Cúirt 2025

Join us as we begin the 40th Cúirt International Festival of Literature with readings from Sally Rooney and Paul Muldoon in a very special opening event. Paul Muldoon, the current Ireland Professor of Poetry, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded the 1994 T.S. Eliot Prize and the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. In his trailblazing career spanning over 50 years, he has been described as ‘the most significant English-language poet born since the Second World War.’ Sally Rooney is the widely acclaimed author of four novels, her most recent being Intermezzo (Faber & Faber, 2024). Her work has achieved both critical and commercial success, and she is heralded as ‘the voice of a generation’. Come along for a brilliant evening with two of the most significant figures in Irish literature today.

Selected emerging writers from the Over the Edge Literary Series and Skylight 47/ Open Window will share their new work, alongside the 2025 winners of the annual Cúirt New Writing Prize. In association with Over the Edge and Skylight 47.

Garrett Carr’s The Boy from the Sea is the coming-of-age story of a young boy in a tight-knit fishing town. Told over two decades, this is an intimate but vivid portrayal of a family’s trials and triumphs and the restless boy at the centre of it all. Roisín O’Donnell’s Nesting is a gripping, deeply emotional story, following a mother as she escapes coercive partner control and navigates the difficulties of the broken housing system in Dublin.

Come along and share your memories of Cúirt, every day of the festival in Nuns Island Theatre, where it all began. With the storytelling and arts collective Moth and Butterfly, and special guests, come, share and hear all the scandalous, the poetic, the mischievous, and the heartwarming tales, and help us to capture Cúirt.

Join us at Kenny’s Bookshop for the launch of the debut novel from the acclaimed Irish poet Seán Hewitt, in conversation with Victoria Kennefick. Open, Heaven is a novel about desire, identity, and the transformative power of first love. Set in a northern English village, it follows James, a shy teen grappling with his sexuality, and Luke, a troubled boy with a dangerous charm. Together, they navigate longing, vulnerability, and self-discovery.

Join us for an evening of poetry featuring the first two authors published by Macha Press, a new publisher dedicated to marginal, experimental, and interdisciplinary works. Eilish Martin’s third collection, titled ! All'arme / ? And what... if not, is composed of two experimental poetic works and designed as a ‘head-to-tail’ book which can be read from either end. Sam Furlong is a writer from Dublin. Their first book Crowd Work (forthcoming in May 2025) showcases a new voice on the Irish poetry scene.

Hotel Lux is Irish historian Maurice J. Casey’s debut. An exploration of Irish and queer history with a keen interest in how twentieth century revolutionaries navigated day-to-day life. Maurice follows Irish radical May O’Callaghan and a group of revolutionaries in 1920s Moscow, who were brought together by their vision for a communist future. Join us as he delves into the multi-generational story of a group of forgotten communist activists culminating in a queer love story. The illuminating history of Hotel Lux looks as much into the past as it does into the future.

Join Sally Rooney and John Patrick McHugh in conversation as they explore the tensions that drive their fiction—the quiet, unspoken moments between people, the contradictions of love and intimacy, and the ways place and memory shape their characters. Sally Rooney, one of the most defining voices in contemporary literature, is known for her precise, emotionally charged prose and her ability to capture the push and pull of modern relationships. From Conversations with Friends to last year’s Intermezzo, her novels trace the fault lines between intellect and feeling, between self-sufficiency and the longing to be understood. Her characters orbit one another—drawn in, repelled, circling back—while Rooney’s cool, meticulous narration lays bare their inner lives with an almost surgical clarity. Here, she discusses her latest work, one that deepens her ongoing exploration of power, desire, and the fragile intimacies that define us. John Patrick McHugh, hailed for his evocative and deeply atmospheric storytelling, writes with a lyricism that feels both raw and restrained. His debut short story collection, Pure Gold, captures the restlessness of small-town Irish life—young men and women trapped between longing and inertia, searching for meaning in places that seem to resist it. His debut novel Fun and Games builds on these themes, turning its gaze towards the fluidity of memory, the weight of the past, and the complicated ways people hurt and need each other.

Come along to a dynamic showcase of the vibrant new voices in the Galway literary landscape. Students from the University of Galway will read from various works-in-progress across fiction, non-fiction and poetry. This showcase is an excellent opportunity to discover their growing talent and will be introduced by Elaine Feeney, writer and Lecturer in Creative Writing.

Join award-winning poet and author Áine Ní Ghlinn for a special reading from her collected poems, with English translations by Theo Dorgan. A recipient of multiple Oireachtas na Gaeilge literary prizes and the Patrick Kavanagh Fellowship, she writes with lyrical intensity on themes of identity and resilience. A former Laureate na nÓg (2020–2023), she is a vital voice in contemporary Irish-language literature. Buail isteach chuig léamh speisialta leis an bhfile agus scríbhneoir Áine Ní Ghlinn agus í ag léamh rogha dánta óna saothar filíochta le haistriúcháin Bhéarla le Theo Dorgan. Is iar-Laureate na nÓg í (2020–2023) í agus an chéad scríbhneoir sa ról a scríobhann i nGaeilge amháin. Is iomaí gradam atá gnóthaithe aici, ina measc Duaiseanna Liteartha Oireachtas na Gaeilge agus an Patrick Kavanagh Fellowship. Scríobhann sí le neart is le brí ar ábhair a bhaineann le féiniúlacht agus le teacht aniar. Is glór bríomhar í i litríocht chomhaimseartha na Gaeilge. Moya Roddy has published poetry, novels and short stories and writes for film and television. Now with The Dark Art of Darning, her second poetry collection, she continues exploring themes of family life and the intricate layers of nostalgia and loss.

Acclaimed poet Kayo Chingonyi joins us to present a preview of his extraordinary memoir, Prodigal. After his father’s death from an HIV-related illness, six-year-old Kayo was smuggled out of Zambia onto a plane bound for Newcastle. In Prodigal Kayo takes us on the journey of his return to Zambia 25 years later, the complicated emotions of losing both his parents, and the challenge of writing your future when you don’t fully comprehend your past. This is a joyous tribute to the healing power of music, poetry and love, and a deeply moving account of how the immigrant experience is often one of filling in the gaps.

Come along and share your memories of Cúirt, every day of the festival in Nuns Island Theatre, where it all began. With the storytelling and arts collective Moth and Butterfly, and special guests, come, share and hear all the scandalous, the poetic, the mischievous, and the heartwarming tales, and help us to capture Cúirt.

For many accomplished writers, literary journals are the place where they had their first opportunity to access publication. These journals are often a sign of a literary community that is cared for and celebrated, and allow growth and collaboration among creatives. Folding Rock is one such endeavour: this new journal has ambitious plans to support both emerging and established Welsh and Wales-based writers. Join us for a conversation with Kathryn Tann, Co-founder and Editorial Director of Folding Rock, and two of the writers featured in the publication’s first issue: Sophie Mackintosh and Joshua Jones. In association with the Welsh Government and Arts in Action.

Join us to celebrate the publication of three beautiful new editions of Samuel Beckett’s greatest novels - Molloy, Malone Dies, and The Unnamable - all written in the late 1940s in the same ‘frenzy of writing’ that produced Waiting for Godot. Published this spring by Faber, these reissues feature illuminating new introductions. One of the most important writers of the twentieth century, Nobel laureate Samuel Beckett was born in Dublin and lived in France during the Second World War. His work began to achieve widespread recognition with the first production of Waiting for Godot in 1953. Join Cúirt and special guests to celebrate Beckett’s fiction and his influence on subsequent generations of writers.

Join us for an evening of poetry featuring two exciting voices based in the north of Ireland, Alanna Offield and Zara Meadows. Alanna’s debut They Wish They Had What We Have, Kid dives deep into her heritage as a New Mexican Chicana to offer us a collection that is introspective and full of courage and humanity. Zara’s debut pamphlet, The End of Art, published this February by 14 Poems, explores love, queer identities and family connections.

We are delighted to welcome three remarkable poets to Cúirt. Their work explores identity and its possible deconstructions with a sense of playfulness and wit. Author of two collections, Kumukanda and A Blood Condition, Kayo Chingonyi navigates the in-between spaces of the historical and contemporary, and of life and death. In doing so he crafts a place for himself in the poetic landscape. Dane Holt’s debut collection, Father’s Father’s Father, scrutinises contemporary masculinity, community, and the legacy of grief both personal and communal, while maintaining a sense of the humorous and absurd. Gustav Parker Hibbett published their first collection in the summer of 2024. High Jump as Icarus Story draws from personal experience and myth alike, deconstructing notions of identity and crafting their own mythology while casting a new light on recognisable figures.

Come down to the Nuns Island Theatre to listen, and share spoken word or poetry pieces. Try something new, perform on a new stage or find a new audience at this year’s Cúirt Open Mic. Performance is not mandatory but encouraged. In association with The Oil Slick.

As part of our Cúirt 40 celebrations, we’ve invited Donal Ryan, as one of our best-loved writers, to join our reflective mood and look back on his career. Award-winning novelist and captivating storyteller, Donal Ryan is here to explore his lyrical and emotionally resonant narratives for an illuminating conversation about his work to date, from his 2012 debut to his latest novel, Heart, Be at Peace. Returning to the small town and chorus of twenty-one voices from his debut The Spinning Heart, in Heart, Be at Peace, Donal shows us how the characters’ lives have expanded and evolved in the decade following Ireland’s economic collapse. With his signature insight and command of the craft, he delivers a rich portrayal of contemporary Ireland that acknowledges the influence of the past while also looking towards the future. Donal Ryan has written seven novels, winning numerous awards including the Guardian First Book Award, the EU Prize for Literature and six Irish book awards. This event is sponsored by Dubray.

University of Galway's Masters of Literature and Publishing class is delighted to launch the 33rd edition of ROPES Literary Journal at Cúirt, featuring both established names and emerging talents. All proceeds from the 2025 edition will go to Galway Rape Crisis Centre. Find out more at ropesliteraryjournal.com.

As part of the Arts in Action series, we welcome Keith Payne and the University Translator in Residence, in conversation with Lorna Shaughnessy. Literary translation allows us to experience an ever-increasing range of literary works from all around the world. Is it a tool, another art form, or something different altogether? Join Keith, the University Translator in Residence, and Lorna as they discuss the craft, the process and the business of translating. In association with the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, University of Galway and Arts in Action.

Join us at the Mick Lally Theatre as we celebrate the launch of the prize-winning reporter Ali Watkins’ debut book. The Next One Is for You unravels the true story of the Philadelphia Five, a group of American gun runners who helped arm the IRA at the height of the Troubles. This gripping nonfiction thriller explores America’s role in the conflict, revealing how its impact is still felt today, in both the United States and Ireland.

Come along and share your memories of Cúirt, every day of the festival in Nuns Island Theatre, where it all began. With the storytelling and arts collective Moth and Butterfly, and special guests, come, share and hear all the scandalous, the poetic, the mischievous, and the heartwarming tales, and help us to capture Cúirt.

Join University of Galway’s Arts Council writer-in-residence for 2025 Molly Hennigan and special guests as they explore both visual and literary interpretations of Irish histories of incarceration. While this aspect of our history has been relatively well-documented in Irish writing, the panel of speakers will delve further into our visual culture of remembering, asking how the two art forms can work together to document our past. In association with Arts in Action.

Join the University Library team as they launch a new exhibition of the Threshold journal archive with a panel discussion exploring the rich heritage and important literary story of Threshold, its contribution to Northern Ireland culture, and the new digital archive of the journal, its writing, and writers.

A special 40th anniversary poetry intervention spanning time, place, mood and media. Responding to 40 years of Cúirt through the Festival’s archival repositories, Christodoulos Makris has produced an original poem in seven sections, installed across the sites of the festival. Visit all seven of the festival venues to piece together the text of the full poem, presented as visual broadsheets and audio contributions. Join Christodoulos where he will discuss the process and thinking behind his poem, and more broadly the practice of making poetry through historical and contemporary archives, often employing text and other documentary elements directly and working beyond the page across physical and digital media.

As part of our Cúirt 40 celebrations, we’ve invited Roddy Doyle, as one of our best-loved writers, to join our reflective mood and look back on his career. A Friday evening with Roddy Doyle is hard to beat. Join us as he reflects on his prolific career, from his bestselling debut The Commitments in 1987 to last year's The Women Behind the Door. Roddy Doyle’s work captures the spirit, humour, and resilience of Irish, and particularly Dublin, life. His sharp wit, incisive social commentary, and deeply human stories have made him a household name, both in Ireland and around the world. He has written novels for adults and children, short stories, plays, screenplays and memoirs, and has won numerous prizes including the PEN Ireland Award and the Booker Prize for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. Last year's The Women Behind the Door returns to Paula Spencer, his beloved character from The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, for a story of mother and daughter untangling the ghosts of the past.

Join us for an evening of poetry featuring two exciting voices published by Doire Press, Michael Dooley and Jennifer Horgan. Michael Dooley’s debut collection, In Spring We Turned to Water, explores nature, folklore, and memory with striking imagery and lyrical intensity. Jennifer Horgan’s debut collection, Care, promises a poignant and hopeful exploration of human connection and our propensity towards kindness. Presented in association with Poetry Ireland and Doire Press.

Join us for an evening of poetry with Mary O’Malley, Claudine Toutoungi and Charles Lang, three poets whose work delves deeply into the human experience, blending humour, insight, and vivid imagery to capture moments of connection, loss, and resilience. Mary O’Malley’s The Shark Nursery is her tenth collection, exploring a world shaped by lockdowns, online realities, and the animal kingdom. Drawing on Irish myth and contemporary concerns, the poems blur the lines between human, animal, and metaphysical realms, using language to confront modern perils. The collection also fuses mythic with modern elements, as in the eerie, online-driven world of 'The Ballad of Googletown.' We welcome Mary’s return to Cúirt after a long-term involvement with the festival. Claudine Toutoungi’s latest collection, Emotional Support Horse, tracks the tragicomedy of grief, eco-stress, and low vision. Her poems range from the droll to the despairing, with a unique ability to uncover joy in even the darkest moments. From yearning to become a Hungarian Vizsla to exploring planetary fractures, Toutoungi’s work blends wit, warmth, and solace in equal measure. Charles Lang’s debut collection, The Oasis, pulses with the energy of urban life, offering an unflinching exploration of identity, masculinity, class, and community. His poems move effortlessly from moments of gritty urban chaos to tender reflections, capturing beauty in both the mundane and the extraordinary.

One of the great privileges of literary festivals is hearing great writers discuss their work. We’ve got two here, as Kevin Barry and Eimear McBride reveal how and why they craft such unforgettable stories. Kevin Barry, known for his deep sense of place and voice, presents The Heart in Winter, his highly anticipated ‘western with a Cork accent’. Set in the 1890s American West, this atmospheric tale of romantic runaways combines gothic undertones with an epic feel. Described as ‘terse and acrobatic’ the novel is a masterful blend of beauty, humor, and adventure. Kevin Barry has published three short story collections and three novels, including the Goldsmiths Prize-winning Beatlebone and the Booker-longlisted Night Boat to Tangier. Eimear McBride, the trailblazing author of A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing and The Lesser Bohemians, offers a glimpse into her new novel, The City Changes Its Face. An intimate and immersive story of passion and family, the book revisits the characters from The Lesser Bohemians, exploring the complexities of love and obsession in 1990s London. Hailed as ‘a writer of remarkable power and originality’ by TLS, McBride’s work is celebrated for its groundbreaking narrative style and emotional depth.

Step into a world of magic and wonder with Chrissy Donoghue Ward, a Dublin-based poet, storyteller, and long-time activist, as she performs The Fairy Queen, a captivating tale rooted in the oral tradition of the Traveller community. This timeless story, filled with fairies, wicked royalty, and everyday heroes, carries a powerful message about resilience and the history of discrimination faced by the Traveller community. The Fairy Queen, co-published by Little Island Books and Skein Press, is Chrissy Donoghue Ward’s reimagining of the Mincéir tale of the Fairy Queen. Rich with drama, excitement, and lyrical oral storytelling, this story shines with themes of kindness and triumph, offering children a magical introduction to a vibrant cultural heritage. With beautiful illustrations and an enchanting narrative, this is a storytelling experience not to be missed!

Hang on to your hats, Storytime has been Cúirt-ified! Come along and be part of the fun at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop weekly story time session, with author and bookseller Méabh McDonnell. These special Storytime sessions will feature the best in Irish authors and illustrators. Open to all ages.

Now in its eighth year, the Irish Writers Centre Young Writer Delegates Programme has partnered once again with Cúirt. At this showcase, the delegates will share a new piece of writing developed during the festival, MC’d by their festival mentor, Alan McMonagle. The Irish Writers Centre Young Writers Delegates programme is in partnership with Cúirt International Festival of Literature. The Irish Writers Centre is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland.

Join our 2025 Cúirt Labs Writers in Residence for a discussion about their latest books, tackling issues of identity, cultural belonging, and the complexities of modern life. Shirley Anne McMillan, Children’s Writing Fellow for NI, has published four novels, most recently Grapefruit Moon, offering an authentic portrayal of teenagers navigating personal and societal challenges. Clara Kumagai is a Japanese-American-Irish writer whose most recent novel Songs for Ghost brings fresh perspectives on belonging, family, and heritage, encouraging readers to reflect on the complexities of shaping one's identity. Shirley and Clara will be in conversation with Patricia Forde, our current Laureate na nÓg. This event will take place after our Writers in Residence have spent the week of Cúirt visiting schools and hosting events for the young readers and writers of Galway city. So come and join them, whatever your age, to hear more about their work. In partnership with Galway City Council.

Join us for a captivating event with Salim Bachi, one of the most remarkable contemporary voices of Algeria writing in French. Through his acclaimed body of work, including the celebrated novel The Silence of Mohammed, Bachi masterfully blends historical fact with imaginative storytelling to explore themes of identity, history and mythology. The Silence of Mohammed, which reimagines the life of the Prophet Mohammed through the perspectives of key figures, has been praised internationally and highlights Bachi’s ability to intertwine legend with literary innovation. Salim Bachi will be in conversation with Patrick Crowley, Head of the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Galway. A prominent scholar of modern and contemporary cultural production in the French-speaking world, particularly Algeria, Dr. Crowley brings a deep understanding of the cultural and historical contexts that inform Bachi’s work. In association with the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, University of Galway.

A one-hour fiction-writing taster seminar with writer Alan McMonagle. Alan will take you through a range of techniques for getting started with your writing practice; you will look at openings, voice, character, dialogue, point-of-view, setting and plot, along with ideas about structuring your work, and some takeaway writing prompts. Suitable for beginner writers and those looking for a refresher. In association with the Irish Writers Centre. With thanks to Arts in Action.

Come along and share your memories of Cúirt, every day of the festival in Nuns Island Theatre, where it all began. With the storytelling and arts collective Moth and Butterfly, and special guests, come, share and hear all the scandalous, the poetic, the mischievous, and the heartwarming tales, and help us to capture Cúirt.

There has been numerous research on Palestinian literature describing it as the “Literature of Resistance”, a set of works designed specifically to challenge the Israeli occupation and its colonial stereotypes. For author Ahmed Masoud who grew up in Gaza, Palestine, literature provided people with Sumud (resilience) to allow them to endure years of harsh reality. Poetry, for instance, became the comforting therapeutic medium of writing cocooning writers and readers with the hope needed to survive. In this lecture, Masoud will discuss this form of literature and how Gaza has been over the centuries a literary hub for the entire region.

Tolka is Ireland’s leading literary journal showcasing a wide variety of non-fiction, from essays to travel writing and autofiction. Join two of their contributors, Declan Toohey and Brenda Romero, as they read excerpts from the journal and discuss their distinctive styles and unique approaches to writing non-fiction with Molly Hennigan. Declan’s debut novel Perpetual Comedown is an imaginative and formally playful work. Brenda is a BAFTA-winning game designer and has published her writing in many literary journals.

We are delighted to welcome these three brilliant poets to the stage. Denise Riley, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Professor Emeritus at the University of East Anglia, is a celebrated poet and scholar. Her acclaimed works, including Say Something Back and Lurex, explore language, identity, and grief. Riley’s contributions have earned her nominations for the T. S. Eliot Prize and Costa Book Award, among others. Richard Scott’s That Broke into Shining Crystals, explores the darkness of injury, the potency and pain of revelation, and the agency as song. Building on his debut Soho (shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize), he examines how trauma shapes language, weaving together childhood, scars, forgotten histories, and the risks and rewards of intimacy. Oluwaseun Olayiwola’s debut Strange Beach, published by Fitzcarraldo Editions, features intimate, erotic, ecological and philosophical poems that illuminate the body as a porous landscape where existential dramas, filial fractures, and sexual reckonings unfold.

As part of our Cúirt 40 celebrations, we’ve invited Anne Enright, one of our best-loved writers, to join our reflective mood and look back on her career. Anne Enright always brings a sharp, unflinching gaze to themes of family, love, and the passage of time, capturing both the beauty and the hardship of everyday life. Her work is deeply rooted in the Irish experience, yet resonates with readers worldwide for its honesty and emotional truth. In 2015, Anne was named Ireland’s first Laureate for Irish Fiction, a role that affirmed her impact on the literary world. Her latest novel, The Wren, The Wren, published in 2024, has been hailed as one of her finest works, winning the Writers’ Prize for Fiction. Anne Enright has published eight novels and three short story collections including the 2007 Booker Prize-winning novel The Gathering.

Join us for an inspiring journey into children’s poetry with Gráinne O’Brien and Serena Molloy, as they present their latest works. Gráinne’s Solo tells the heartfelt story of Daisy, a passionate classical musician navigating family dynamics, friendship, and heartbreak as she struggles to reconnect with her love for music. Meanwhile, Serena’s The Tree That Sang to Me is a dyslexia-friendly verse novel exploring empathy, family, and self-discovery. Don’t miss this celebration of poetic creativity and storytelling!

Hang on to your hats, Storytime has been Cúirt-ified! Come along and be part of the fun at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop weekly story time session, with author and bookseller Méabh McDonnell. These special Storytime sessions will feature the best in Irish authors and illustrators. Open to all ages.

Literary magazines play a pivotal role for new writers, scouting and incubating talent, a vital catalyst for the rich diversity of the Irish literary scene. Founded by University of Galway alumni, Ragaire is a new literary journal flying the flag for Galway, Irish and international writing. Join the editors Aileen McCarthy, Lucy Bleeker and Cormac Culkeen at a showcase event of the magazine’s most recent publications.

Iniúchadh ar an dinnseanchas, seanchas faoi áiteanna, i litríocht chomhaimseartha na Gaeilge. Seo an ceathrú bliain den togra seo, comhfhiontar idir Cló Iar-Chonnacht agus Cúirt. Beidh beirt scríbhneoirí as Tír Chonaill, Eithne Ní Ghallchobhair agus Michelle Nic Pháidín, ag caint faoi thábhacht an dinnseanchais ina gcuid oibre agus ag léamh óna saothar. Is é Micheál Ó Conghaile a bheidh mar fhear an tí. An exploration of dinnseanchas, the lore of place, in contemporary Irish-language literature. Writers Eithne Ní Ghallchobhair and Michelle Nic Pháidin, both from Tír Chonaill, discuss the importance of place in their work and share selected readings. Hosted by Cló Iar-Chonnacht founder, the writer Micheál Ó Conghaile.

New Island Books launches Wired Your Own Way, an anthology showcasing the diversity of the Irish autistic experience. Join editor Niamh Garvey and two featured authors, Nuala O’Connor and Naoise Dolan, for an insightful conversation on the making of this brilliant essay collection, the impact of an autism diagnosis, and more. Niamh found out she was autistic at 34 and has written several books on the topic for both children and adults. She aims to spread valuable up-to-date information about autism and help destigmatize it. Nuala’s deeply immersive novels often explore the lives of women on a quest to find out who they are. Her most recent is Seaborne, a retelling of the life of Irish pirate Anne Bonny. Since her diagnosis she has been on her own journey of growth and self-discovery. Naoise is the author of Exciting Times and The Happy Couple. Her novels offer a sharp, funny portrayal of contemporary relationships and explore class, gender dynamics and queerness.

Come along and share your memories of Cúirt, every day of the festival in Nuns Island Theatre, where it all began. With the storytelling and arts collective Moth and Butterfly, and special guests, come, share and hear all the scandalous, the poetic, the mischievous, and the heartwarming tales, and help us to capture Cúirt.

Belle and Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch joins us for a conversation about his debut novel Nobody’s Empire. Set in early 1990s Glasgow, Stephen – music-loving romantic – emerges from a lengthy hospital stay diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, a little-understood disease that has robbed him of any prospects of work, social life or independent living. Finding that he has the ability to write songs, Stephen wakes to the possibility of a spiritual life beyond the everyday and leaves Glasgow in search of a cure in the mythic warmth of California. This book is life-affirming, funny, and heartwarming.

Léamh drámatúil as úrscéal le Micheál Ó Conghaile atá i mbéal a fhoilsithe. Tá an t-úrscéal bunaithe ar scéal Bhríd Ní Mháille, an bhean a scríobh Amhrán an Bháthadh agus Amhrán South Boston. Fitear ceol, prós agus an chaointeoireacht san ócáid speisialta seo le Caitlín Ní Chualáin, Bridie Ní Churraoin agus Eoghan Ó Riada. A dramatic reading from a forthcoming novel by Micheál Ó Conghaile, telling the story of Bríd Ní Mháille, the woman behind Amhrán an Bháthadh and Amhrán South Boston. Blending song, prose, and the ancient art of keening, this performance features Caitlín Ní Chualáin, Bridie Ní Churraoin, and Eoghan Ó Riada.

Join us for a conversation between two of the most interesting short story writers in Ireland today. In Let’s Dance, Lucy Sweeney Byrne explores women on the edge of transformation — grappling with identity, desire, and disillusionment — through darkly comic, provocative stories that range from flash fiction to novella. Tenterhooks by Claire-Lise Kieffer, weaves together darkly humorous and surreal stories of an Ireland at once familiar and otherworldly, exploring the fragile bonds between people and places in moments of crisis, transformation, and haunting discovery.

Whales and Whales, described as ‘trembling poetry; an erratic wave, a magnificent and disturbing inner storm,’ is the first English translation of the pivotal Galician poetry collection by Luisa Castro. In Whales and Whales, Luisa navigates the journey of a young woman finding her place in the world. From her home on the North Galician coast, Castro’s ‘daughter of the sea’ casts off romantic clichés of love, labour, and girlhood, giving voice to irreverent desires and poignant awakenings. These poems reveal a young woman’s transformation in a society struggling to accommodate her. Translated by Keith Payne, poet and author of Building the Boat (2023), this remarkable collection will be discussed by Luisa, Keith and Lorna Shaughnessy.

Tráthnóna ceoil, amhránaíochta agus filíochta ag ceiliúradh Leabhar Mór na nAmhrán agus an cnuasach Gearr Gonta: Céad Dán le Céad File. Is é an craoltóir agus amhránaí Máirtín Tom Sheainín a bheidh mar fhear an tí. Ceol agus amhráin le Lillis Ó Laoire, Caitlín Ní Chualáin, Marcus Mac Conghail, agus Eithne Ní Ghallchobhair. Beidh ceol beo ann le Nóirín Ní Ghrádaigh, fidléir as Ráth Tó i gCo. na Mí, agus Colm Ó Dubháin, boscadóir as an Aird Mhór i gConamara. An evening of music, song and poetry celebrating Leabhar Mór na nAmhrán, a collection of over 400 sean-nós songs, and Gearr Gonta: Céad Dán le Céad File. Featuring performances by Lillis Ó Laoire, Máirtín Tom Sheáinín, Caitlín Ní Chualáin, Marcus Mac Conghail, and Eithne Ní Ghallchobhair. Live music from Nóirín Ní Ghrádaigh from Ráth Tó, Co. Meath, on the fiddle, and Colm Ó Dubháin from Aird Mhór in Conamara on box. Hosted by Máirtín Tom Sheáinín.

The Oil Slick presents an exciting showcase of spoken word, music and other artistic forms from Galway and further afield celebrating Cúirt’s 40 anniversary. Nuns Island Theatre will be transformed into a stage for lyricism, mystery and celebration. With performances from a broad spectrum of artists, surrounding the journey from endings to new beginnings, join us to experience literature in an unexpected way.