Kinsale Literary Festival

Welcome readers and writers to Words by Water 2025. As always, we have a varied programme, with fiction, non-fiction, poetry, local interest, workshops, and our children’s programme. We are committed to keeping things as affordable as we can and are delighted pleased to say that our €50 festival pass* is back, if you fancy making a weekend of it and seeing where the mood takes you!. (*excludes workshops, the Ancestral Storytelling event, and the Gaitkrash Beckett event).

The festival opens on Thursday evening, with Joachim Beug talking about when history becomes personal followed by an evening of poetry and song, curated by Matthew Geden. Friday puts storytelling front and centre, with Paddy Doyle honouring our ancestors through story and remembrance, history powerhouses Diarmuid Ferriter and Peadar Thompson revealing Ireland’s roaring insides in the recent past, and Niall Williams taking us to a slightly earlier West of Ireland, to a small damp village on the edge of County Clare, where the discovery of a baby in the Christmas season of 1962 changes everything On Saturday morning, Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction 2025 longlistee and founder of the UK Centre for Women’s Justice, Harriet Weistrich joins us to talk about women’s rights. Cork takes a well-deserved turn in the spotlight next, as our Something in the Water event features four critically acclaimed Cork debuts from writers Catherine Airey, Louise Hegarty, Patrick Holloway and Barbara Leahy.

In the afternoon, Kit de Waal and Fíona Scarlett chat to Shane Coleman about their new novels, dealing with themes of family, love, grief, society and class. How social is social media? is the question posed by Aoife Barry and Daragh Fleming, as they explore the darker impacts of life online. Finally, our Saturday showcase event is GAITKRASH Theatre Company presents two of Samuel Beckett’s later plays, Footfalls and Not I, in an experimental soundscape – guaranteed to be a unique and fresh experience.

On Sunday morning, our ever-popular Local Voices session will give you a chance to hear from local favourites, Katherine Boucher Beug, Matthew Geden and Afric McGlinchy, or get involved with our Bookswap and trade some older reads for new favourites!

Young readers have a special treat this year, as we are joined by Irish legend, Marita Conlon-McKenna, author of the bestselling Children of the Famine series, and the most-borrowed Irish author from our libraries in 2024. Younger readers who want to get even more involved can go along to their very own Gratitude Workshop in Kinsale Library, or join Barry Moloney’s Walking Tour for Children, which we are thrilled to offer again after its success last year.

In our adult workshops, you can learn to write for little minds with children’s author, Amanda Neri, create your very own calligraphy piece with calligrapher Des Meade, or make paper with Caroline Smith. As always, places are limited so book early!

We are very grateful for festival funding from the Arts Council of Ireland and Cork County Council, as well as our ongoing local sponsorship from Lilly Kinsale. Special thanks to Katherine Boucher Beug for our fresh cover design.