Meet Cork’s record-breaking storyteller

The evening dusk beckoned over Marrakech’s Jemaa El-Fnaa Square. A hundred or so audience had gathered in a semi-circle, soon it was two hundred, then three; suddenly more than could be counted.

At the Marrakech International Storytelling Festival 2025, the world’s longest-running storytelling session was coming to an end, and the people of Marrakech were gathering to bear witness at this UNESCO World Heritage site, a place synonymous with storytelling.

Upon a podium and facing the still gathering crowd stood Cork storyteller Maria Gillen. Shrouded in a green Clóca Sceála - a story cloak - she delivered the tale of the celtic sea god, Mannanán Mac Lir.

These were the final moments whereby more than 100 of the world’s best storytellers from 33 countries gathered over four days and nights - 80 hours and 34 minutes to be exact - at the Jemaa El-Fnaa to successfully break a Guinness World Record and partake in the world’s longest storytelling relay.

Moroccans had come to listen intently while the tourists who came to watch did so in awe. The spectacle was bright, loud, and colourful. Before them the world’s cultures were unified; understood and celebrated through the tradition of oral storytelling.

The Moroccans in the crowd may have been privy, but the tourists, perhaps not so; that before them, a key moment in the revival of Moroccan storytelling was unfolding.

For it was there, at the famous square, that Morocco’s oral storytelling tradition flourished for over a thousand years, ing through generation after generation, until the 1970s when, in the advent of television, the tradition slowly started to fade away.

Around then, the UNESCO site had also become increasingly populated with traders, tourists, musicians and the sound of motorbikes. The accumulated noise pollution lent itself to the voices of these oral storytellers being quelled even more.

Eventually, Marrakech’s storytellers were pushed out, retreated to the margins, and found themselves without a home.

However, in recent years, fortunately, and in an age where technology and media are more prevalent and engrossing than ever, the tradition is experiencing a resurgence with young Moroccans taking up the artform.

The Marrakech International Storytelling Festival, and Maria Gillen, are playing a significant role in the revival, culminating in breaking that world record at the end of January, a feat verified by Anouk de Timary, an adjudicator at Guinness World Records.

One indication of a resurgence in the art form in Marrakech is the sheer number of storytelling nights and hubs cropping up across the city, and one such place is the World Storytelling Café, owned by British couple Mike Wood and his wife Lucie.

The café is one of the main businesses ing the festival and it was there that I spoke to Maria Gillen, who told me about the role she and Irish storytellers are playing at the festival.

“This year, they decided to make it (The Irish-American session) a part of the attempt for the Guinness World Record, which we are delighted to say that we achieved.

“Some of the tellers were saying having Jemaa El-Fnaa behind them, while it was wonderful, it made us feel really small because if you’ve ever experienced the Jemma El-Fnaa, you will know that it’s huge and that there is a great meeting between East and West, between all cultures. It’s possible to hear a number of different languages on the square.

“There’s said to be quite a resurgence of storytelling going on in Marrakech, that up until quite recently the tradition was dying out for various reasons, largely to do with people getting older, younger generations not taking it up and things like that.

“But here all week that didn’t look like the case at all. That’s in part due to this festival,” Maria said.

Across the festival, with its theme of ‘Bahja’, an Arabic word for joy, there were more than 200 workshops and masterclasses in which Maria met children across all spectrums of Moroccan society.

Overall, the festival brought storytelling to around 5,000 children who otherwise would know very little about oral storytelling.

“I made a story when I was here two years ago at the festival, it’s become a very popular story,” said Maria. “It marries Irish traditions and African traditions and it’s called Iska and the Djinn. It’s very popular at home in Ireland where I’ve told it. And it’s extremely popular here in Africa because they love to see that we weave the traditions together.

“So, in that work with schools, I’ve had an absolutely excellent time and I hope to continue doing more of it,” Maria added.

Fellow storyteller and Fermoy resident Anthony Galvin-Healy, who originally hails from Ennis, Co. Clare, was also a guest at the festival. He too delivered classes and workshops across the festival and performed at the Irish-American story swap.

Also speaking from the World Storytelling Café, Anthony said “ I had an absolutely wonderful experience. I felt extremely welcome as a first timer to the festival.

“The tales I told were a mix of traditional stories, either from mythology or from Seanachaís like Eamon Kelly or Dathaí O’Connell, and put my own twist on them.

“That’s what I like to do, I like to make them relevant to an audience who’s not really into oral storytelling.

As for the young Moroccans who are flying the flag for the artform, at the festival, they reached a wide demographic and blended well with their international counterparts.

One of them is Hanae Korchi who said: “The Irish storytellers brought unique energy to the festival and a rhythm to the atmosphere.

“What stands out the most is their deep respect for their heritage and how they make it come alive for modern audiences.

“From them, we’ve learned the importance of embracing our own stories with pride while being open to blending traditions.”

James McIntyre, Ambassador of Ireland in Morocco, was delighted that renowned participating Cork storytellers Maria Gillen and Anthony Galvin-Healy played such an important part in the Marrakech International Storytelling Festival, entering into the Guinness Book of Records.

He added that “among the many vibrant cultural manifestations shared by Ireland and Morocco is the rich oral and storytelling tradition which continues to be ed in both countries from generation to generation”.

Other Irish storytellers at the event were Liz Weir from Belfast; Eimear Burke from Kilkenny; Danni Cullen from Dublin; Vero Chambers from Wicklow and Ipswich; Eamon Keenan from Antrim; Dr Senem Donatan Mohan from Turkey and Dublin; and Galway-based Fiona Dowling.