Kinsale Literary Festival

We are delighted to welcome readers and writers to Words by Water 2026, which takes place from October 1st to 4th in Kinsale. As always, we have a varied programme, with fiction, non-fiction, poetry, local interest, workshops, our programme for young people, and our new community programme.

We are proud to be funded again this year by Cork County Council and by the Arts Council of Ireland, which has particularly commended our integration with the local community and our commitment to paying artists fairly for their time, as well as our ongoing local sponsorship by Lilly Kinsale.

We are committed to keeping things as affordable as we can and are pleased to say that our €60 festival pass* is back. So if a few events catch your eye, why not make a whole festival weekend of it and see where the mood takes you.
(*excludes workshops, children’s events, Bonfires of Remembrance and Irvine Welsh event).

The festival opens on Thursday evening, with an evening of poetry, Right Words, curated by Matthew Geden and taking place this year in Dalton’s Bar.

There is something for everyone on Friday. St Catherine’s Cultural Centre is the venue for a performance of Neil Titley’s Work is the Curse of the Drinking Classes, while Paddy Doyle and Rosie McCarthy present Bonfires of Remembrance: a celebration of storytelling and song in OHK. Martin Doyle, Ken Murray & Eugene Reavey are in conversation with Mary Wilson for a discussion on how identity, religion and politics divided communities in Northern Ireland and how cover up and silence impede recovery.

On Saturday, Lara Marlowe sits down with Mary Wilson in the Methodist Church, the start of a fascinating afternoon of interviews and panel discussions at the venue. These accomplished journalists will be followed by Claire Adam and Neil Tully in conversation with Mairéad Hearne, talking about the past in fiction, and then Cauvery Madhavan and Louise Nealon join Shane Coleman to talk about the ties that bind. In our final event of the afternoon, Niamh Hargan and Tanya Sweeney tell Tara Flynn all about the very different worlds they have created in their books.

On Saturday night attention turns to the Trident Hotel, where we are delighted to host an evening with Irvine Welsh. A household name since the 1990s thanks to Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh has brought the streets of his native Scotland to global attention in that novel and the many more bestsellers which have followed. He sits down with Shane Coleman for what promises to be a fascinating and entertaining interview.

On Sunday morning, our ever-popular Local Voices session will give you a chance to hear from three very different Cork writers, Jennifer Horgan, Molly Twomey and Eamon O’Leary, before our main programme closes with legendary journalist Vincent Browne, who joins Vanessa Conneely in Friars Lodge to discuss his desert island books over a cuppa.

Younger readers can join Barry Moloney’s Walking Tour for Children on Saturday, which has become an annual highlight, while Kinsale Library will be the venue for a story telling session for little ones and also where we showcase the fabulous art of some of our local schoolchildren.

In our adult workshops, participants have the opportunity to learn songwriting from music legend John Spillane or develop the expressive potential of their public speaking voice with Regina Crowley. As always, places are limited so book early!

This year sees a new community programme as the festival expands its appreciation for reading and writing into new spaces. While these events are necessarily closed to the public, we encourage you to read about them as a vital new part of our festival.

We are also delighted to add two new venues to our regular favourite locations – Dalton’s Bar and St Catherine’s Cultural Centre.

So please take the time to browse our programme and book at www.wordsbywater.ie. You will also find us on Instagram (@kinsaleliterary) and Facebook (Kinsale Literary Festival, Words by Water).
See you in October!

Special thanks to Katherine Boucher Beug for our beautiful cover design.