Edmund Lenihan (born 1950), known as Eddie Lenihan, is an Irish author, storyteller, lecturer and broadcaster. He is one of the few practising '' seanchaithe'' (traditional Irish lore-keepers and tale-spinners) remaining in Ireland. He has been called "one of the greatest of Irish story-tellers","Irish Tales by Eddie Lenihan"
on BBC programme ''The Session'', broadcast March 2005. Retrieved 25 December 2007 and "a national treasure".
by Tom Knapp, published 10 January 2004, ''Rambles Magazine''. Retrieved 25 December 2007

Biography

Lenihan is a native of

Brosna, County Kerry Brosna () is a village and parish situated in the Sliabh Luachra area of County Kerry, Ireland. It lies from the town of Castleisland. The civil parish of Brosna consists of the village and a number of townlands. It is a mainly agricultural area ...

, Ireland, but currently resides in

Crusheen Crusheen () is a small village in County Clare, Ireland, in the civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Crusheen (Inchicronan). Location The village is 10 kilometres northeast of Ennis on the R458 road (Ireland), R458 road to Gort. It is in ...

County Clare County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...

. His college education was at Saint Ita's College in

Abbeyfeale Abbeyfeale (; ) is a historic market town in County Limerick, Ireland, near the border with County Kerry. The town is on the N21 road from Limerick to Tralee, some south-west of Newcastle West and south-east of Listowel and north-east of Tra ...

County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...

and

University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies f ...

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

. He is a collector and preservationist of folk tales, recording stories told by older people as passed to them in

oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (19 ...

, and then distributing them to a wider audience via print, audio and filmed recordings.Penguin Group
bio at publisher's website. Retrieved 25 December 2007 Lenihan is known for his tales of Irish

folk hero A folk hero or national hero is a type of hero – real, fictional or mythology, mythological – with their name, personality and deeds embedded in the popular consciousness of a people, mentioned frequently in Folk music, folk songs, folk tales ...

es,

fairies A fairy (also called fay, fae, fae folk, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Cel ...

fallen angel Fallen angels are angels who were expelled from Heaven. The literal term "fallen angel" does not appear in any Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic religious texts, but is used to describe angels cast out of heaven. Such angels are often described ...

s, and other

supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

beings as recorded in

Irish mythology Irish mythology is the body of myths indigenous to the island of Ireland. It was originally Oral tradition, passed down orally in the Prehistoric Ireland, prehistoric era. In the History of Ireland (795–1169), early medieval era, myths were ...

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

and

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information from people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who pa ...

. He has also published poetry, stories about historical and legendary

women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...

of Ireland, and

railroad history ''Railroad History'' (initially, ''The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin'') is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Schola ...

. In his role as a

cultural Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

preservationist he maintains the largest private collection of folklore in Ireland. He first developed a reputation as a storyteller for children. But as his reputation began to grow, he began to appear in film, such as: ''The Fairy Faith'', in a series of programmes on BBC radio, and at numerous high-profile folk festivals."Festival Thru The Lens!"
– Photos and report of Lenihan's appearance at the Killala Festival 2003, Castlebar, Ireland. Retrieved 25 December 2007Lenihan at Galway Arts Festival
. Retrieved 25 December 2007

Conservation activism

In the 2004 reprint of his 2003 book, ''Meeting the Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland'' Mr. Lenihan explained his continuing dismay at the rapid loss of Irish

cultural heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by socie ...

and artefacts resulting from industrialisation of rural Ireland. He described his motivation to preserve

hill forts A hillfort is a type of fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late European Bronze Age and Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roman period. The fortific ...

, rural dwellings and native plants in the context of general preservation of folkways. He also briefly described how his

conservation ethic Nature conservation is the ethic/moral philosophy and conservation movement focused on protecting species from extinction, maintaining and restoring habitats, enhancing ecosystem services, and protecting biological diversity. A range of valu ...

s had come to disagreement with the centralised progressive goals of

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

planners.

This had come to international attention in 1999 when Lenihan had stood up to road builders in County Clare who had wanted to cut down a whitethorn tree commonly called the Latoon fairy bush. (The whitethorn is considered in local Irish lore, and Celtic folklore in general, to be sacred to the ''

Aos Sí ' (; English approximation: ; older form: ) is the Irish name for a supernatural race in Gaelic folklore, similar to elves. They are said to descend from the Tuatha Dé Danann or the gods of Irish mythology. The name ''aos sí'' means " ...

'' – the fairy folk of Ireland.) In local tradition, this specific tree was believed to serve as the meeting place for the fairies of

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

whenever they prepared to ride against the fairies of

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

. Monaghan, Patricia (2004) ''The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog''. New World Library p.67 His activism and protests had made international headlines , and succeeded in altering the road project to spare the tree. In the 1999 incident he used the tactic of mobilising public awareness by telling the old, traditional stories that mentioned the traditional significance of the

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

, as well as the punishments that came to those who harmed the abodes of the fairies.Devereux, Paul (2003) ''Fairy Paths & Spirit Roads''. Sterling Publishing, pp.151–3Away with the Fairies
by Viv Francis. Retrieved 25 December 2007

Lenihan's informants

In his cultural preservation efforts Mr. Lenihan relies heavily on local informants. These individuals are (often elderly) members of the rural community who are steeped in a tradition of oral history.

Jimmy Armstrong

Jimmy Armstrong was born in 1914 in Ballyrougham, the son of a land steward for a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

landlord A landlord is the owner of property such as a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate that is rented or leased to an individual or business, known as a tenant (also called a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). The term landlord appli ...

. His stories of the people, places and heroes of County Clare were incorporated into the 1982 book, ''Long Ago by Shannonside''. His importance in Lenihan's estimation was "...remarkable, then equally significant is the fact that one such man's death can deprive an area of a large part of its oral tradition at one blow".

Bibliography

Books

* Lenihan, Edmund. ''Long Ago by Shannonside'' (1982) Mercier Press. Cork; Dublin. * Lenihan, Edmund. ''A Loss of Face and Other Poems'' (1983) Inchicronan Press. Crusheen, Co. Clare. OCLC: 17518025 * Lenihan, Edmund. ''The Portrait Gatherer'' (1984) Inchicronan Press. Crusheen, Co. Clare. * Lenihan, Edmund. ''Even Iron Men Die'' (1985) Inchicronan Press. Crusheen, Co. Clare. OCLC: 33124197 * Lenihan, Edmund; Frances Boland. ''Stories of Old Ireland for Children'' (1986) (republished 1997) Mercier Press. Cork. * Lenihan, Edmund; Joseph Gervin. ''Strange Irish Tales for Children'' (1987) (republished 1992) Mercer Press. Cork. * Lenihan, Edmund. ''In Search of Biddy Early'' (1987) Learning Links. * Lenihan, Edmund. ''In the Tracks of the West Clare Railway'' (1990) Mercier Press. Cork; Dublin. (republished 1991) Irish American Book Co. * Lenihan, Edmund. ''Ferocious Irish Women'' (1991) Mercier Press. Dublin. (Republished in 1997 as ''Defiant Irish Women'' ) * Lenihan, Edmund. ''The Devil Is an Irishman'' (1995) Mercier Press. *Lenihan, Edmund. ''A Spooky Irish Tale for Children'' (1996) Mercier Press. Dublin. * Lenihan, Edmund; Athena Alchazidu. ''Neuvěřitelná irská dobrodružství'' (1991) Ando. Brno. (

Czech language Czech ( ; ), historically known as Bohemian ( ; ), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 12 million people including second language speakers, it serves as the official language of the ...

) * Lenihan, Edmund. ''Gruesome Irish Tales'' (1997) Mercier Press. Cork. * Lenihan, Edmund. ''Humorous Irish tales for children'' (1998) Mercier Press. Cork; Dublin. * Lenihan, Edmund. ''Wad of Notes'' (1998) Gem and Emerald Books. * Lenihan, Edmund. ''The Savage Pigs of Tulla'' (2000) Mercier Press. Cork; Dublin * Lenihan, Edmund. ''Rowdy Irish Tales for Children''(2001) Mercier Press. Cork; Dublin. * Lenihan, Eddie; Carolyn Eve Green. ''Meeting the Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland'' (2003) Gill & Macmillan. Dublin. (Republished 2004) Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam. New York. (Penguin edition) * Lenihan, Edmund; Alan Clarke, ''Irish Tales of Mystery and Imagination'' (2006) Mercier Press. Cork; Dublin. (title as listed b
Worldcat
* Lenihan, Eddie; Alan Clarke. ''Irish Tales of Mystery and Magic'' (2006) Mercier Press. Cork; Dublin. (title as listed by Amazon.com)

Media

* Lenihan, Edmund. ''Fionn MacCumhail and the Dark Pool'' (1983) Ceirnini Cladaig. Baile Atha Cliath, Éire. (Cassette Tape) * Lenihan, Edmund. ''Niamh and the Giant'' (1984) Claddagh Records. Dublin. OCLC: 39034369 (Cassette tape) * Lenihan, Edmund. Story Teller. (1986) Claddagh Records. Dublin. OCLC: 64861824 (Cassette Tape) * Lenihan, Edmund ''Storyteller 2'' (1988) Claddagh Records. Dublin. OCLC: 39034419 (Cassette tape) * Aziz, Peter; Elizabeth Jane Baldry; Neil Boyle (II); and Hugh Boyle (III). ''The Fairy Faith'' (2001) Wellspring Media. ASIN: B00005K9OQ (Documentary DVD) * Lenihan, Edmund; Colcannon (Musical group); Windhorse Productions. ''The Good People'' (2001)

Sounds True Sounds True is an American multimedia publishing company founded in 1985 by Tami Simon. The company is based in Louisville, Colorado. The company has published over 800 spoken-word audio and music recordings, books, multimedia learning resources ...

. Boulder. OCLC: 47106057 (Cassette Tape) * Lenihan, Edmund; "Tell Me a Story Podcast" (2020) Produced by Philip Murphy & John Lillis.

References

External links

Eddie Lenihan – ''Seanchaí'' – Storyteller
– Author's website *
"Festival Thru The Lens"
– Photos and report of Lenihan's appearance at the Killala Festival 2003, Castlebar, Ireland

Photos from Round Stone Summerfest 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lenihan, Edmund Irish children's writers Irish folklorists Irish poets Writers from County Kerry 1950 births Living people Claddagh Records artists People from Crusheen Alumni of the University of Galway