over a packed weekend every November in Ballyshannon.
Updates from all that is happening at the Allingham Art's Festival
Keep up to date with the latest news, programme announcements and festival highlights from the Allingham Arts Festival. From visiting artists and special events to competitions, workshops and community celebrations, this is where you'll find everything happening in the lead-up to and throughout the festival.
Celebrating arts, music, history and storytelling in the heart of Ballyshannon, we invite you to follow along and be part of the journey.
Articles
Two of this year’s An Post Irish Book Awards shortlisted authors will be on stage in Ballyshannon on the same Saturday this November! 📚 Paul Howard, A Nation Once Again: WHSmith Popular Fiction Book of the Year 📚 Frank Shovlin, John McGahern: A Writing Life: Dubray Biography of the Year Congratulations to both. You can […]
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We had a huge number of entries to both the Flash Fiction and Poetry competitions. The judges have been hard at work reading all the entries, and now they are ready to share the shortlists in each category. Congratulations to all, and best of luck to all the finalists! First, Second and Third Place winners […]
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The printed programme for the 2026 Allingham Arts Festival is now available to download: Allingham A3 Folded brochure
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News
The deadline for entries in the 2026 Allingham Poetry & Flash Fiction Competitions has been extended. Online and postal entries must be received by 23:59 on Sunday, 11 October. All other Competition rules and guidelines apply. Visit the Competitions page for more information: https://allinghamfestival.com/competitions/fiction-poetry-competitions/
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News
Up the airy mountain, Down the rushy glen… William Allingham wrote those lines about the countryside around Ballyshannon. Every year we ask the primary school children of Donegal and beyond to make something of their own – and every year they surprise us. Our 2026 Primary Schools Competitions are now open, with Poetry, Short Story […]
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Line-up
The full line-up for the 2026 Allingham Arts Festival is now online, and all events are available for bookings! “Autumn’s the mellow time…” But November is Allingham time! And now is the perfect time to start planning your trip to Ballyshannon for 5 days and nights of words, music and craic at the 2026 Allingham […]
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News
Denise Blake will judge the 2026 Allingham Arts Festival Poetry Competition, replacing Kate Newmann who will be unable to attend. The competition is open to entries until September 27th.
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Line-up
The Allingham Arts Festival is delighted to announce Ár Seisiún Mór, a concert of traditional music dedicated to ‘the Donegal sound’ – the distinctive, driving fiddle-led style that has defined this county’s music for generations. The concert takes place at the Abbey Arts Centre on Friday 6 November at 8:30pm. This unique session has been […]
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Line-up
We are delighted to announce that Professor Frank Shovlin will have the Donegal launch of his latest publication, 'John McGahern - A Writing Life', biography of writer John McGahern, at Allingham Arts Festival.
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News
Planning your visit to the Allingham Arts Festival this November? We've teamed up with local hotels and B&Bs to bring you special festival offers.
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Line-up
Author of the Year in 2025, Booker-longlisted in 2023, with three poetry collections and a play to her name, Elaine embodies the multi-disciplinary spirit of the festival.
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News
The 2026 Allingham Arts Festival Poetry and Flash Fiction Competitions are now open. Closing Date: September 27th 2026.
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The 2026 Allingham Arts Festival Poetry and Flash Fiction Competitions are now open. Closing Date: September 27th 2026.
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News
We in the Allingham Festival committee, in common with most of the population of Ballyshannon, have been shocked and disturbed at news of what has happened to our colleagues in the Rory Gallagher Festival.
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Line-up
We're thrilled to announce Jack Lukeman (Jack L) as part of this year's Allingham Arts Festival line-up, the first of several musical acts planned for the weekend.
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News
"Hello you guys, this is the Michael Harding podcast..."
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Line-up
Paul Howard & Ann Ingle in conversation with Róisín Ingle. This November in Ballyshannon, join us for two conversations between 3 writers, two old friends and one family member.
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New Line-Up Guests: Paul Howard | Ann Ingle | in conversation with Róisín Ingle This November in Ballyshannon, join us for two conversations between 3 writers, two old friends and one family as writer Paul Howard (Ross O’Carroll Kelly) catches up with his old friend Róisín Ingle, before Róisín then chats to her mother Ann Ingle about her latest book on the art of growing older. Not to be missed at the Allingham Arts Festival this November in Ballyshannon, County Donegal
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Spring is here, and the Allingham Committee are springing back into action once again planning for this year’s Allingham Festival in November. We have a few names ready to share with you, so make sure you keep an eye on our socials for announcements, and suscribe to our mailing list to keep up to date […]
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We’re back! The Allingham Arts Festival returns to Ballyshannon this November 4th–8th, and we can’t wait to throw open the doors again. Five days of arts, music, history, and storytelling — featuring local, national, and international artists in the heart of south Donegal. More details coming soon. For now, save the dates: November 4th–8th, 2026 […]
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Well, that was an opening night we won’t be forgetting! Ballyshannon Samba band kicked us off with their usual energy, then in for the reception in the foyer before a melodic treat from the Coláiste Cholmcille Choir under the directorship of Mark Cronin. County Council Arts Officer, Traolach O’Fionnáin did us proud in his official […]
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We are so grateful to Collie and all the staff in Bundoran and Ballyshannon libraries for the tremendous work they have done in staging an exhibition to coincide with our Remembering: Brian Friel event. Apart from Co Donegal Library Service’s own fascinating collection of Brian Friel related works you can view rarely-seen examples of his […]
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Huge Congratulations to all our winners in the Primary Schools Competitions and, like we said to the short-listed gang and to all the others: “If this wasn’t your year, please, please, please, come back next year!”
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The film Cast a Cold Eye by local film makers Emer O’Shea & Michael MacMonagle pays tribute to the late, great Sinead O Connor and explores the connections between one of Ireland’s most iconic and best loved singer songwriters and her favourite poet, William Butler Yeats. Cast A Cold Eye will be screened in Ballyshannon […]
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We were delighted to hear today from the one and only Mr John Creedon. He’s really looking forward to his visit to the Allingham Festival and he kindly passed on this memento from a previous trip to Ballyshannon. He took the opportunity to renew the acquaintance of an old neighbour. Rory Gallagher lived just down […]
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We are so grateful to the young people and teachers who are so loyal to our Primary Schools Competitions every year. It’s a privilege and a pleasure for us to see and read the work of these bright young creatives. This evening it’s our huge pleasure to announce the short lists. To every single individual […]
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We are delighted to have the wonderful Shauna Mullin in concert. Shauna is one of the foremost singers on the Irish folk music scene and her repertoire ranges from the Ulster Song Cycle to the work of Tom Waits and Joni Mitchell with a dash of sean nos thrown in. She comes from a family […]
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Lady Morgan and Lola Montez. An imagined conversation.Written by the hugely talented Maura Logue and performed by Marianne Fahy and Maura Logue, Dark Daughter Productions bring us this compelling piece of theatre which gives us a glimpse into the lives of two wild Irish girls of the North West. They followed their dreams and achieved […]
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For those of you who have been following our updates on the Carousel Aware Prize for Independent Authors, we have been remiss in not passing on the exciting news of the final result. We are delighted to announce that our good friend, Monica Corish, not only took the prize for best Fiction novel, but also […]
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Is Ballyshannon the “Oldest Town in Ireland”? Don’t ask us but come along to this year’s Hedge School for a genuinely learned discussion. History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham will be talking to Angela Byrne, author of the recently published Ballyshannon edition of the Royal Irish Academy Irish Historic Towns Atlas Series. Pauric Travers will join […]
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As the clock ticks down to the Grand Opening of Allingham 2025 you can expect a flurry of reminders of wonderful elements in this year’s program. Where better to start than Opening night, Wednesday November, 5th? Ballyshannon Samba band will kick things off in style as they have done for several years, outside the Abbey […]
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Bhí Manchán Magan i láthair ag Féile Allingham in 2015… Fear uasal ó dhúchas a bhí ann. Cuimhníonn gach duine ag an bhféile ar a ghreann agus a stíl. Phléigh a sheimineár cuid dá spéiseanna móra: taisteal, scríbhneoireacht taistil, déanamh scannán faisnéise agus cultúr an domhain. Ach inniu agus an ghrian ag dul faoi ar […]
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The deadline for the 2025 Allingham Poetry and Flash Fiction Competitions is being extended to Sunday, 12 October at 23:59 / 11:59 pm. This extension applies to both on-line and postal submissions. All other competition rules and guidelines remain in effect. Contact the Competitions Organiser via allinghamfest@gmail.com with any questions.
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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.
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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 […]
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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, […]
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As we work to finalise details of the 2025 programme, one of the mouth-watering prospects is undoubtedly John Creedon’s conversation with Sean Perry on the Sunday afternoon, November, 9th, when they will discuss John’s most recent book, the childhood memoir, ‘This Boy’s Heart ‘. John Creedon has worked in RTE on both Radio and TV […]
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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 […]
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BREAKING NEWS! We’re very excited (only extreme excitement can drive us to using all that upper case) to announce a last minute addition to this already much-anticipated event. After the film showing there will be a very special Q&A with Lance Daly, the writer and director, and Patrick O’Neill, executive producer. Please abandon any other […]
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In light of today’s (Monday’s) news from Gaza, we feel it important to reference a very special event in this year’s festival. We have already announced Nelofer Pazira’s Allingham Lecture to launch this year’s event. On Saturday, November 8th, we offer the opportunity to see ‘This is Not a Movie’. Nelofer was one of the […]
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Poet and memoirist Afric McGlinchey will lead an immersive creative writing workshop at the 2025 Festival on “Setting and Weather as Metaphor”. The two-hour workshop for 15 participants will be held from 9:30 to 11:30 am in Kilbarron House, Ballyshannon on Saturday morning 8th November. Admission €10. An Irish-born poet, freelance book editor and mentor […]
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OK, so who’s been paying attention? Back on June 28 we were delighted to announce that two great friends of the Allingham Arts Festival, Tom Sigafoos and Monica Corish, both had books out which had made it to the Fiction Longlist for the prestigious Carousel Awards for Irish Independent Authors, 2025, under the patronage of […]
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Friday November 7th will offer Ballyshannon audiences the opportunity to hear two of the finest women writers working in Ireland today, Aideen Henry and Christina Hennemann. Aideen has an MA in Writing, from NUI, Galway, was a recipient of a Literature Bursary Award from the Arts Council and was shortlisted for the Hennessy XO Literary […]
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We are beyond delighted to confirm that this year’s Allingham Lecture will be delivered by Nelofer Pazira-Fisk. This lady requires no introduction to those who were lucky enough to attend the Fifth Court podcast recording at last year’s festival. For those less fortunate, well… Nelofer is an award-winning Afghan-Canadian author, journalist and filmmaker. She was […]
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Entries to this year’s Allingham Poetry Competition will be judged by poet and publisher, Kate Newmann. Kate has published five collections of poetry with a sixth, titled ‘Cockett’, to be published in 2025. Her most recent collection, Ask Me Next Saturday, was featured by the Irish Independent, and she is a current recipient of the […]
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We are delighted to report that this year’s Flash Fiction Competition will be judged by novelist and short story writer Nuala O’Connor. Nuala’s sixth novel Seaborne about Irish-born pirate Anne Bonny was shortlisted for Novel of the Year at the 2024 An Post Irish Book Awards, and nominated for the 2025 Dublin Literary Award. She […]
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Like most people involved in the arts in Ireland, we were shocked this morning to learn of the sudden and untimely death of Seán Rocks. Best known as the presenter of Arena on RTE Radio 1, he is also warmly remembered as an actor, a teacher and presenter on Lyric FM. We in Allingham always […]
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Last week we in the Allingham Committee received news we had all expected yet dreaded for some time. Here, Carl Duggan remembers our dear friend, Ann Drummond. It was totally appropriate that both the Donegal and Galway flags flew proudly outside the home of Ann and Sean Drummond on the day of Ann’s wake. For […]
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On October 2, 2015. Donegal and the world lost one of the greatest, most prolific writers of our time. We in the Allingham Festival have a number of plans to mark this poignant anniversary under an umbrella title of “Remembering: Brian Friel”. We’ll keep you posted as the plans come together but, for now, we’d […]
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We send all best wishes to our sister event in the Twin Towns, the Frances Browne Literary Festival as they launch their writing competitions. They deserve great credit for their unique approach in holding writing competitions in Irish, English, and Ulster-Scots. For details, application forms, etc. drop over to their web-site One of these years, […]
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And the good news keeps coming. Two great friends of the Allingham Festival, Tom Sigafoos and Monica Corish have both made it to the Fiction Longlist for the Carousel Awards for Irish Independent Authors, 2025, under the patronage of Paul Lynch. Tom’s Pool of Darkness: Raymond Chandler in Ireland, imagines a 1948 encounter between crime […]
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We are delighted to learn of Donal Ryan’s wonderful success in winning the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, 2025, for his novel “Heart, Be at Peace”. Fans of Donal’s work will recognise the setting from his debut novel, “The Spinning Heart”, but this takes place 10 years later as this small community “… faces contemporary […]
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We’ve been hearing great reports from Sligo of one of our big events for 2025. This is is a one-man show, written and directed by Mary-Elaine Tynan and starring Don Wycherley. Fifty years on from his wrongful conviction as one of the Guildford Four, Paddy Armstrong is facing into his twilight years and wrestling with […]
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The 2025 Allingham Poetry and Flash Fiction Competitions are open for entries! First-place winners will each receive a prize of €300. Poet and publisher Kate Newmann will judge this year’s Poetry Competition entries. The winning poet will also receive the Francis Harvey Poetry Award. Acclaimed author Nuala O’Connor will judge the Flash Fiction entries. The […]
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Did you watch From That Small Island on RTE? Were you tantalised by the brief mention of Ireland’s dark skinned, blue eyed hunter-gatherers? Want to know more? It so happens we can help. We’re excited to announce that Monica Corish’s new novel, “LeafLight Moon – a novel of prehistoric Ireland” will be launched at this […]
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Over the next few weeks, we’ll be announcing details of some of the things you can look forward to in this year’s Allingham Festival which will return to Ballyshannon from November 5th to 9th. We’re delighted to welcome Donal Ryan, the king of the new wave of Irish writers (don’t take our word for it […]
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The Allingham Committee join in the sorrow felt in Ballyshannon, Belleek and points far beyond at the news this morning of the passing of Rachel O’Connor. Rachel was not only a consummate actor, she was unfailingly generous in all aspects of her life, onstage and off. For Allingham, she was a central force in a […]
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How time flies. Just over a month ago, a select audience in Theatre 2 enjoyed a talk by Ken Fox about the many films which have used the Donegal landscape to enhance their visuals. We thank Ken for his engagement that day and for supplying us with these slides from his presentation for anyone interested […]
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Once again we thank all Primary Schools and their entrants in this year’s competitions for their patience over the unavoidable delays in announcing the results. Schools should, by now, have heard from us with lists of winners so we’re happy to make them public here now. The planned prize-giving event which is usually a lovely […]
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(NOTE: A small number of names were left out of the lists posted this evening. See below for amended lists.) We must apologise again to all our entrants in the Primary School Competitions for the delay in announcing the results. As previously notified to schools, this was due to an unavoidable circumstance which arose this […]
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Jennifer Liston’s excellent new book, Grace Notes got the best launch since Grainne Mhaol set out to meet Queen Elizabeth 1. Local writer Win McNulty and Jen decided to structure it as an interview/conversation. Win drew out many key points about the collection with great style and insight. If you missed it, do catch the […]
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Shortlists and winning entries for the 2024 Allingham Poetry and Flash Fiction Competitions have been selected by judges Kate Newmann and Nuala O’Connor. Winners have already been informed and they will read their work at the Awards Ceremony on Saturday 9 November. Shortlistees and winners include: POETRY Bless Me Father For I Have Swimmed – […]
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Don’t forget to join Patricia Keane on our YouTube Channel tomorrow at 2.30 for the announcement of the results of the Post-Primary Schools competitions. They will also appear here shortly afterwards.
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Allingham Festival audiences of the last few years have regularly enjoyed interviews conducted by Sinead Crowley, including such highlights as Liz Nugent and Claire Keegan. We are delighted that Sinead has kindly agreed to host a number of events again this year. One of these will be a little different to anything she experienced in […]
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We are delighted to be working with three emerging writers with strong Donegal connections, Shaun Byrne, Kieran Kelly and Gerry Moriarty. They have each supplied us with a 20-30 minute excerpt from works they have in progress. These will be given a Workshop Production by actors from the Ballyshannon Drama Society. More than a rehearsed […]
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In a late but very welcome addition to the Allingham programme we are delighted to announce that an Allingham Bicentenary Exhibition will be on display in the newly reopened Ballyshannon library from Wednesday, 6 November during normal library opening hours. With the kind assistance of library staff there will be an extensive collection of books […]
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