Tales from a Viking Longhouse by Richard Birmingham

This is part of the Wylam Winter Tales Festival

Poets and story tellers were celebrated by the Vikings. In the smoky main hall of a Viking long house it was they who could light up the endless dark of winter with their tales of giants and gods. But why was it that while some of the ‘skalds’, the story tellers, lulled their audience into slumber, others could hold listeners in their thrall, enchanting them with their words, setting their imaginations afire? Was it that they had drunk the magical elixir, the mythical mead of poetry?
While exploring the lands, islands and fjords of northern Europe, Richard has traced the wake of Viking longships, and followed their footsteps in the fells. In his story of the origin of the mead of poetry he finds echoes in our lives today of the humiliations and heroics, trickery and trusts, that swirl through the myths of the Norsemen.

About Richard Birmingham
Richard has been a fisherman, boatbuilder, sailor, and academic. His curiosity and career have taken him to little known corners of six continents, and on voyages across great oceans. Ten years ago he stumbled into the story telling community, and there discovered the wonders of the oral tradition where, with no notes or prompts, tragedy, humour, magic
and wisdom are combined in captivating tales. In the last decade he has developed his own story telling practice. He draws on his personal experiences (both mundane and extraordinary), his deep knowledge of the maritime world, and his fascination with the myths and sagas of the far north, to weave tapestries out of words.