Seanchai Library Celebrates a Decade of Stories with "Volume 10"

On March 20, 2008 Shandon Loring presented the very first story in voice at the West of Ireland Library and Cultural Center, which would become Seanchai Library. A decade later, Seanchai Library is still presenting literature, stories, and poems live in voice every week. March 15th begins Seanchai's ten day celebration of stories brought to life in virtual worlds, featuring a light-hearted quest, music events and, of course, stories. "Volume 10" kicks off today with the opening of a quest, and at 7pm PDT with Chief Storyteller Shandon Loring beginning the first of a two part presentation of Frank Delaney's The Architect of Newgrange.

Saturday March 17th at 11:30am (PDT) acoustic musicians Wald Schridde and Corwyn Allen will present a 90 minute live Celtic music set of solos and duets at Seanchai's Ceiliúradh Glen, followed at 1pm by Caledonia Skytower with her original tale "The Storyteller's Path" which will be broadcast on Fantasy Faire Radio. Those interested in the nature of virtual story presentation and the relationship between Fantasy Faire, one of SL's large-scale events fundraising for Relay for Life, and Seanchai should stay tuned to the broadcast after the story for Zander Greene's interview with Caledonia Skytower on the relationship and future potential between the two decade old Second Life institutions.

Sunday, March 18th at 12:30pm (PDT) Skytower will return to present a selection from Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped, as a literary prelude to BEYOND LOUD: A Bagpipe Challenge, which will begin at 1pm and be broadcast on  Radio Riel Main Stream. DJ's Elrik Merlin, Ktahdn Vesuvino, and Gabrielle Riel will present three hours of music. "There is much more to bagpiping than the stirring up of the deaf and sharing music with those in the next time zone. Seanchai Library hosts this program in which three exponents of the instrument present their arguments to the rest of the SL world. We invite you to step into a world beyond the stereotypes and hear... music!"

Events continue into the next week, and include encores of some notable presentations from Seanchai Library's decade of history. Information about these events, and their locations can be found at http://irelandslstory.blogspot.com/p/volume.html

• March 19th, Sci-Fi By Command with Gyro Muggins presenting Theodore Sturgeon's "Bulkhead."
• March 20th, Stories-Go-Round - a buffet of short stories, poems and a few appearances by a certain inept Pirate named "George", presented by the Seanchai staff.
• March 21st, "Dracula!" - an encore of a classic adaptation from Seanchai's past featuring a cast of 9 readers.
• March 22nd, "The Architect of Newgrange" - Part 2 with Shandon Loring.
• March 24th, "War of the Worlds"- another encore from Seanchai's past featuring a cast of multiple voices.
• March 25th, "The Storyteller's Sandbox" hosted by Dubhna Rhiadra with Seanchai Library friends presenting stories to close out the celebrations.

Volume 10 also features a retrospective wander through a specially designed warren of caverns - one for each year of Seanchai's history.  The caverns are filled with artifacts, slide shows, and media panels featuring people and events spanning 2008 to the present year. If you have never heard of Seanchai Library before, or are just getting to know their work, exploring the caverns is the perfect way to gain perspective on the impact of 10 years: thousands of stories, hundreds of authors, across multiple genres, all presented live through virtual worlds to connect people to literature.

Seanchai Library (Shawn-a-kee, which means "Storyteller" in Irish.) was founded in March of 2008 in Second Life. The program remains dedicated to promoting the power of stories to transform and inspire through live voice presentations: "We bring stories of all kinds to life, in Second Life and other virtual worlds."

Seanchai Library http://irelandslstory.blogspot.com/

Images provided by Seanchai Library
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