The Strokestown International Poetry Festival 2026 will take place over the May Bank Holiday weekend from Friday to Sunday, May 1st to 3rd, in the sylvan setting of Strokestown Park House, Co Roscommon.
Ireland’s longest-running poetry festival, now in its fifth year under the direction of Joe Woods, will present a vibrant programme featuring a diverse mix of local, national, and international voices. Festival-goers can look forward to bilingual readings, book launches, film screenings, workshops, and a lively open-mic and music night.
The winner of this year’s Strokestown International Poetry Competition will also be revealed during the festival. Amy Barry, Marian Brannigan, Catherine Ann Cullen, Conor McAnally and Tom Noone have made the shortlist. Their poems can be read here.
More than 30 poets will appear over the course of the weekend, with additional guest poets to be confirmed. Books by all participating authors, representing more than 15 publishers, will be available throughout the festival at the on-site Salmon Bookshop.
Festival highlights include a gala reading celebrating Salmon Poetry’s 45th anniversary, featuring five of Salmon’s poets: Rachael Hegarty, Joan McBreen, Jessamine O’Connor, Nessa O’Mahony and Adam Wyeth; a workshop and reading by Sheffield poet Helen Mort; the launch of the 100th and final issue of Cyphers, the influential literary journal published since 1975; and the Joan McBreen keynote address, delivered this year by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, who will speak about readers of poetry.
The festival continues its long tradition of celebrating poetry in a convivial and welcoming setting, bringing together established and emerging writers with readers from across Ireland and abroad. Further festival details and weekend tickets—offering exceptional value at €50—are now available at strokestownpoetryfest.ie
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In The Irish Times tomorrow, Emma Donoghue discusses her career with me; there is a Q&A with Mary O’Donnell about her new novel, Sweep the Cobwebs off the Sky; and there is an obituary of the late poet, Gabriel Rosenstock.
Reviews are Brian Hanley on Nine Days in May by Jonathan Schneer and Radicals: The Working Classes and the Making of Modern Britain by Geoff Andrews; Tony Clayton-Lea on the best new music books; Claire Hennessy on the best new YA; Kevin Power on Look What You Made Me Do by John Lanchester; Tom Clonan on Lawrence Freedman’s On Strategists and Strategy: Collected Essays 2014-2024; Edel Coffey on Into the Wreck by Susannah Dickey; Maya Kulukundis on Kate Zambreno’s Animal Stories; Adrienne Murphy on Banshee: Mythological Irish Women Retold edited by Ailbhe Malone; Julia Kelly on An Arrow in Flight by Mary Lavin; Lucy Sweeney Byrne on Python’s Kiss by Louise Erdrich; and Nicholas Allen on Few and Far Between by Jan Carson.
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UCD has appointed Dr Katherine Ebury as its new professor of James Joyce studies. She succeeds Anne Fogarty, who retired more than a year ago. Ebury, who is British, and is at present based in the University of Sheffield, is the author of Modernism and Cosmology: Absurd Lights, and Modern Literature and the Death Penalty, 1890 to 1950.
She was a member of a committee that decided, at the Glasgow Joyce Symposium in 2024, to debar then 96-year-old Fritz Senn, a founder member of Joyce symposiums and scholarship, from the symposium for alleged sexual harassment. The controversy is likely to be revisited at the upcoming Joyce symposium in Krakow in June.
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On Wednesday, June 17th, in Hodges Figgis, Dublin, at 6pm, Sagging Meniscus Press will launch The Coast of Everything, the new novel by Irish writer Guillermo Stitch. The author will be joined by June Caldwell and Joycean essayist David Collard to discuss the book, which Rónán Hession has dubbed “an immense achievement”, Nuala O’Connor “a timeless, extraordinary work” and Collard “structurally every bit as innovative and impressive as Ulysses. Stunning . . . absolutely stunning.” Full details and tickets here.
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The Seamus Heaney HomePlace has announced its latest cultural programme. The 60th anniversary of Death of a Naturalist is marked next month with a series of events that immerse participants in the landscapes and rhythms that inspired Seamus Heaney. A partnership with RSPB NI will celebrate the natural world through writing in nature workshops, watercolour sessions inspired by The Long Point and the Lough Beg Nature Reserve, and the evocative Dawn Chorus at Lough Beg. Musician, songwriter and storyteller John Spillane will perform in concert, and join Mary Reynolds and Peter Doran for a thought-provoking discussion on humanity’s relationship with nature and our shared responsibility to protect it.
A major highlight is the return of The Mikel Murfi Trilogy, performed over three consecutive nights. We Are Archipelago will feature poet Erin Fornoff performing alongside a full band including pianist Patrick O’Laoghaire, drummer Dominic Mullan and double bassist Oisín Walsh-Peelo.
Poetry remains at the heart of the programme, with the return of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon. Ear to the Line will showcase two outstanding voices —Matthew Rice and Annemarie Ní Churreáin—sharing work from their acclaimed collections. Frank Ormsby returns with his latest collection The Tumbling Paddy, while there is still a chance to snap up the last few tickets to see Pam Ayres in the Helicon on August 21st.
Patrick Radden Keefe discusses his new book London Falling. Andrew Miller will speak about his latest work The Land in Winter and audiences can enjoy an evening with Bernard MacLaverty, celebrating a lifetime of storytelling.
Contemporary Irish women’s writing is celebrated in Devotions, Rituals and Sketches, featuring Lucy Caldwell, Danielle McLaughlin, and Molly Hennigan. The programme also welcomes Oscar-nominated author Maggie O’Farrell in June, who will discuss her latest book Land.
Storytelling traditions are further explored through the HomePlace Storytelling Brunch with Colin Urwin and Ruth Kirkpatrick, presenting, The People of the Sea.
Tickets go on sale at 10am on April 14th, and can be purchased by calling the box office on 028 7938 7444 or online at seamusheaneyhome
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Five episodes in, the Irish Books Podcast has quietly established itself as part of Irish literary culture. Hosted by Dr Chris Murray, senior lecturer in literary studies at Monash University in Melbourne, it takes a single work of contemporary Irish fiction per episode and gives it sustained critical attention.
The format eschews author interviews - Murray’s view is that authors are too well-drilled to speak freely about their own work. Instead, each episode features a scholar: Prof Christopher Morash (Seamus Heaney Professor of Irish Writing, Trinity College Dublin) on Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song; Frances Devlin-Glass on Eimear McBride; Dr Matthew Ryan on Colm Tóibín’s Long Island.
The podcast is funded by the Irish Studies Programme through the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, with the support of the Irish Embassy in Canberra, one of a small number of Irish literary projects with an explicit Australian focus. It has been in the Top 10 of the Irish books charts on Apple Podcasts since launch.
Coming up are episodes on Adrian Duncan, Sally Rooney, Sebastian Barry, Anna Burns, Kevin Barry and Colum McCann. Dr Murray also has a new academic work out this month: Religion in Irish Literature and Culture, co-edited with Willa Murphy and published by Cambridge University Press.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major platforms.
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Culture Date with Dublin 8 festival returns from May 4th to 10th celebrating the history and heritage of the district. Poet Paula Meehan will premiere a new work, The City of Our Dreaming, at the Guinness Choir’s 75th anniversary concert. Gulliver’s Travels’ 300th anniversary year will be celebrated with a lecture by Swift scholar Dr Brendan Twomey at St Patrick’s University Hospital. Author Donal Fallon will lead a night celebrating legendary bare-knuckle boxer Dan Donnelly and an experimental slam poetry event in the National Stadium will see poets and wrestlers battle it out in the ring! See: culturedatewithdublin8.ie
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Liam Carson’s book of haiku, senryu and micro-poems, Belfast Twilight, published by Salmon Poetry, has been long-listed for the Touchstone Distinguished Book Awards. The shortlist will be announced next week.
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The 2026 Windham-Campbell Prizes have awarded eight writers $175,000 each to support their work and allow them to focus on their creative practice independent of financial concerns. The recipients are: Gwendoline Riley; Adam Ehrlich Sachs; Lucy Sante; Kei Miller; Christina Anderson; S. Shakthidharan; Joyelle McSweeney; and Karen Solie.
The prizes recognise eight writers each year for literary achievement across four categories – fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama. With annual prize money exceeding $1.4million – and total prize money awarded over the past decade at over $20million – they are one of the most significant prizes in the world.
Michael Kelleher, director of the prizes, said: “The Windham-Campbell Prizes champions literary achievement across writing disciplines; the financial security that comes in the form of the $175,000 grant gifts recipients with the time, space and creative freedom to think, write and nurture their talent. The arts are facing more challenges now than ever before. It is an honor, therefore, to celebrate this year’s recipients and ensure that the world will continue to enjoy their works for many years to come.”
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“I couldn’t find the mystery I wanted to read, so I wrote it myself,” says Irish author Tom McAndrew, who has signed a three-book publishing deal with a US publisher. McAndrew wanted his debut crime mystery, Doocey Half-Sees Whodunnit, to be three things: a fun page-turner, with a wicked sense of Irish humour; where the underdog detective does not just want to find out “whodunnit,” but wants to find fulfilment; and a story to give hope. Tom, who like his detective, has had his own sight troubles, wanted to show that whatever challenges you experience, you can get through them and still see the funny side! Doocey Half-Sees Whodunnit is available to pre-order, with no import taxes for delivery to Ireland. tommcandrewwriter.com
