When I lived in New York City I used to constantly seek out different creative nights and events to inspire me. One event that kept me coming back was The Moth. A themed night of storytelling, where people from the audience came up and told true stories about themselves and their lives. No subject was too big or too small, and the stories were almost always compelling, because they were grounded in real, lived experience. And I particularly loved that any given night was centred around a specific theme.

On reflection, I realise that The Moth inspired me both as a storyteller and as an event organiser. When it comes to storytelling, I have increasingly sought to bring more of myself (and my experience) to what I write. And for events that I organise, I was extremely drawn to the creative constraint of a singular theme. I can draw a fairly direct line between those themed Moth shows and my own themed Brownbread Mixtape variety nights that I ran for a decade here in Dublin.

Luckily for all of us, you can listen to many of The Moth stories too, as the folks behind the event have recorded many of their storytelling events, and made them available in podcast form. If you’re in need of a shot of inspiration or simply want to hear well told short-form stories, then give it a listen here.