Declan Forde
Artist, Illustrator and Performer
Declan Forde writes, illustrates and has performed his original stories, songs and poems at Festivals all over Ireland including the Charles Macklin School in Donegal, the Fiddlers Green Festival in Rostrevor, the Carlton Summer School in Clogher, the Fiddlestone Festival in Fermanagh, the Ben Kiely Weekend in Tyrone, the Teachers Club, Dublin and the Bard of Armagh amongst others.
He has taught Creative Writing and Irish Art history in West Virginia as part of the legendary Irish Week in Elkins and also in Pendleton, Oregon and has spun tales in the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith, London.
Declan Forde
Declan has broadcast his work on RTE, BBC, Downtown Radio and the Sony Award winning community radio station Strule FM. He has also presented a series on BBC Radio Foyle entitled Sweet Omey Town and has delved into the story of Irish townlands in A Sense Of Place featuring Ireland's greatest living poet, Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney and Tall Tales and Musical Notes, a look into the world of the Irish music session featuring Ben and Colum Sands and Mick Moloney.
County Tyrone is an area redolent with tradition and Forde's work reflects this. His poems, songs and stories all emanate from the ceili-house tradition, when friends and neighbours would visit and spend an evening gathered around the hearth swapping local news and telling tales. His stories celebrate the life and times of the people from the Sperrin Mountains in Tyrone where he lives happy and content.