All go for Letterkenny’s 2026 Literary Festival
With the Jane Austen Evening in Castle Grove Country House already sold out and with
many participants travelling from different parts of the country, Letterkenny Cathedral
Quarter’s Literary Festival 2026 is already off to a flying start.
Year-on-year the festival has grown and this year is no exception with almost twenty events lined up in an action-packed programme set to run from Tuesday, October 13 th until Sunday, October 18 th .
Organiser Donnan Harvey is delighted that the festival is proving such a success. Working
on the programme of events with Festival Director, Mary Turley-McGrath has been a
challenging but rewarding experience. They are very pleased with the outcome.
It’s a cliché I know, says Donnan but this festival gets bigger and better every year.
“The other cliché about great oak trees growing from acorns is appropriate as well. When we started it was a very small event with a confined programme, but now it’s a full-blown literary happening with music, poetry, prose, a bookfair, a talk on AI, a session on songwriting and so much more. We have a full programme for everyone to check out. Almost literally, there’s something for everyone.”
Donnan points out that the official opening of the 2026 festival will take place at the Donegal County Museum on Friday, October 16 th when academic and author, Professor Breandán MacSuibhne, a native of Ardara, will perform the honours. This will be followed by readings by author, Frank Shouldice from his book, Beneath the Cedar Tree.
However, that is not the first event. The festival gets underway on Tuesday (Oct 13th) with a second level schools event hosted by Sue Divin who is author of two acclaimed novels, Truth be Told and Runaway Road. Sue will discuss the writing process as well as giving writing lesson leads.
This will be followed on the Wednesday at the Regional Cultural Centre with a Quills and the Quarter visual presentation entitled Voices from the Cathedral Quarter.
Philip O’Kennedy and Wild Atlantic Productions has produced four short films profiling
different writers connected with the festival – Jane Buckley, Deirdre Hines, Pat McArt and Brian Walsh.
Thursday will see a free event at Donegal Central Library with an evening of music, poetry
and prose which a cast including Derry novelist Jeananne Craig, poet Mary Bates, Raphoe.
Colmcille Press/Cló Cholmcille is, as ever, delighted to be associated with this event and sends Donnan and the team all the very best with their endeavours. Comghairdeas libh agus ádh mór.
The full programme of events can be downloaded here.
