Cúirt International Festival of Literature has brought together creative trailblazers to celebrate storytelling, through books, performances, traditions and more. All while shining a torch on Galway’s diverse and vibrant communities. This festival runs from the 21st to 26th of April 2026! So grab your tickets before they sell out quickly and be part of this year's edition of Cúirt International Festival of Literature!
Writing The World – Nikesh Shukla
When: 21st April, 6.00pm - 9.00pm
Where: Online Event
Price: €45
More Information Here!
We often think of stories as entertainment - bedtime rituals, novels, films. But storytelling plays a much bigger role in our lives. It shapes how we see ourselves, how we relate to others and how we understand the systems around us. These aren't just narratives. They form the mental architecture behind policies, technologies, brands, institutions, even the cities we live in. They influence where money flows, who gets heard, what's rewarded and what's ignored. So when we talk about systemic change, we're also talking about changing the stories we've come to believe. Nikesh Shukla presents this workshop with writing exercises. Learn how to document these times in a way only you know how!
Queer Stories – Rosamund Taylor and Anthony Shapland
When: 22nd April, 1.00pm
Where: The Mick Lally Theatre
Price: €10/€12
More Information Here!
Rosamund Taylor and Anthony Shapland, in conversation with Paul Maddern, are excited to discuss the queer themes in their debut novels at Cúirt. Taylor’s ‘Filly’ and Shapland’s ‘A Room Above a Shop’ are books that can be shelved right next to each other given their genius within expressing the deeper grief involved in queer identity and love surrounding hetronormative spaces across Ireland and South Wales. The treasures of queer art and culture are to be shared, discovered and interpreted by each succeeding generation and this is Galway’s turn!
Above: Rosamund Taylor
Writing Against Logic – Isabelle Baafi (Advanced Poetry Workshop)
When: 22nd April, 6.00pm - 9.00pm
Where: Online Event
Price: €45
More Information Here!
For a carnival of wordplay, this advanced poetry workshop with Isabelle Baafi presents to you worlds of poetry where normal rules and happenings are thrown to the wind. If you've ever been curious about the meanings that can be extracted from dreams, memories, semiotics alongside the visual arts, feature sound poetry, paradoxes, wordplay and literary nonsense then this is the place for you. Push the bounds of possibility!
Songmaking - Pete Moser
When: 23rd April, 2pm - 5pm
Where: O’Donoghue Theatre, University of Galway
Price: €65
More Information Here!
Fancy writing a song? Or at least giving it a lash? Well luckily for you, Pete Moser intends to run a playful, welcoming workshop that's all about melody, rhythm and storytelling through the guise of music. Give the lyricist inside yourself a microphone and tell the story you want to tell. Don't be afraid to bring an instrument of your own although it is most definitely not a requirement.
Outset Market
When: 25th April, from 11am
Where: The Cornstore
Price: Free
More Information Here!
Pop into the Outset Market for a browse that's equal parts craft fair and literary salon. Hosted by Outset Gallery, this indoor market brings together artists, designers and literary journals in one creative space buzzing with excitement. It's free, it's local and you'll probably leave with the most unique collection of trinkets.
Above: Photo courtesy Galway Indoor Market
Language and Light - Samuel Arnold Keane and Kasia Kaminska (Foraging and Cyanotype Workshop)
When: 25th April, 12pm - 3pm
Where: Galway Arts Centre
Price: €65
More Information Here!
For something more hands-on, the Foraging and Cyanotype printmaking workshop with Samel Arnold Keane and Kasia Kaminska offers a wonderful experience. Inspired by the works and words of Manchán Magan, you’ll wander Galway collecting plants, learning their names, and then turn that knowledge into cyanotype prints using sunlight (yes, actual sunlight). It's part walk, part art and part language and Irish landscapes. The only thing required is curiosity!
University of Galway MA Showcase
When: 26th April, 12.30pm
Where: Galway Arts Centre - Nuns Island Theatre
Price: Free
More Information Here!
In an age of permanent distraction, where attention spans go to the same places missing socks do. Young writers are putting down their phones and vying for our attention. Students from the University of Galway invite you to listen to them read from a selection of works-in-progress across fiction, non-fiction and poetry. This showcase is a wonderful chance to see what the future of Irish literature holds in store for us.
CRTL: Essays on Video Games – Edited by Dean Fee
When: 25th April, 6.00pm
Where: Charlie Byrnes Bookshop
Price: Free
More Information Here!
Over at Charlie Bryne’s Bookshop, things take a slightly unexpected turn! CTRL: Essays on Video Games, edited by Dean Fee, brings together a group of writers to explore video games as a full blown artform. On Saturday April 25th, Fee will be joined by Joe Dunthrone and Brenda Romano for a lively chat about how gaming shapes storytelling and perception. The big question of the evening: if games are art and where do they go next?
Fatena Abu Mostafa, from Gaza to Galway
When: 25th April, 5.30pm
Where: Galway Arts Centre -Nuns Island Theatre
Price: €5/€8
More Information Here!
Earlier that same evening, something wonderful will take place at the Nuns Island Theatre. Poet Fatena Abu Mostafa, whose voice was shared remotely at last year's festival, from Gaza will now attend the 2026 festival in-person. After being evacuated in August, she joins Vincent Woods to share her work and story. It's one of those rare festival moments where literature and lived experience meet in a very heartfelt way. Tickets are modestly priced and worth every cent!
Sunday Breakfast Club with Méabh McDonnell
When: 26th April, 10.00am
Where: Galway Arts Centre - Nuns Island Theatre
Price: €8/€10
More Information Here!
Back at Charlie Bryne’s Bookshop, storytime gets a festival glow-up! Led Méabh McDonnell, the author of Any Way You Slice It. Cúirt’s Sunday Breakfast Club for ages 10+ is bringing stories and pastries to the youth of Galway city. And exactly as wholesome as it sounds.
Above: Méabh McDonnell
Main image by photographer Emilija Jefremova.
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