Bookings for the 2025 Allingham Arts Festival are now live for this initial selection of events via the Abbey Arts Centre website, .
Keep following us on Facebook and right here for the full programme coming soon.
Sad as we were recently to have to announce a hiatus in our competitions for Secondary Schools, we're delighted today to declare the Primary Schools Competitions officially open!
If you're a young writer (u-13) we'd love to read your poem or story. We have three age categories so there's bound to be a space to suit you. You can either download the entry form and post it with your entry or you can enter online.
If, on the other hand, you're a dab hand with the paintbrush, you'll need our Art Entry Form.
Closing date for all competitions is Friday, Oct 10th 2025 so let's get those creative juices flowing.
Some disappointing news this evening, I'm afraid. For just about as long as there has been an Allingham Festival there have been writing competitions for all ages as part of it. We've seen some wonderful creativity come through this process but it takes a lot of moving parts working together to make it happen.
Unfortunately, this year we ran into some unforeseen problems with the result that we are going to have to give the Post-primary school competitions a break. We know that this will cause disappointment in many schools whose loyalty we really value. Please take it as a break and not a final curtain. We hope to return with an exciting reboot in 2026.
Thankfully, the Primary school competitions are unaffected and will take place in the usual format. Watch out for updates coming soon. Once again our thanks to all our loyal supporters, students and teachers alike for their engagement with us over the years.
See you in '26.
As we work to finalise details of the 2025 programme, this is surely one of the mouth-watering prospects.
John Creeedon has worked in RTE on both Radio and TV in many guises since he first joined the broadcaster in the early 1990s. If we take a close look at his body of work one thing stands out and that is his love of and fascination with this country.
A proud Corkman he has been broadcasting and writing about Ireland in a hugely entertaining way for decades. He loves our language, both Gaeilge and Hiberno English, music, placenames, folklore. He even travelled the length of the Wild Atlantic Way in a 1960s campervan.
Creedon’s Wild Atlantic Way, Creedon’s Epic East, Creedon’s Shannon and several series of Creedon’s Atlas of Ireland, earned him the title Irish Travel Journalist of the Year. Indeed, John’s work has taken him from China to the Arctic Ocean, and from Central Africa to Guatemala to filming Loggerhead turtles in the Gulf of Mexico.
His first book, That Place We Call Home, become an instant bestseller followed by - An Irish Folklore Treasury which also topped the bestseller’s list and was named ‘Best Irish Published Book of the Year’ at the 2022 An Post Book Awards and to cap a wonderful year, John was also announced as Cork Person of the Year 2022. His recent childhood memoir ‘This Boy’s Heart’ was shortlisted for the 2024 An Post Awards and has gone on to become yet another Irish bestseller.
Nowadays his John Creedon show on RTE Radio I is a must for all music lovers. A consummate storyteller John is sure to entertain, delight and inform you in equal measure as he delves into his books, broadcast work and his fascination with Ireland. Following his visit to Ballyshannon in November, he is looking forward to accepting an Honorary Doctor of Arts at University Collage Cork.
Sean Perry is a highly skilled broadcaster, interviewer and MC. He has worked on local radio and with RTE for many years and his relaxed style is certain to bring the best out of our guest and ensure an afternoon to remember for the audience.
Sunday November 9th, 2.30 Abbey Arts Centre, Ballyshannon.
We are thrilled to have a return visit to Allingham from multi award winning author Donal Ryan. Since his debut novel, The Spinning Heart, took the literary world by storm in 2012 his career has been on an upward curve. He has been longlisted for the Booker Prize for The Spinning Heart and From a Low and Quiet Sea. He has also picked up numerous awards including six Irish Book of the Year Awards, Costa Book Award, the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award among others.
In June this year his latest novel, Heart be at Peace became an instant best seller and won the Orwell Prize for political fiction. A wonderful reader and storyteller Donal Ryan will be interviewed by fellow best selling author Nuala O Connor.
A fascinating conversation awaits us.
Abbey Arts Centre, Ballyshannon, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8th 3.30 pm Admission €15