Listening to the Land: Story as a Practice of Kinship

An immersive workshop that invites participants to explore storytelling as a way of deepening relationship with the land This immersive workshop with Paddy Doyle invites participants to explore storytelling as a way of deepening relationship with the land and the more-than-human world. Drawing on the ancient tradition of cuardíocht — gathering together to share stories, knowledge and experience — we will explore how story can help us listen more closely to place, recover a sense of belonging, and recognise ourselves as participants in a living world. As the year turns towards darkness, we will pay particular attention to threshold: between seasons, past and present, the human and more-than-human worlds. Through storytelling, sensory engagement, guided visualisation and creative writing, participants will listen for the stories already present in the land and create new stories rooted in encounter and relationship. No previous writing or storytelling experience is necessary — only curiosity and a willingness to listen. Paddy Doyle is an award-winning writer, storyteller and mythographer based in Cork. Drawing on a background in archaeology, Celtic Studies and the Irish oral tradition, his work explores the relationship between story, place and belonging. Through storytelling, creative writing and the practice of cuardíocht, he creates spaces for people to listen more deeply to the land, to one another and to the more-than-human world. His writing has appeared in The Galway Review, Skylight 47, Revival and other journals and anthologies, and he has performed at festivals all over Ireland, including Electric Picnic.