us in Kitely, in addition to SecondLife, please drop by!
The slurl is: hop://osgrid.kitely.com:8002/Seanchai/144/129/29
For anyone that is not sure about Kitely yet please visit our blog where we have tutorial videos on how to get started and visit us for free, and ongoing updates on our progress in Kitely.
http://bit.ly/seanchai (then click on the Kitely tab)
Again, thank you for your support!
Ciaran, my colleagues have already said everything that could be said in thanks for this wonderful post. I just wanted to tag on to Shandon’s comment about Kitely. We are holding a preview event at our Kitely Estate and, as was the case when we started in Second Life six years ago, Shandon will be telling the first stories on the Kitely grid. Information here: http://www.irelandslstory.blogspot.com/p/seanchai-in-kitely.html