Join our MC for the night Tony Liston and musician Mark Langan in Mc Intyre's Saloon for our first Festival Club, an informal and often irreverent gathering of revellers, writers, poets and singers. You'd better have your party piece ready!
Valerie Cox will deliver this year's Allingham Lecture, marking the official opening of this year's festival. Valerie's lecture will focus on the refugee crisis, and Europe's response to the crisis. Abbey Arts Centre, 8.00pm.
Join us at 7pm for a wine reception in the Abbey Arts Centre to mark the Official Opening of the Allingham Arts Festival 2016 (Please note, the venue for this event is confirmed as the Abbey Arts Centre, contrary to the information printed in other versions of the programme). The official opening will include a Festival Preview by Festival Chairperson Tom Sigafoos at 8pm, followed by Olive Travers speaking about the Foróige Garden Project. This will be followed by the Allingham Lecture with Valerie Cox, the first of many free events taking place over the weekend. FREE
Join us at the Live Final of our Songwriting Contest in Dicey Reilly's, Ballyshannon, on Friday Nov. 4th.
Judges on the night are songwriter and Eurovision Song Contest winner Charlie Mc Gettigan, local virtuoso Niamh Currid and songwriter Ian Smith. Entry: €5.
“Local Memories of World War One and the Battle of the Somme”. An illustrated talk by Anthony Begley, local historian, will reveal new research on how Ballyshannon people were involved in the War. The talk will include letters, correspondence, songs, images and poetry from local participants in World War One.
This year's Allingham Concert promises to be another wonderful night of entertainment with guest reader Anne Enright and performances by Niamh Currid, Niall Gallagher, Siobhán Calpin, and Kieran Quinn.
Monica Corish will launch her latest collection, 'A Dying Language', at this year's Allingham Festival. 50% of the profits from sales of the collection at the Allingham Festival will be donated to the North West Hospice.
Join the finalists in the Allingham Flash Fiction and Poetry Competitions as they receive their awards from judges Anne Enright, Afric Mc Glinchey and Monica Corish.
History Ireland Hedge School: 'Keeping the head down - Protestants in Independent Ireland'.Tommy Graham returns to his native Ballyshannon once again with the History Ireland Hedge School. This year's topic has a particular resonance in a border town like Ballyshannon.
A programme of nine short films inspired by the subject of 1916 and what it has left in its wake, commissioned by the IFB. Programme includes fiction and non-fiction, live-action and animation, contemporary and period pieces. FREE
The winners of this year's Allingham Young Writers Awards in association with AIB will receive their trophies and be invited to read their work in front of other finalists. This is always a fantastic event celebrating new young talent and is open to all.
Anne Enright, Man Booker prize winner and Laureate for Irish Fiction, will take part in a public interview with Sinéad Gleeson ('The Book Show' on RTE). Topics for discussion will include Enright's novel 'The Green Road' and her other writing, the Laureateship, and the state of writing in Ireland today. Dorrian's, Ballyshannon, 3.30pm, €10.
The winners of this year's Allingham Young Writers Awards in association with AIB will receive their trophies and be invited to read their work in front of other finalists. This is always a fantastic event celebrating new young talent and is open to all.
Award-winning film-makers Garry Keane & Jamie D'Alton will take part in a Q&A session about the production of 'Toughest Place To Be...' amongst other topics. This is a fantastic opportunity to put your questions to two of the most respected and prolific documentary film-makers working in Ireland today.
IFTA Award-nominated'Toughest Place To Be...' (2016, Motive TV, directed by Garry Keane) takes a Dublin street cleaner and transports him to a crowded, impoverished suburb of Manila to try his hand at street cleaning there. Award-winning director Garry Keane and producer Jamie D'Alton will hold a Q&A directly after the screening.
Teresa Davis Maguire will facilitate a beginner crochet workshop suitable for both adults and children. Perfect for individuals or a “parent and kid team event”, the two hour workshop will teach the basics of crochet. We will make a snood scarf which will be started on the day and can be finished at home. €10, 10 places available.
Requirements: Three balls of chunky wool, size 6 crochet needle, or the wool and needles will be available to purchase on the day at the workshop.
Wild Atlantic Writers will bring together writers and poets from across the north west for a talk on professional development with Bernadette Greenan of the Irish Writers' Centre, Dublin.
Ken Fox, Principal Lecturer in the School Media at Canterbury Christ Church University, returns to his home-town to deliver a lecture on aspects of the film 'The Fighting Prince of Donegal' and how this affected him as a young film buff in Ballyshannon.
This year's Sunday afternoon family movie is the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious 'Mary Poppins'! Now is your chance to see this magical, hilarious and heart-warming film on the big screen...and don't forget to take the kids!
“Sunday Morning in the Thatch” is an informal, relaxed session of music, recitations, and poetry. Everyone is invited to come along and join in with recitations. The PJ Drummond Cup – in memory of a man who was a great aficionado of William Allingham’s poetry – is presented by his family for the best recitation of the morning. presented by his family for the best recitation of the morning.
Visit the Abbey Centre any time on Saturday and Sunday to view the fantastic Stephens family archive, consisting of an exhibition of old photographs of Ballyshannon and surroundings, and a collection of newspapers including the Ballyshannon Herald, Donegal Democrat and others. 'A Novel Idea' bookshop will also hold a bookfair in the foyer of the Abbey Centre, with special offers running all weekend. A large selection of works by Allingham Festival artists will also be on sale.
