Supporting storytellers in Wales / Cefnogi storïwyr yng Nghymru

Across the UK, most people who know constellation stories associate these with Greek myths, such as Orion, Cassiopia, Heracles etc, as listed by Roman/Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy and widely used across Europe. This is also true in Wales. 

Although there are equivalent stories from Welsh mythology (the constellation of Orion can be understood through a story from Culhwch and Olwen in The Mabinogion, for example) these stories are more rarely heard.  We want to ensure that people in Welsh language communities can access a full range of stories, and also to discover if there are other stories circulating that we may not have previously heard.

As part of our project we will be recruiting 8 bilingual and Welsh language artists to develop their star stories repertoire, bilingually and in Cymraeg, and eventually leading three days of community projects in their community based on their learnings. We will commission Welsh language versions of Greek myths relating to the night sky, which will be recorded and submitted to the People’s Collection Wales, securing these stories for the future. We will strengthen our capacity to pass on stories to future generations through oral storytelling.

As part of the support, we will be running a 3 day training programme at Literature Wales’s training hub in North Wales, Ty Newydd, with a programme delivered by established storytellers, Welsh language experts and teachers Tamar Eluned Williams and Mair Tomos Ifans.