In times long past on the far reaches of Western Europe the ‘shanachies’ were the traditional Gaelic storytellers or folklore historians - known as seanachaidh or seanchaí - who kept alive the legacy of the old Scottish and Irish communities. Other nationalities have their own versions of these tellers of tales.
In China for centuries these storytellers - shuō shu rén - were held in considerable esteem and hugely popular. They could keep audiences enthralled for hours in traditional teahouses known as cháguǎn - or ‘story telling theatres’, and it is still popular today.
In their time nothing was written down and the legends, history and customs of their respective peoples were kept alive by the fabulous memories of the ‘shanachies’ and ‘shuō shu rén’ and the stories they related orally.
In the spirit of those great storytellers our aim is to publish high quality and fascinating books with words and images - visually stunning photographs or artworks that tell stories in their own right.
However, unlike the oral chronicles of the past they are a permanent printed and published record of people, places and events - but they surely follow the principles adopted by the ‘shanachies’ and ‘shuō shu rén’of telling stories for posterity.