About Me

Maria is the Storyteller in Residence at Sheehan’s Storytelling Cottage in Finuge, Co. Kerry, where in 2024 she founded #StoryBridges, carrying story between Ireland and the World Storytelling Café in Marrakech. She was previously Storyteller in Residence for the Kerry Writers Museum from 2019 to 2022, and Artistic Director for the Listowel International Storytelling Festival, 2019 to 2022. She is a well known popular storyteller on the storytelling circuit in Ireland and on the Cyberspace Platform. She is a well known Bean An Tí (Irish Session Host) on the Irish Storytelling Circuit.

She loves listening to stories and will tell a story at the drop of a hat. She loves co-creating stories with anyone ‘from the cradle to the grave’. She believes deeply in the power of stories to build communities, heal prejudice and to build resilience. She is a member of IACAT (Irish Association of Creative Arts Therapists).

She is an award winning storyteller

  • She won the longest running Story Competition in Ireland, the Sean McCarthy Memorial Storytelling Championship in Finuge, three times: 2018, 2019 and 2026
  • The Butter Roads Storytelling Competition in Blarney
  • The Bealtaine Hero Award to co-create stories from gathered memories of yesteryear
  • A Guinness World Record for the Longest Storytelling Show, 80 hours 32 minutes 58 seconds, told with fellow storytellers in Jemaa el-Fnaa, Marrakech, January 2025

Maria spent 22 years in a Global Multinational environment, spending her last 4.5 years as a European Operations Manager.  She became a Biodynamic Psychotherapist in 2007 and has an MA in Dramatherapy from Maynooth since 2010.

She comes from a family where stories are cherished and is very interested in what the wisdoms of yesteryear have to offer us in today’s world. She is as comfortable Storytelling and Storymaking on the Cyber Platforms as she is in live environments. She has run workshops forAdobe, Johnson Controls, UCC, Maynooth University and Olomouc University in the Czech Republic.

She has appeared as Featured Teller at Kerry Writers Museum, as a Storyteller at the Listowel Literary Festival, and at the Cape Clear Storytelling Festival. She also loves working deep in communities finding out what magic tools they possessed and used to get them through the great conflicts and change in the 20th and 21st Centuries. She uses this information and her background skills to design and deliver Team Training, Public Speaking Courses and Improvisation Classes etc. across all these environments. If you have an idea involving stories and you are not sure if she’d be interested – well chances are she will probably give it a go.

spiral iconRange of Storytelling Work:

Adults, Children, Festivals, Corporate, Community, Storyteller in Residence, Storymaking Workshops, Storytelling Workshops, Artistic Director, Medicinal Storytelling Groups (based on her work as a Dramatherapist and a Fetac Level 5 & 6 Trainer)

spiral iconAvailability:

Based in Cork City but willing to travel.

spiral iconRepertoire:

Wisdom Stories, Gathered Stories, Irish Myths & Legends, World Myths and Legends, Historical Tales, Original Stories, Participatory Stories, Corporate Story Training, Community Building through Story

spiral iconPreferred audience:

Maria loves all her audiences, those who stretch in age from the cradle to the grave – from all corners of the earth, from every ability and special ability, from Community to Corporate. There are no borders or limits in the land of story and Maria tries to incorporate this wonderful freedom into her work.

spiral iconCorporate & Industry:

    • Logica
    • Amdocs
    • AbbVie
    • Johnson Controls
    • Adobe
    • Logitech
  • Forasa – Irish Trade Union
  • Gosal Tax
  • Daniel J. Coleman & Co.

spiral iconLearning & Education:

  • National University of Ireland – Maynooth
  • University College Cork
  • Olomouc University
  • FAS (Irish Training & Development Authority)
  • IACAT (Irish Association of Creative Arts Therapists)

spiral iconCommunity & Healthcare:

  • Storyteller in Residence with Kerry Writers Museum
  • A Taste of Bandon
  • Spoken Word – Clonakilty
  • Storytellers of Ireland
  • Storyteller in various schools
  • Drama therapist / Medicinal Storyteller in various Nursing Homes