Sneem International Storytelling & Folklore Festival
Thursday to Sunday. The 2026 dates come from the festival's own site.
Runs every year
For four days in November, Sneem fills up with people telling stories out loud, which is a stranger and better night out than it sounds. The festival was founded by Sneem storyteller Batt Burns and has run since 2012.
Most of it happens where you would want it to happen: in the village pubs, with tellers working a room rather than a stage. St Michael's Church hosts the South Kerry Rosen Choir, and there is a staging of The Love Hungry Farmer.
The 2026 line-up brings Orla Mc Govern, Paddy O'Brien, Killian Burns, Cillian Brennan and Dr Senem Donatan Mohan, with lectures from Frank Lewis and Jerry O'Grady, including one on Batt Burns's legacy. A weekend ticket is 75 euro.
Sneem is the quietest of the Ring's villages for most of the year, which is part of why this works. Come for the weekend rather than for an evening: the point of a storytelling festival is the run of nights, not any one of them.
How it runs
- Thursday to Sunday Storytelling sessions in the village pubs The core of the festival. Tellers work the room rather than a stage.
- Across the weekend Folklore lectures Talks on Kerry folklore and on the festival's own history.
- One evening Choral concert in St Michael's Church The South Kerry Rosen Choir.
2026 programme
- 12 to 15 November Tellers include Orla Mc Govern, Paddy O'Brien, Killian Burns, Cillian Brennan and Dr Senem Donatan Mohan
- Across the weekend Lectures by Frank Lewis and Jerry O'Grady Including the legacy of founder Batt Burns.
- One night The Love Hungry Farmer A staging of the John B. Keane monologue.
