When Eddie Lenihan, “Ireland’s greatest living storyteller”, appeared in Irish national television’s 12-part series ‘Storyteller’ in 1986, most of those seeing and hearing him were doing so for the first time. However, two further series titled ‘Ten Minute Tales’ in 1987 and 1988 changed all that for good.
But what viewers did not know was that he had already by then 6 books behind him, as well as 5 audio tapes, besides years of folklore-gathering, particularly in his native Co. Kerry, but also in many other parts of Ireland. It is this love of mixing with, listening to older generations (which he still keeps to this very day) that underpins everything he does, and after 27 years of collecting, he now possesses probably the largest tape-library in private hands in Ireland – a unique resource of irreplaceable material that would otherwise have been lost.
In gratitude to the excellent storytellers who have shared their proud and ancient Irish tradition with him down the years – and who were so insistent that it should not die – Eddie has done his best, through personal appearances, as well as books, tapes, CDs and video, to spread the wonderful message of Irish lore – no difficult task, since its own very depth and scope make it a world unparalleled.
