The 2026 Bealtaine Festival, Ireland’s national celebration of creativity in older age (run by Age & Opportunity), takes place throughout May with events nationwide. It features a diverse mix of arts, film, performance, and community engagement, promoting the artistic contributions of older people. Proudly funded by the Arts Council and the HSE, with the support of communities nationwide and a vast network of accomplished local and national bodies.

Adapted and directed by Liam Hourican​ With live period music from two acclaimed musicians! Leopold Bloom finds himself in the proverbial lion’s den of Barney Kiernan’s, subjected to the simmering antisemitism of the blinkered Citizen and a jeering entourage. A toxic mix of heavy drinking, Dublin pub banter and political discourse culminates in an explosion of xenophobic violence and an assault with a biscuit tin. In CYCLOPS, Volta draws on its roots in cabaret and sketch comedy to conjure Joyce at his comedic best. After three sold-out runs of its critically-acclaimed Counte

A day of free creativity for children and young people Ireland is the first, and only, country in the world to have a national day of free creativity for children and young people under 18. Cruinniú na nÓg is a flagship initiative of the Creative Ireland Programme’s Creative Youth Plan to enable the creative potential of children and young people. The inaugural Cruinniú na nÓg took place on 23rd June 2018 and for the past number of years, including under exceptional circumstances in 2020, young people and families have come together to enjoy, a wide range of creative activities includin

Dr Christoph Scheepers, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of Glasgow Research in the psychology of reading has traditionally centred on the cognitive processes involved in text comprehension. This includes exploring questions such as: “How do readers recognize words?”, “How do they integrate information at the word, sentence, and discourse levels to construct a coherent interpretation of the text?”, or “How do they resolve ambiguities at these various levels?”. Ancient manuscripts introduce an additional aesthetic dimension to these inquiries—an area that so far has

Bloomsday celebrates Thursday 16 June 1904, the day depicted in James Joyce’s novel Ulysses. The day is named after Leopold Bloom, the central character in Ulysses. The novel follows the life and thoughts of Leopold Bloom and a host of other characters – real and fictional – from 8am on 16 June 1904 through to the early hours of the following morning. Celebrations often include dressing up like characters from the book and in clothes that would have been the style of the era. One of the hallmark fancy dress items of Bloomsday is the straw boater hat. Celebrations come in many differen

Powerful stories and moving images from LGBTQIA+ migrants and queer people of colour around the world. Welcome to Queer Spectrum Film Festival (QSFF) – a vibrant celebration of queer stories in motion. As Ireland’s first film festival dedicated to LGBTQIA+ people of colour and migrant voices, QSFF foregrounds powerful narratives shaped by migration, desire, nostalgia, intimacy, community, and transformation. Responding to Ireland’s evolving role as a place of refuge and possibility for LGBTQIA+ migrants from the Global South and East, the festival moves beyond familiar coming-out n

Begin your Bloomsday celebrations in style with an uplifting evening of Joycean theatre and music. A talented cast will perform witty and moving extracts. Interspersed with toe-tapping music. A talented cast will perform witty and moving extracts from Ulysses, Dubliners, and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, revealing Joyce’s humour and humanity. Baritone Simon Morgan, accompanied by Josh Johnston, will perform Joycean songs. Back by public demand we are delighted to have Sinéad Murphy and Darina Gallagher with us again in 2026. They will perform Songs of Joyce: a toe-tapping mus

From thrilling plots and unexpected twists to deeply complex characters, join Dublin Book Festival for an evening with two bestselling authors as we delve into the dark and gripping worlds of their latest psychological thrillers. In Lisa Jewell’s It Could Have Been Her, a lost dog, whose owner is now missing, draws Jane back to an isolated house that she has been in before. 25 years earlier, she was here with a man she didn’t know.. until a scream and thud from upstairs sent her running. Now, when she glimpses a haunted looking woman through the window, she is driven to finally uncover

Founded in 2010 by Sian Smyth and David McWilliams, Dalkey Book Festival celebrates and fosters literary talent in Ireland as well as hosting some of the world’s leading writers and thinkers. Pulling from the strong literary heritage and natural beauty of Dalkey the annual festival runs across the third weekend in June. Over the years the event has welcomed internationally renowned writers, world leaders, Oscar winners and Nobel Laureates. From compelling conversations to live performances and debate, Dalkey Book Festival has fostered a community that ignites dialogue, facilitates conv