Nollaig na mBan: Irish Writers Centre

This event has ended

Irish Writers Centre, Friday 6th January

Join us for a night of readings, music and fun in celebration of women writers worldwide at our annual Nollaig na mBan event.

The theme for the night is Home, in all its many facets and manifestations.

Traditionally, Nollaig na mBan, aka Women’s Christmas or Little Christmas, was a day off for the hard-working woman in the home, relieving her of the household chores and leaving the work up to the men for the day. Our Nollaig na mBan programme will turn this quaint custom on its head with its 21st century interpretation of the meaning of “home,” taking inspiration from the words of Maeve Brennan:

“Home is a place in the mind.”

Award-winning writer, editor, broadcaster and Nollaig na mBan MC since 2015 Sinéad Gleeson will be our host for the evening, introducing a schedule of readings that celebrate the very best of Irish women’s writing.

Louise Nealon, Suad Aldarra, Claire Kilroy and Nithy Kasa will offer a series of fast-paced commissioned Soapbox performances, sharing personal narratives on their views of home. Further stirring additions to the programme will come from Irish PEN / Freedom to Write campaign member Catherine Dunne and Dr Roja Fazaeli, Chair of the Immigrant Council of Ireland and Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies at TCD.

Publisher Arlen House will join in the proceedings with a showcase of contributors to Look! It’s a Woman Writer! a feminist anthology celebrating women born in mid-twentieth-century Ireland, whose literary lives have spanned half a century and whose works are still relevant and read widely today. This segment will feature writers Liz McManus, Anne Devlin, Mary Rose Callaghan and Phyl Herbert.

Musical entertainment will be provided by the wonderful ESSIRAY.


Date:
Friday 6th January
Time:
7.00pm
Price:
€22
Address:
Irish Writers Centre, Parnell Square North, Rotunda, Dublin 1, Ireland

Google Map of Irish Writers Centre, Parnell Square North, Rotunda, Dublin 1, Ireland

You might also like...

What's on

One Dublin One Book

Dublin

Christine Falls by John Banville is the One Dublin One Book choice for 2026, following on from Dublin Written in Our Hearts, an anthology, chosen for 2025. One Dublin One Book aims to encourage everyone in Dublin to read a designated book connected with the capital city during the month of April every year. This annual project is a Dublin City Council initiative, led by Dublin City Libraries and Dublin UNESCO City of Literature, which encourages reading for pleasure. The author introduces us to the maverick pathologist Quirke whose only passion is finding truth in science. While readers

What's on

Manuals of Immorality: Censoring publications in twentieth-century Ireland

Wood Quay Venue

The scale and ambition of the Irish censorship regime is preserved in a blacklist of over 12,000 publications. From 1930 to 2016, the censorship board banned all manner of printed material. Sex education manuals, pulp fiction, nineteenth-century pornography, celebrity memoirs, and newspapers and magazines appear alongside literature from the greatest twentieth-century writers. This state censorship emerged from the report of the Committee on Evil Literature (1926), which gathered opinions from churchmen of all persuasions, newsagents, charities, trade unions and civil servants. The moral attit

What's on

Remembering Brendan Kennelly – In Treasured Moments

Round Room at the Mansion House

In the majestic surroundings of the Round Room at the Mansion House in Dublin, acclaimed performer Noel O’Grady presents a moving and celebratory one-man show honouring his great friend, the legendary Irish poet Brendan Kennelly, on the 90th anniversary of his birth. This intimate and richly layered performance is both tribute and remembrance, a heartfelt portrait of a giant of Irish literature told through personal stories, rare recordings, powerful recitals and song. O’Grady, who knew Kennelly personally, weaves together vivid anecdotes of the man behind the poems: his generosity of s