Ireland will be over run with festivals this bank holiday weekend – with events taking place across the country.

In Mitchelstown, Co. Cork the William Trevor and Elizabeth Bowen Summer School 2010 takes places with Maurice Harmon, Julian Gough, Bernard O’Donoghue, Tom Aherne and Heather Ingman.

The Heinrich Böll Memorial Weekend takes over Achill with Hugo Hamilton, Kathrin Schmidt and John Banville featuring as part of the festival.

In Cloughjordan the Thomas MacDonagh Weekend features a poetry workshop with Jean O’Brien.

The SoGo Dublin Arts Festival will taking over the streets of the City with more than 60 free (or nearly free) events – including The Glór Music & Poetry Session with poet & MC Stephen James Smith and Storytelling in the City.

And Strokestown in Roscommon will play host to the Strokestown International Poetry Festival with a huge list of readers including Cathal Ó Searcaigh, Micheál O hUanacháin, Robert Stein, Heather Brett, Julian Stannard, Sebastian Barker, Peter Sirr, Julie O’Callaghan, Eileán Ní Chuilleanáin, Hilary Davies, Dennis O’Driscoll, Paddy Bushe and Aonghas Macneacail.

Whatever you get up to – enjoy the weekend!

The Lonely Voice is a reading series for short story writers, particularly emerging writers who may have had few opportunities to read in public. Each month’s submissions are considered by a guest adjudicator. The deadline for submissions for The Lonely Voice: Short Story Introductions in May is Friday, 30 April. The May reading will be the last before the summer break; the event will return in September.
For further information, click here

As part of the Five Lamps Arts Festival the Dublin Lyric Players are presenting a week long run of Sean O’Casey’s play Within the Gates.

Running from Sunday 25 April – Saturday 1 May in the Larkin Room, Liberty Hall. Tickets are €12 (concessions €12) and are available by phone 0818 205 205 or at dublinlyric.ie. Doors open 7.30pm each evening.

Rooted in seasonal ritual Within the Gates attempts what an O’Casey play always attempts: to show life in an epic sweep but concentrated into a series of scenes in which humour and gaiety are intermingled with the most serious questions, abuse, harassment, misogyny, the church, responsibility, death and salvation. The spring carnival of comedy is combined with the autumnal collapse of tragedy and then becomes with O’Casey a pageant-like enactment of human duplicity. Between the comedy and the tragedy of life comes O’Casey’s brisk and savage satire of authoritarianism civil and religious.

The Listowel Writers Week has announced its line up – running from 2 – 6 June (an alternative to the Dublin Writers Festival)

Highlights from the week long festival include Afternoon Poetry Café, the Poets Corner in the The Mermaids Bar and The Kingdom Bar throughout the festival.

Paul Durcan will be reading from his work on 4 June and poet and author Anne Haverty will read her work on 5 June.

Roderick Forde will launch his second collection of poetry, The Green Crown, on 4 June and there will be a live recording of Sunday Miscellany – with producer Clíodhna Ní Anluain (to be broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 on 6 June.)

For full details of visit writersweek.ie

The Dublin Writers Festival has announced the line up for the 6-day literary Festival, beginning on 1 June.

Highlights include - Bíonn Adharca Fada ar na Buaibh Thar Lear: An Litríocht Taistil sa Ghaeilge / From beyond our shores: Travel Literature in Irish with Manchán Magan, Mícheál de Barra, Frank Reidy, Alan Desmond and Michael Cronin on 3 June.

The Riverrun Project / An Tionscadal Riverrun on 2 June with Dermot Bolger, Biddy Jenkinson, Máighréad Medbh and Liam Ó Muirthile (and music by Seán Óg and images by Margaret Lonergan.)

The Glór Sessions are hosting a free night of poetry, music and readings in the Project Arts Centre on 4 June.

And the finale for the festival on 6 June is a celebration for the Gallery Press’ 40th Anniversary with Derek Mahon, Ciaran Carson, Vona Groarke, Michael Coady, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, John Montague, Dermot Healy, Medbh McGuckian, Gerald Dawe, Alan Gillis, Peter Fallon, Seamus Heaney and music by Bill Whelan.

Full details about the festival are available at dublinwritersfestival.com

Unfortunately, due to flight disruptions caused by the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland, tonight’s scheduled reading with Fred D’Aguiar and Tony Curtis has been postponed. Apologies for any inconvenience.

You can read and listen to some of Fred D’Aguiar’s work on poetryarchive.org.

Molly McCloskey will be reading tonight in Trinity College Dublin, discussing a recently completed work of non-fiction concerning schizophrenia within her family. Click here for more details.

Abridged, the poetry/art magazine is looking for submissions for its Magnolia issue.

A maximum of 3 poems may be submitted of any length. Art can be up to A4 size and can be in any media (it should be at least 300 dpi.) Submissions can be emailed to abridged@ymail.com or posted to: Abridged c/o The Verbal Arts Centre, Stable Lane and Mall Wall, Bishop Street Within, Derry BT48 6PU.

Closing date for submission is May 21st.

The Five Lamps Arts Festival is back – run by the Marino College of Further Education – and begins on 22 April until 1 May.

Encompassing 10 days of music, new art, drama, song, dance in the Five Lamps area of the city.

Highlights this year include The An evening of Poetry readings – with Gerry McDonnell, Paddy Bushe and Fred Johnston - a debut recital by Dublin soprano Cliona Cassidy; operatic group the PreMadonnas; the Irish premiere of Polish mime play Maruczella by Nikoli Wiepriew and the Puca Puppets’ Stone Soup.

Click for more details.

The Irish Writers’ Centre presents a six week poetry writing course featuring Poetry Ireland Review editor Caitríona O’Reilly.

The course will be structured around exploring the uses of poetic form, including ‘free’ forms, primarily in writing about self and landscape. Workshops will include discussion and exploration of work in progress as well as the opportunity to undertake themed tasks.

The course will run every Tuesday from 20 April – 25 May, 6.30pm-8.30pm and cost €165.

Full details are available at writerscentre.ie

Gaelport presents Cuairt na bhfilí Albanacha – a week long festival and cultural exchange between Scotland and Ireland. From 19 – 23 April the festival will host poetry from Dámhscoil Mhúscraí Uí Fhloinn, Aonghas Pàdraig Caimbeul, Pàdraig MacAoidh, Gréagóir Ó Dúill, Caitríona Ní Chleircín and Bríd Ní Mhóráin.

Full details of the festival are available here.