On Saturday November 11th Little Top Stars bring their unique brand of circus skills workshop to Ballyshannon. There will be opportunities to participate in any or all of these skills -

PLATE SPINNING

GIANT SOAP BUBBLES

PERSON IN A BUBBLE

JUGGLING

DIABOLO

HULA HOOPS

BUCKET STILTS

FUN GAMES.

Fun for families aged 4 to 104. We have many big movie items this year but this one is strictly a screen-free zone.

Come along to St Anne's Hall (F94 WK70) any time between 11 a.m. and 1 or between 2 and 4.

Weather permitting we hope the fun will spill out of the hall into the area around.

Admission is free and all are welcome so please join us.

Zoom into our awards.

Not a red carpet in sight! Our Adult and Flash Fiction awards ceremony will again be streamed live via Zoom at 6:00 pm GMT / Irish Time on Friday, 10 November. Your genial host will be our PRO and Competitions supremo, Tom Sigafoos.
Judges Kate Newmann (Poetry) and Alan McMonagle (Flash Fiction) will present the awards, and the First-, Second- and Third-Place winners will read their work.
The winner of the James B Keane trophy for Flash Fiction and, for the first time, the Francis Harvey Poetry trophy will be announced. Please join us by clicking on this link to register for a free ticket.

Do you read Irish Sign Language?

This year's Allingham Lecture will, for the first time, be interpreted live in Irish Sign Language.
Dr Niall Muldoon, Ombudsman for Children will speak on the theme of "Children's Rights in Ireland - from the Workhouse to the Family Hub". The lecture will be followed by a Q&A session which will also be facilitated by our interpreters.
This is a free event which will immediately follow the official opening of the festival in the Abbey Arts Centre, Ballyshannon next Wednesday, November 8th at 8.00 p.m. All will be welcome but we particularly look forward to welcoming families from the local deaf community.

Change to Published Programme-

As previously announced, our showing of The Battle of Assaroe cannot go ahead as planned on Saturday, November 11, having been stymied by unforeseeable technical difficulties.
In it’s place, we will show 3 short movies by local filmmakers at 7.00p.m. in Theatre 1 in the Abbey Centre.
All the directors will be on hand for a brief Q & A after the presentation of the films
The full line up is as follows:
7.00p.m. Mysterious Shenanigans - Directed by Michael McMonagle (16 mins)
7.17p.m. Trump in Derry - Directed by Manus Brennan (3 mins)
7.20p.m. DRUID - Directed by Emer O Shea (8 mins)

The event is free and everyone is welcome so please come along to support and enjoy these emerging talents.

Shane Hegarty on Ocean FM

Many thanks to Brendan Murray of Arts Northwest on Ocean FM for his recent promotion of Allingham 2023. His full podcast is well worth hearing but we particularly draw your attention to his excellent interview with Shane Hegarty, starting at 20:20.

The author of the best-selling series of books ‘Boot’ and ‘The Shop of Impossible Ice Creams’, Shane Hegarty is sure to stir the imaginations of all who get to hear him read from and speak about his wonderful creations.

Shane will entertain, enlighten and delight pupils from Ballyshannon National Schools on Thursday, 9th and Friday 10th on November.