Throughout 2025, the Irish Writers Centre has toured the island, bringing an exciting programme of literary events from creative writing workshops, showcases, panel discussions, masterclasses and information sessions to the four provinces, serving an all-island literary community with tuition, peer support and networking opportunities for writers at every stage of their journey.

Our final festival this year sees us back in our home city for the Dublin Book Festival which runs from 5th to 9th Nov. Now in it’s 20th year, the Dublin Book Festival was established in 2006 by Publishing Ireland, the all-island trade association for book publishers (itself established in 1970), to celebrate all that is best in Irish writing and publishing. It has grown to become one of Ireland’s most successful and vibrant annual book events, with the support of the Arts Council and other funders, and the assistance of a diverse range of partners. The festival takes place each November with over 100 events across 5 days in venues throughout the city of Dublin, the 4th UNESCO City of Literature.

You can find the full programme over at Dublin Book Festival 

Below are the Irish Writers Centre events, along with a few events we are hosting in the Centre, at 19 Parnell Square, during the festival.

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Spoken Word Workshop with Cormac Mac Gearailt

Thursday 6th November at 2:00 pm

Join multi-award-winning spoken word poet (and All-Ireland Slam Champion) Cormac Mac Gearailt for a workshop on how to write and perform spoken word poetry. Suited to those at a beginner and intermediate level (as well as anyone at any level who wants to get more comfortable reading and performing their work), this workshop will be focussed on the spoken word poem: how to come up with an idea, how to write, edit and perform your own work, and how to find your own unique “voice”. This workshop is for people writing in Irish or English, for older teenagers and adults, and for anyone who wants to learn about the art of spoken word poetry and how to build the confidence to take to the stage with their work.

Cormac Mac Gearailt is a bilingual spoken word poet, performer, and creative writing facilitator based in Dublin, but with deep roots in West Kerry. He is the current All-Ireland Slam Champion and UNESCO Slamovision Champion, and writes and performs work that is rhythmic, engaging and emotionally resonant. He has performed at festivals and events across the island, and has given numerous creative writing workshops to people of all ages.

Book your tickets here

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Writing the Body with Gustav Parker Hibbett, Sam Furlong and Sophie White in conversation with Molly Twomey

Joining our panel are poet and essayist Gustav Parker Hibbett whose debut collection High Jump as Icarus Story won the 2025 John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize, Sam Furlong whose just-published debut book is Crowd Work, and podcaster and columnist Sophie White, whose 8 books include The Snag List, Where I End and most recently, Such a Good Couple. They will chat to Molly Twomey, author of the poetry collections, Raised Among Vultures and Chic to be Sad, about the body and how it filters through their words, from how it can break to all it can bear.

Gustav Parker Hibbett is a Black poet, essayist, and MFA dropout. Their debut poetry collection,High Jump as Icarus Story (Banshee Press), won the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize and co-won the Southword Debut Poetry Collection Award, and was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize and the Seamus Heaney First Collection Prize. They are the 2025 Commissioned Writer for Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, and they are currently pursuing a PhD in Literary Practice at Trinity College Dublin, where they are an Early Career Research Fellow at the Long Room Hub.

Sam Furlong’s first book, Crowd Work, was published by Macha Press in May 2025. Their poetry and fiction have been published in Banshee, Abridged, Propel, Catflap, Poetry Ireland Review, and The Pig’s Back. In 2023, they completed an MA in Poetry at the Seamus Heaney Centre, where they were awarded the Ireland Chair of Poetry Student Award. They have been selected for the National Mentorship Programme and Poetry Ireland’s Introductions. They are the Poetry Editor of Frustrated Writers’ Group and are supported by an Agility Award. They live in Dublin, where they work in customer service.

Sophie White is a novelist, essayist and podcaster from Dublin. She is the author of seven books. Her first four books including Filter This (Hachette, 2019) and The Snag List (Hachette, 2022) have all been bestsellers and award nominees. Her fifth book, the bestselling memoir Corpsing (Tramp Press, 2021), was shortlisted for an Irish Book Award and the Michel Déon Prize for non-fiction. Her sixth book, Where I End (Tramp Press, 2022) was described as “brilliantly visceral” by the Guardian and “exquisite and disturbing, brutish and beautifully crafted” by The Irish Times. It won the Shirley Jackson Award for best novel. Her seventh book and fifth novel, My Hot Friend (Hachette, 2023) won the An Post Irish book Award for Popular Fiction. Her latest book, Such A Good Couple has just landed in shops. Sophie writes a weekly column ‘Nobody Tells You’ for the Sunday Independent LIFE magazine.

Molly Twomey grew up in Lismore, County Waterford and now lives in Cork. Her first collection, Raised Among Vultures, was published in 2022 by The Gallery Press. It won the Southword Debut Collection Poetry Award and was shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney Poetry Prize for Best First Collection. She was awarded the 2023 Ireland Chair of Poetry Bursary and an Arts Council Literatur Bursary in 2024 to work on her second collection, Chic to be Sad, published in 2025 by The Gallery Press.

Book your ticket here.

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Zine Workshop with Mot Collins

An accessible introduction to creating, storytelling and self-expression, the Irish Writers Centre will welcome writers to Dublin Book Festival to produce their own mini publications/booklet. Facilitator Mot Collins will guide participants in creating their own individual bespoke ‘zines’ (small, independent publications individually created) through writing, drawing and collage. Materials provided, though participants are welcome to bring their own supplies.

Mot Collins is the working pseudonym of multidisciplinary artist Clara Higgins. She is based in the West of Ireland and has been operating in the zinemaking space for over a decade, in both production, creation and workshop facilitation. She is the founder and operator of Stray Cats Press, a small press and events organization that focuses on DIY publication and zinemaking.

Book your ticket here.

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Out on the Page with Soula Emmanuel, Seán Hewitt and Anne Walsh Donnelly in conversation with Neil Hegarty

As representations of LGBTQAI+ lives and experiences enter the publishing mainstream, join us to discuss the importance of queer visibility in writing, and the many ways in which such representation can work, serve our community – and shine a light in a still-challenging world.

Anne Walsh Donnelly writes poetry, prose and plays. Anne explores the rural Irish experience in her writing and is not afraid to take risks. She is the author of He Used To Be Me, published by New Island in 2024. Her poetry collection, Odd as F*ck, was published in 2021 by Fly on the Wall Poetry Press along with her poetry chapbook, The Woman With An Owl Tattoo, which is a poetic memoir of her coming out journey in her fifties and was awarded second prize in the International Poetry Book Awards in 2020. She has written several plays, some of which explore the rural Irish LGBTQ+ experience. Her one-act play My Dead Husband’s Hereford Bull, was awarded a bursary by the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival in 2020. Poetry Ireland, in conjunction with Mayo Arts Office, appointed her as Poet Laureate for the town of Belmullet, Co Mayo, in 2021.

Seán Hewitt is the author of two poetry collections, Tongues of Fire and Rapture’s Road, and a memoir, All Down Darkness Wide. He collaborated with the artist Luke Edward Hall on 300,000 Kisses: Tales of Queer Love from the Ancient World. Hewitt has received the Laurel Prize and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and has been shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award and the Dylan Thomas Prize. His debut novel, Open, Heaven, was published this year. He lectures at Trinity College Dublin and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Soula Emmanuel was born in Dublin to an Irish mother and a Greek father. She studied at universities in Ireland and Sweden, emerging with a master’s in demography. She currently lives on Ireland’s east coast. Her debut novel Wild Geese was published in 2023. In 2024, it won the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction, and the Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize at the UK Society of Authors Awards.

Neil Hegarty grew up in Derry. His novels include The Jewel; and Inch Levels, which was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Novel of the Year award. Neil’s non-fiction titles include the biography Frost: That Was the Life That Was, and The Story of Ireland, which accompanies the RTE-BBC television history of Ireland. His short fiction and essays have appeared in the Dublin Review, Stinging Fly, Cyphers, Tangerine, Banshee, and elsewhere; and he is co-editor of the essay collection Impermanence, which has been adapted for radio by RTE. He is a regular literary reviewer on the Irish Times.

Book your ticket here.

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Other events happening at the Irish Writers Centre during the Dublin Book Festival are

Lichtenberg, Book Launch with Tom O’Connell

Wednesday 5th November at 6:30 pm

Set in an uncomfortably credible future, Lichtenberg (Temple Dark Books) by Tom O’Connell is a gripping and thought-provoking dystopian fiction, exploring the dangers of nationalist ideology, state propaganda, revisionist history, and the othering of the marginalised outsider; issues that continue to plague our contemporary society. With a protagonist who dares to question the status quo, we too re-learn the courage to question. Join us for this exclusive book launch event ahead of publication, with a reading and Q&A, followed by a book signing.

Tom O’Connell hails from Galway. With degrees in English and Law, he also holds a Master’s in English from the University of Galway and is currently pursuing a PhD in Dystopian Literature. Lichtenberg, his debut novel, was selected as one of the twelve winners of the Irish Writers Centre’s Novel Fair in 2023. The novel draws on his academic background as it explores themes of language – its ability to distort perception, influence will and create ideology. He similarly weaves his legal experience into the story, lending realism to his worldbuilding and the social structure of Lichtenberg’s unforgiving world.

Book tickets here 

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Everyone Has a Story. What’s Yours?

Writing Workshop with Dearbhaile O’Hare

Friday 7th November at 10:00 am

Join author Dearhaile O’Hare for an engaging workshop exploring how writing can support wellbeing. Whether facing a recent cancer diagnosis, in treatment, in recovery, or supporting a loved one, the process of writing can offer a space to reflect, find expression, and reconnect with ourselves and others. This is an interactive workshop. Questions are encouraged and you are welcome to bring along a piece you have written, or are currently working on, to share on the day. This workshop is suitable for all levels with no writing experience required.

In Partnership with ARC Cancer Support Centres.

Dearbhaile O’Hare. Cancer kicker, poetry prattler. Sales Director, photographer. Animal lover and nature bather. Possibly the world’s wonkiest qualified personal trainer. Thriving, grateful, happy and hopeful. Currently living in Dublin, but Birr will always be my local!

Book tickets here.

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ProperBook: The Next Step with Bruce Stanley, Aoife Murray, Oisín McGann, Helen Carr and Matthew Parkinson-Bennett in conversation with Sarah Webb / with Books Ireland

The Next Step: Information and Advice for Newly Contracted or Recently Published Children’s Writers and Illustrators

Chaired by Sarah Webb

Speakers: Bruce Stanley (Accountant), Aoife Murray (Children’s Books Ireland), Oisín McGann (Author), Helen Carr (Editor, The O’Brien Press), Matthew Parkinson-Bennett (Publisher, Little Island Books)

Congratulations! Your children’s book has been accepted by a traditional publishing house. But what’s next? If you’d like information about contracts, taxes and keeping accounts, the artists’ exemption, dealing with publishers, including editors and the marketing and pr person/department, finding an agent (and why you might need one), sustaining a long-term career, how to handle rejection and more, this is the event for you. Designed with the newly contracted or traditionally published children’s author or illustrator in mind, it will also be of interest to authors and illustrators with several children’s books under their belt. Newer children’s writers and illustrators are also welcome! Come with questions, leave with answers! Programmed by Sarah Webb and Aoife Murray.

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