Name: Tales from Near and Afar
Start: 2024-10-19T19:00:00-02:30
Location: Gower St United Church (Lecture Hall)

Join your host Fergus O’Byrne and storytellers Colin Urwin, Alex Saunders and Michelle Clemens and allow their tales to transport you to another place and time with their words and music (or tune in live on our Facebook page!). Proudly presented by the St. John's Storytelling Festival.
When: 7pm
Where: Gower St. United Church Lecture Hall (enter around the back at the top of Church Hill)
Cost: $10 cash, debit or credit at the door.
About Fergus:
Fergus O'Byrne is widely acclaimed for his musical legacy, as a member of Ryan's Fancy, Tickle Harbour, working as a duo with Jim Payne, or performing with his son, Fergus Brown-O’Byrne, and as a solo artist. He proudly celebrates the songs of his adopted province, Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as Ireland, England, Scotland and the Maritimes in his performances.
He has received many awards acknowledging his contribution to folk music including an ECMA Lifetime Achievement Award, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Folk Arts Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, and an NLAC Arts in Education award. Besides touring nationally and internationally, he works extensively mentoring young folk music enthusiasts and students throughout the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
About Colin:
Steeped for a lifetime in the language, folklore and traditions of his beloved Glens of Antrim, Colin has long been exposed to traditional Irish and Scottish music, song and story. He regularly appears at local storytelling and music events for schools, libraries, a wide range of community groups, and at international storytelling festivals and conferences all over the world.
In recent years, Colin has worked closely on a variety of exciting artistic community projects with the Armstrong Storytelling Trust led by world-renowned storyteller Liz Weir MBE. For more than two decades he has been the caller and singer in 'Haste to the Wedding' ceilidh band, who are always in great demand all over Ireland and further afield. He is also a founding member of the storytelling group Dalriada Legends.
He serves on the committees of the Glens Storytelling Festival and the Storytellers of Ireland. He is also the Storyteller in Residence for The Waterways Community; a charitable social enterprise creating opportunities for people, schools, businesses and organizations in Northern Ireland.
About Alex:
Writer’s Statement:
I, Alex Saunders, am an Inuit elder (mixed blood) with Innu and British ancestry born in the original hamlet of Davis Inlet in 1940. I have been gifted with a knack for writing but only recently started to put pen to paper. My aim to be published is to leave a legacy behind for Inuit, Innu, Labradorians, northerners, and anyone else across Canada – and the world – who is curious about traditional Inuit life and culture and the adventurous, unconquered spirit of an Inuit man. I have three manuscripts of creative nonfiction in development.
Literary Accomplishments:
Guest Editor, Them Days: Stories of Early Labrador Magazine; Vol. 4, No. 4, 2020.
Short Story Writer, Land of Many Shores: Perspectives from a Diverse Newfoundland and Labrador, ed. Ainsley Hawthorn; published by Breakwater Books, St. John’s NL, 2021
Short Story Writer, Kamatsiagit Uluianattumi: Safe in a Dangerous Place, Northern Public Affairs Magazine, 2018
Author, Aullâk: A Labrador Experience, published by the Labrador School Board, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL, 2011
Author- Older than the moon
Author-Pawabby and Nuds in Magic rocks and fairy doors (childrens story- ages 6-12 years)
Awards:
Lawrence Jackson Writers Award, 2017 for History of My Fishing Life
Northern Public Affairs Emerging Writers Award, 2016
Percy Janes first novel award, 2020
About Michelle:
Michelle Clemens is a writer and actor born in St. John’s. She won an Arts and Letters award in 2022 for her poetry. Play and screen writing are her usual genres, but she switches it up when the narrative, or her characters, call for it. She earned a place at the WritersNL's and MUN English Department's storytelling night Sparkle and her essay, “The Christmas Stocking,” was published in the Christmas issue of WritersNL's e-zine. She wrote several plays for the Children’s Theatre company, Zoo & the Moose. She can be seen, if you look carefully, in the background of many locally produced television series. Michelle is particularly proud of her three words and a scream in Astrid and Lilly Save the World.