'Donegal-obsessed' Dublin writer comes back to her roots with Culdaff event

A Dublin journalist and writer who is “obsessed with Donegal” is bringing a storytelling show that she has been doing for more than 20 years to Inishowen later this month.

Brighid McLaughlin’s love of the county comes from her 92-year-old father Owen, who is from Carndonagh.

She spent much of her childhood in the peninsula, especially in Urrismanagh where she has many relatives. 

“Mamore Cottages is where they all grew up,” she told Donegal Live ahead of the three-day storytelling event in Culdaff.

The event, Biddy's Stories, which she is taking on the road for the first time when it comes to McGrory’s Hotel, is about going back to her roots - “to Urrismanagh and Culdaff”.

“The storytelling is based on real stories, on real people,” she says.

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The cottages at Mamore, where her great-grandmother lived, are reminiscent of the cottage in Dalkey known as Biddy’s Cottage where she has been hosting the storytelling evenings for two decades.

“I am interested in the heritage of Donegal and its folklore. But I am not a seanachaí. I tell real stories based on real people - Donegal, Dalkey the world. Interesting people.”

Born in north county Dublin, she describes herself as “a country woman”. “I feel most at ease in the country”.

She makes Donegal oatcakes using a harnen stand, which were found in front of an open fire in most Irish rural homes in the 18th and 19th centuries.

“They are all gone  now - you only see them in pubs - on the walls. All of that - those traditions - I am interested in as well.

“My dad inspired the stories - the Donegal sayings, the Donegal dialect. I go to the folklore department in UCD and study  things like horse fairs that my dad told me about, how they fished trout.”

Her father has written out a list of words from the Donegal vernacular which features in the event “although many of them have disappeared”.

Donegal humour plays a big part in her storytelling and the event in Culdaff will reflect that. “A lot of it is about humour. It is a bit of craic.”

The storytelling also features tales from her life and her work as a journalist including encounters with figures such as MikeTyson, Kingsley  Amis, Pierce Brosnan, Marco Pierre White and a serial killer in Tasmania.

She will also talk about events in her memoir, Tales Of A  Patchwork Life, as well as her obsession with  Donegal folklore, humour and heritage.  

Biddy’s Stories takes place in The Front Bar, Mc Grory's  Hotel, Culdaff from Monday November 17 to Thursday, November 19 inclusive, from  3.30pm to 5pm. Places cost €15 per person and can be booked by contacting the hotel reception on 074 93 79104.