WEDNESDAY April 1 at 7pm • Mary Oliver

Among many things I am a fool for, are the glories of woods, sky, water, trees, birds, and all that lives. Poet Mary Oliver is a lover and a fool for the Earth as well, and so, on this Feast of All Fools, I will read her poems celebrating the wonders of the natural world. Join me for reading in voice, chat in voice or text. All welcome! Let's celebrate Spring!

TUESDAY, March 31 @ 6:30 Afsaneh Metaluna and The Golden Fly

Join us for a lovely Celtic tale in the old tradition 'The Golden Fly'... with our special guest Afsaneh Metaluna. Ms. Metaluna holds a PhD in Folklore, and does a lovely job on her stories!

MONDAY, March 30 at 7pm: Part III of "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe"

The long winter in Narnia is about to end with Aslan's return, and the battle between he and the White Witch to determine the future fate of Narnia. Will the Pevensie children succeed in freeing their brother Edmund from the Witch's fearful influence, even if he is an annoying pain in the neck? What roles will Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy play in the transformation of this fantastic land? Find out as C.S. Lewis' classic continues. Stories Read in Voice with donations accepted for Project Children. Participation in local typed chat encouraged.

The entire story series will be repeated on Tuesdays April 21 - May 12 in Magicland at 7pm. IM Caledonia for a SLURL. Magicland readings also benefit Project Children.

WOI LIBRARY EVENTS FOR THE WEEK OF: March 30 - April 6

More terrific Stories at the WOI Library!

Monday, March 30 @ 7pm - The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (Part III) with Caledonia Skytower
Tuesday, March 31 @ 6:30pm - Afsaneh Metaluna guest stars with The Golden Fly
Wednesday, April 1 @ 7pm - The Poems of Mary Oliver with Aoife Lorefield (no fooling!)
Thursday, April 2 @ 7pm - The Wyvern Mystery (Part I) by Le Fanu with Shandon Loring
Friday, April 3 - WE DANCE! join us at the Friday Special Dance!
Saturday, April 4 @ 2pm - Tom Sawyer, Detective by Mark Twain with Elder Priestman
Sunday, April 5 @ 1:30pm - The Awful Truth Behind Mother Goose with Gracee Andel
Monday, April 6 @ 7pm - The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (Conclusion) with Caledonia Skytower

Please note: as of April 1, all weeknight story sessions will begin at 7pm. See you there!

SUNDAY @ 1:30 Welsh Tales with Simeon Beresford

Join Simeon Beresford, of Bookstacks, for fine tales from his native Wales.

SATURDAY Mar 28 @ 2pm: Mark Twain Stories!!

Join Elder and Derry for two wonderful stories from Mark Twain: The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Curing a Cold! Stories told in voice!

THURSDAY, March 26th at 6:30pm

The Irish author J.S. Le Fanu worked in many genres but remains best known for his mystery and horror fiction. Join Shandon and Sheridan tonight for some classic stories of gothic horror, featuring gloomy castles, supernatural visitations from beyond the grave, madness and suicide. Pleasant Dreams!

WEDNESDAY March 25 at 7pm • Irish Poetry Today

For this last week of the March Festival of St. Patrick, I will read some of today's wonderful Irish poets. Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney will be featured, but he has many colleagues, including Eavan Boland, Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, John Murray, Michael Hartnett, and Thomas Kinsella.

Join me for a voice reading of Irish contemporary poetry! Reading in voice, chat in voice or text .. All are welcome :)

TUESDAY, Mar 24 @ 6.30pm Cat "Who Dun It..." Tales

Derry and Elder will bring cat detective/mystery stories from Lilian Jackson Braun's book "The Cat Who Had 14 Tales". A fabulous collection of feline fiction!

THIS WEEK AT THE WOI LIBRARY - MARCH 23-31

Join us for great fun and fabulous tales!

Monday 23 March @ 7pm - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with Caledonia
Tuesday 24 March @ 6:30pm - Cat Mystery Stories with Derry and Elder
Wednesday 25 March @ 7pm - Poetry of Seamus Heaney, Irish Nobel Prize winner with Aoife
Wednesday 25 March @ 8pm - Genealogy Workshop with Jaylynn Sinatra
Thursday 26 March @ 6:30pm - Spooky, Ghosty, Ghouly Stories by Irish gothic writer Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu with Shandon
Saturday 28 March @ 2pm - Mark Twain Stories with Elder and Derry
Sunday 29 March @ 1:30pm - Welsh Tales with Simeon Beresford
Monday 30 March @ 7pm - The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (Part III) with Caledonia
Tuesday 31 March @ 6:30pm - Afsanah Metaluna guest stars with The Golden Fly

MONDAY, March 23 at 7:00pm, "The Lion, The WItch and The Wardrobe" continues

Part Two of C.S.Lewis' "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" continues tonight as the Pevensie Children discover the truth of Lucy's claims regarding Narnia, and they all embark on the adventure through the wardrobe which will change the face of Narnia, bring Spring at last to the eternal Winter (and never Christmas!) and challenge Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy each in their own to look within themselves.

SUNDAY Mar 22 @ 1:30pm Giggles with Gracee!

Join our newest storyteller, Gracee Andel, for some fun stories. My favorite is her own "Life Cycle of the Wire Hanger"...drop a note on the blog and tell us your favorite!

SATURDAY, March 21 from Noon to 8pm: Read-a-thon to benefit Project Children

To honor the first anniversary of the West of Ireland Library and Cultural Center, please join the WOI Storytellers and Friends on Saturday, 21 March, for a Read-a-Thon to benefit Project Children. We'll have open mic sessions and stories, and the opening of the new exhibit on Wild Irish Women. There will be cake and champagne for the celebration. Do stop by and listen for a bit, and toss some 'linden love' into the charity bin. We'd love to see you!!!

The schedule (subject to change, what isn't?):
Noon-1pm Aoife Lorefield with Open Mic
1-2pm Shandon Loring with Irish Hero Stories
2-3pm Caledonia Skytower with Irish Fairy Stories
3-4pm Kghia Gherardi and Simeon Beresford
4-5pm Elder Priestman and Derry McMahon
5-6pm Lilia Quinnell
6-7pm Derry McMahon & Elder Priestman,and opening of new exhibit "Wild Irish Women"
7-8pm Aoife Lorefield with Open Mic

The West of Ireland Library and Cultural Center was opened in March 2008 during the Festival of St. Patrick and offers storytelling 6 days a week, genealogy workshops, poetry readings and exhibits on Irish history, culture and customs. As with all properties on West of Ireland, we support the charity Project Children, which seeks to unite Catholic and Protestant children in Northern Ireland. Please consider making a donation to the charity in the donation bin next to the exhibit.

THURSDAY, March 19th at 6:30pm -

Join Shandon & Sheridan Thursday evening for tales from the world of mystery & haunts. Sheridan Le Fanu, an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels, was the premier ghost story writer of the nineteenth century. Presented in LIVE VOICE

WEDNESDAY March 18 at 7pm • Celtic Twilight

Tonight's poetry comes from the Celtic Twilight, that great Irish Literary Revival of the late 19th and early 20th century. This is a huge leap from the late 15th century we ended with last week, and there are many wonderful poets in the centuries between, but Yeats had got to be part of the Festival at the West of Ireland, and this is his week. Join me to hear Yeats as well as some of his contemporaries from this rich literary time period.

Reading in voice, discussion in voice or text ... All are welcome! Come and listen to some marvelous poems on this day-after the St. Pat's festivities.

ENCORE EVENT: MONDAY, March 16 at 7pm: Grace O'Malley, the Pirate Queen . . .and Irish!

Join Aoife, Derry and Caledonia as they tell the story of a real life Wild Irish Rose who had plenty of thorns, and who was not limited by the times and traditional role of women in the 16th Century. Come meet the proud "Grania O'Malley" who was mother, wife, woman, noble, pirate and who was not afraid to confront the formidable Elizabeth I in her own court to gain land rights and freedoms for her people. Read as a Story in Voice - this is not the Broadway Musical, there will be no dance breaks or people bursting into song spontaneously . . . that we know of. Final special performance at the Nantucket Theatre in SL New England at 2pm on March 17 - SAINT PATRICK'S DAY! Part of the month long Festival of Saint Patrick in the WOI. Donations benefit Project Children.

OUR DERRY! Interviewed on "Off The Shelf"

Our fearless leader: the charming, the talented, the occasionally clumsy, the ALWAYS passionate WOI Librarian Derry McMahon was interviewed today by Simeon Beresford for Bookstacks "Off The Shelf" bi-weekly podcast. Always an advocate for live story reading in SL, Project Children and the mission of WOI, and for having fun - all these come out in Derry's interview. Have a listen!

Broadcast on Radio Reil, you can get more information about "Off The Shelf" at http://www.archive.org/details/OffTheShelf-Episode0001 and even listen to episodes from the Radio Reil archives (I think). Yay Derry!

WEDNESDAY March 11 at 7pm • Irish Bards Poetry

The bards flourished in ancient Ireland, but were vital during the centuries of conquest in preserving Ireland's traditions and celebrating her history and culture. Tonight I'll share poems from 1200 through 1603, the end of the Gaelic world. Join me to hear love poems, religious poems, and the praises and satires for which the bards were most famous.

TUESDAY Mar 10 @ 6:30pm - More about "The Cat Who..." kitties

Join Derry and Elder for more anecdotes about KoKo and YumYum, the kitty detectives in "The Cat Who..." books by Lilian Jackson Braun. We'll have the cat toys, cat beds and neko scratching posts out...but you can come in human avis too if you wish. The stories will be in voice.

SPECIAL EVENT: March 14th at 2pm and March 16th at 7pm: Grace O'Malley, The Irish Pirate Queen

The West of Ireland Storytellers present this Special Event in honor of the Festival of Saint Patrick being celebrated all month throughout the West of Ireland. Mark your calendar and don't miss this presentation of fact and fiction, featuring Aoife Lorefield, Derry McMahon and Caledonia Skytower with Shandon Loring.

MONDAY, March 9 at 7pm: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

Journey with the Pevensie children through the enchanted wardrobe to a world of Lampost, Fauns, and a strange spell which renders all of Narnia in the power of The White Witch and "always Winter but never Christmas."
Caledonia begins a four week series ( with a break in it next week for the WOI Special Event Grace O'Malley, the Irish Pirate Queen).

SATURDAY, Mar 7 @ 2pm: Irish Horror Stories!

Irish classic horror stories! As part of Bookstack's Horror Fest, Derry will see if she can scare your socks off with: The Doomed Sisters by Charles Robert Maturin, The Diplomatist’s Story by Shane Leslie, The Portrait of Roisin Dhu by Dorothy Macardle, Footsteps in the Lobby by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, and Encounter at Night by Mary Frances McHugh.

Thursday, March 5th at 6:30pm -

Join Shandon Thursday evening for Tales from Sheridan Le Fanu, an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. Le Fanu was the premier ghost story writer of the nineteenth century.
Presented in LIVE VOICE

Tonight's line up:
The Ghost and the Bonesetter - "Why, thin, 'tis a quare story, an' as thrue as you're sittin' there..."

The Child That Went with the Fairies - "..the old hill of Lisnavoura, that cast its long shadow at sunset before the cabin-door.."

Dickon the Devil - "You see, sir, the house has been quiet this ten year, or more; it best to let sleepin' dogs be."

WEDNESDAY March 4 at 7pm • Ancient Irish Poetry

The earliest written poetry in Irish dates back to 900 AD ... and the bards were reciting or chanting poetry long before that. During March's Festival of St. Patrick, I'll be reading Irish poetry during my Wednesday night sessions and begin tonight with some of the earliest.

Join me in the library for excerpts from the hero tales, religious poems, and nature lyrics that make up the earliest poems we have from this most poetical of cultures.

TUESDAY, MAR 3 @ 6:30pm - "The Cat Who..."

Join us in neko, furry, kitty, or whatever self for lovely stories of the private lives of the stars of "The Cat Who..." books by Lilian Jackson Braun. There are neko scratching posts and cat beds to sit in, plus yarn balls and shiny silver thimbles to entertain you. Hear about how KoKo and YumYum came to live with Jim Quilleran, and learn about their many escapades.

MONDAY, March 2 at 7pm: "The Borrowers" concludes . . . we really mean it this time!

Yes, yes, yes . . . you've heard it all before! But this time Caledonia really means it . . .the exciting conclusion of Mary Norton's classic story which grew to become a series of seven adventures about wee people living among us. What more fitting way to begin the Festival of Saint Patrick than with the Wee Folk. Stories told in Voice, and repeated Tuesdays at 7pm at Magicland in Bracket.