All-Ireland Drama Festival

The RTÉ All-Ireland Drama Festival is comprised of nine nights of the best in Irish amateur drama performed at the Dean Crowe Theatre Athlone. The festival is supported by an active fringe which involves street theatre, art exhibitions, workshops and events for all age groups.

 

Baboró

The Galway Arts International Festival for Children takes place in October. It is recognized as the leading Irish arts festival devoted exclusively to children and presents a multidisciplinary arts festival to thousands of children in the west of Ireland.

 

Bath Festival of Children’s Literature

Running for ten days in September, Bath Festival of Children’s Literature attracts a range of popular guests including authors, poets, illustrators and storytellers. It is an annual festival which is organized in the city with a variety of events also hosted in the local schools and libraries.

 

Belfast Book Festival

Running for over a week in March, libraries and arts organisations across Northern Ireland have joined forces to create this new festival. Belfast Book Festival celebrates a wide range of literary genres, with a growing number of events for children’s books.

 

Belfast Festival

Belfast Festival at Queens covers all art forms including, theatre, dance, classical music, literature, jazz, comedy, visual arts, folk music and popular music, attracting audiences of over 60,000 annually. It runs many family orientated events.

 

Bloomsday

On 16th June Bloomsday celebrates the work of James Joyce across Dublin.

 

Booktrust Children’s Book Week (UK)

Booktrust Children’s Book Week runs for a week every October and is a celebration of reading for pleasure for children of primary school age.

 

Boyle Arts Festival

Boyle Arts Festival celebrates the arts every July. Events include a major art exhibition of works by contemporary Irish artists, classical and traditional music, poetry, drama, lectures and children’s events.

 

Cape Clear

Running in September, this storytelling weekend offers a mix of international fame and multicultural diversity, suitable for all ages and nationalities.

 

Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival

Running at the end of April and into May, the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival in Belfast offers a wide variety of events to suit everyone.

 

Children’s Book Festival

Presented by CBI in partnership with they Youth Library Group, the Children’s Book Festival is a nationwide celebration of children’s books and reading, held every year during the month of October.

 

Clarinbridge Arts Festival

Clarinbridge Arts Festival is a week-long festival in October.

 

Clonmel Junction Festival

A 9-day festival in July of music, theatre, dance and comedy.

 

Cork Midsummer Festival

Contemporary summer arts festival in Ireland during June featuring theatre, performance, dance and music.

 

Cuirt

An international festival of literature for a week in Galway in April.

 

Drogheda Arts

Six days of theatre, music, spectacle, visual arts, dance, puppetry, comedy, literature and street performances in April/May.

 

Dublin Book Festival

Organised by CLÉ – Irish Book Publishers’ Association – the Dublin Book Festival takes place in March.

 

Dublin Theatre Festival

Runs from September to October in Dublin.

 

Féile na Gréine

The summer solstice arts festival runs annually in June.

 

Festival of World Cultures

An annual intercultural festival in Ireland with a programme of concerts & club nights, fairs & markets, performances, street events and workshops. The Festival of World Cultures is run annually and is based in Dun Laoighre.

 

Flip Flop

International Children’s Theatre Festival running in October in Dun Laoighre’s Pavilion Theatre.

 

Galway Arts

Galway Arts Festival is an international celebration of the performing and visual arts. Over 100,000 people attend the festival annually with hundreds of writers, artists, performers and musicians creating theatre, spectacle, street art, music, comedy, literature and music to produce a stunning fortnight of cultural activity and celebration.

 

Hay Festival

Hay Festival hosts a literary festival for children called Hay Fever. As well as showcasing the biggest names in children’s literature, Hay Fever runs workshops and activities in everything from animation to yoga, by way of pottery, poetry, DJ-ing, drama, knitting, opera, storytelling and street dance.

 

Hullabaloo

Hullabaloo Children’s Arts Festival is held in Birr during the Halloween break. It is an arts festival designed entirely for children.

 

Iniscealtra

The Mountshannon Arts Festival is an annual festival held in May at various locations in and around the beautiful lakeside village of Mountshannon in County Clare.

 

Kilkenny

The Kilkenny Arts Festival is held annually in August for ten days. They host a programme of theatre & dance, classical music, jazz/new world & trad, visual art, film, literature, street and a young peiople’s programme.

 

Kinsale Arts Week

Kinsale Arts Week is a multi-disciplinary arts festival. It commissions new work in all genres and supports both established and emerging artists. It is held annually in August for nine days.

 

Mountains To Sea – dlr Book Festival

Mountains to Sea – Dun Laoighaire Rathdown Book Festival runs in September and features an extensive children’s programme of readings, workshops and other events with international and Irish authors and illustrators.

 

Poetry Now

DLR run an annual poetry weekend in the Pavilion Theatre in March, celebrating Irish and international poetry through workshops, talks and debates.

 

Ranelagh Arts Festival

Runs for the last week of September, hosting a programme of events which include the areas of music, literature, poetry, history of Ranelagh and many more.

 

Roola Boola

Roola Boola Children’s Arts Festival is one of Ireland’s leading children’s arts events, with well in excess of 5,500 children and their families in attendance each year. Roola Boola programmes a selection of international children’s theatre shows and arts events of the highest caliber as well as a multitude of hands-on arts workshops in range of media for children and their families.

 

St Patrick’s Day Festival

National celebration of St. Patrick’s Day running for 3 days across the country.

 

Spraoi

The Spraoi Festival is held over the August bank holiday weekend in Waterford, showcasing Irish and international talent in a variety of events.

 

Sticky Fingers

The festival features two family weekends in May, the first at Slieve Gullion Forest Park in Co. Armagh and the second at the Narrow Water Castle in Warrenpoint, Co. Down. The festival features all-new events, workshops and theatre performances especially devised for babies and young children.

 

Wainfest

Wainfest is County Donegal’s annual arts and book festival for children and young people. It runs in late October and incorporates CBI’s Children’s Book Festival.

 

Waterford Imagine

The Imagine Festival is run by a voluntary group of people who are a mix of local artists, business people and supporters of the arts in Waterford. It runs for ten days in October hosting events covering theatre, literature, dance, film, music, visual art and family events.

 

West Cork Literary Festival

And exciting festival running in July, West Cork Literary Festival also host top children’s writers and illustrators from Ireland and the UK giving readings and workshops in the Children’s Festival.

 

Westport

Westport Arts Festival is a ten-day festival running in October.

 

Writers’ Week

Listowel Writers’ Week is an annual festival celebrating the written and spoken word. With a diverse programme of acclaimed authors, poets, journalists, artists, singers and storytellers, there are also treats in store for children with award-winning writers, children’s workshops and fun with music and stories.