Bram Stoker Festival 2025 | October 31st – November 3rd

Bram Stoker Festival celebrates the legacy of one of Ireland’s most beloved and iconic writers. Now entering its tenth year, the festival draws inspiration from Stoker, his life, his work, the Dublin of his time and celebrates the Gothic, the supernatural, the after-dark and the Victorian.  In 2023, you can expect more deliciously dark treats on the streets and in venues across Dublin.

Abraham ‘Bram’ Stoker

Abraham ‘Bram’ Stoker was born on the 8th November 1847 in Marino Crescent, Clontarf, on the north-side of Dublin and was educated at Trinity College from 1864-1870. Stoker became interested in the theatre while a student and this led him to become the unpaid drama critic for the Dublin Evening Mail which was co-owned by the Gothic writer Sheridan Le Fanu. In 1878 he married Florence Balcombe, former girlfriend of Oscar Wilde, in St Ann’s Church in Dawson Street. He began writing novels while in London – the most famous of which is Dracula, published in 1897. The global importance of Stoker’s novel is just one of the many reasons Dublin is internationally recognised as a UNESCO City of Literature.

Bram Stoker Festival is brought to life by Dublin City Council and produced by Schweppe Curtis Nunn.

Full programme details

Selected Highlights

Stokerland

Roll up, roll up! Now a much-loved, annual highlight for families and the eternally young, Stokerland returns to St. Patrick’s Park this Hallowe’en Weekend with a gothic twist on the classic day out.

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Dracula’s Disco

A firm family favourite, Dracula’s Disco features Count Dracula’s resident DJ spinning the decks at this spooky disco for ages 5 +.

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Spooky Stories at Marsh’s Library

For over three centuries, Ireland’s oldest public library has stood in the shadow of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, right on the edge of its historic graveyard. Among its early readers was Bram Stoker, who first visited Marsh’s Library on 4 July 1866. He would later return to study maps of Transylvania and texts about Vlad Dracul – we wonder why?!

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Macnas Parade

World-renowned spectacle makers Macnas return to Dublin’s streets with another magical and unforgettable parade: An Treun – The Summoning of the Lost, a brand-new procession weaving through the North Inner City on a new route

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Will Seaward’s Pointy Tales of Fangs and Blood

Will Seaward’s legendary, high-gothic, critically-acclaimed, utterly fiendish and very, very very silly horror storytelling show is rising from the grave in a brand-new, vampire-themed incarnation made especially for this year’s festival.

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Haunted Dublin Walking Tour

From the dark heart of the old medieval city, through Georgian grandeur and Victorian decay; if Dublin’s walls could talk, some of their tales would not be for the faint-of-heart. From grave robbers to satanic rituals, serial killers and everything in between, this is a tour you won’t be able to forget.

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Vampyr with Reimagined Live Score

Succumb to the shadowy world of Vampyr, Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1932 gothic masterpiece, at this once-off screening with a new, live, reimagined score. Deep underground at Light House Cinema, this resurrection of a creepy Gothic classic promises an unforgettable twisting of horror cinema and live music.

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Songs of the Spirits: East Meets West

This Hallowe’en, cross the spectral veil at Schola Hyberniae’s “Songs of the Spirits: East Meets West.” Inspired by the ancient rituals of Oíche Shamhna and Japan’s Festival of Obon, this performance explores and celebrates the universal human desire to honour and remember the dead.

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Kwaidan

This unique event, which will have its world premiere in October at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, brings four of Lafcadio Hearn’s beloved ghost stories to life with a specially-commissioned new live score, composed by Matthew Nolan and Seán Mac Erlaine.

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Dublin City Council Bram Stoker Festival 2025

Get ready for four days and nights of deadly adventures

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