Tom and Monica do it again!

OK, so who's been paying attention?

Back on June 28 we were delighted to announce that two great friends of the Allingham Arts Festival, Tom Sigafoos and Monica Corish, both had books out which had made it to the Fiction Longlist for the prestigious Carousel Awards for Irish Independent Authors, 2025, under the patronage of Paul Lynch. We were so excited for them as this is a very significant achievement.

Well, they've only gone and made the Short List!

Yes, between them they hold 33.333% of the Short List. Of course we can't hope for one over the other so we can only pray that the judges do the honourable thing and announce them as joint winners during the gala occasion on October 10th in Chapters Bookstore in Dublin. Congratulations and best wishes to them both.

Poets in the Pub

Friday November 7th will offer Ballyshannon audiences the opportunity to hear two of the finest women writers working in Ireland today, Aideen Henry and Christina Hennemann.

Aideen has an MA in Writing, from NUI, Galway, was a recipient of a Literature Bursary Award from the Arts Council and was shortlisted for the Hennessy XO Literary Awards. She has published 3 books of poetry with Salmon Poetry, and a collection of short stories with Arlen House. Her short stories have been shortlisted for Francis McManus Awards and her radio plays for the PJ O’Connor Awards. Her work has been broadcast on RTE Radio and has been published in The Irish Times, The Stinging Fly, The Honest Ulsterman, Cyphers, and many others.

Christina is a poet and writer. Her poetry book “Leafing” is a winner of the Cerasus Poetry Chapbook competition. Her pamphlet “Witch/Womb” was funded with an Agility Award from Arts Council Ireland. She received a Doyle Award and a Diana Woods Memorial Award in Creative Nonfiction, as well as a Mayo Artist Bursary. Her work appears in Poetry Ireland, Poetry Wales, Southword, Skylight 47, and elsewhere. Her debut collection "Birthmark" is forthcoming with Shearsman. www.christinahennemann.com

Come along to Dicey’s on the Allingham Friday afternoon to enjoy this special opportunity. Time to be confirmed. Admission free.

Allingham Lecture 2025

We are beyond delighted to confirm that this year’s Allingham Lecture will be delivered by Nelofer Pazira-Fisk. This lady requires no introduction to those who were lucky enough to attend the Fifth Court podcast recording at last year’s festival. For those less fortunate, well...

Nelofer is an award-winning Afghan-Canadian author, journalist and filmmaker. She was based in Beirut, for fifteen years working alongside her late husband Robert Fisk. Nelofer reported for Canadian television and radio as well as UK and Canadian newspapers from Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Egypt and Syria.

In 2001, she starred in the film Kandahar, based on her real-life story, which premiered at Cannes Film Festival. She has directed and produced several films including Return to Kandahar (2003), Act of Dishonour (2010), and This is Not a Movie which premiered at Toronto Film Festival (2019).

Nelofer’s 2006 book, A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan, won the Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize. She is a recipient of Gemini Award, New York’s Media Award, Gabriel Award and A.D. Dunton Award of Distinction. She has a degree in journalism and English literature (Carleton University), an MA in Anthropology, Sociology and Religion (Concordia University), and two honorary doctorates from Carleton and Thomson River universities in Canada.

Recently, she saw the completion and publication of Robert Fisk’s last book – Night of Power: The Betrayal of the Middle East.

We cannot wait for Nelofer to share her profound knowledge of the history and peoples of the Middle East. While we may all hope that November will see some relief from the tragedy of that region, there is no doubt that there will still be a need to hear truth spoken with passionate eloquence.

Admission is free and all welcome at 8.15 pm, Wednesday, November 5th, in the Abbey Arts Centre, Ballyshannon.

Kate Newmann to judge Poetry

Entries to this year’s Allingham Poetry Competition will be judged by poet and publisher, Kate Newmann.

Kate has published five collections of poetry with a sixth, titled ‘Cockett’, to be published in 2025. Her most recent collection, Ask Me Next Saturday, was featured by the Irish Independent, and she is a current recipient of the Katherine and Patrick Kavanagh Trust Fellowship. In May 2025 she read at the Strokestown International Poetry Festival. She has been Poet Laureate for Ballycastle, County Antrim and is Co-Director of Summer Palace Press.

The winner of the competition will receive a €300 prize and will also be declared winner of the annual Francis Harvey Award. This Award was created in memory of Francis Harvey, the Donegal banker-poet whose writings have been compared to those of Norman MacCaig, RS Thomas, and the Japanese haiku master Bashō. His poem “Heron” was a prizewinner in the World Wildlife Fund Poetry Competition.

The Poetry Competition is currently open for entries, with a deadline of 28 September. First-, Second- and Third-Place winners will read their work at the Awards Ceremony on Saturday, 8 November, along with the winners of the Flash Fiction Competition. Full details and entry forms for both competitions are posted at https://www.allinghamfestival.com/fiction-poetry-competitions.

NUALA O’CONNOR TO JUDGE FLASH FICTION

We are delighted to report that this year’s Flash Fiction Competition will be judged by novelist and short story writer Nuala O’Connor. Nuala’s sixth novel Seaborne about Irish-born pirate Anne Bonny was shortlisted for Novel of the Year at the 2024 An Post Irish Book Awards, and nominated for the 2025 Dublin Literary Award.

She won Irish Short Story of the Year at the 2022 Irish Book Awards, and her novel Nora was selected as the One Dublin One Book choice for the same year. Menagerie, her fifth poetry collection, has been published by Arlen House.

Poetry and Flash Fiction Competitions both remain open for entries through 28 September. Winning entries will be announced and read at the Literary Lunch on Saturday 8 Nov. Entry forms and competition rules are available at www.allinghamfestival.com.

We’re keeping Nuala busy on November 8th. Later in the afternoon, following the literary lunch, she will interview Donal Ryan, winner of the 2025 Orwell Prize for his novel Heart, Be at Peace, in the Abbey Arts Centre.

We are in the process of putting final touches to this year’s programme. Watch out for much more news in the coming weeks, here and on our Facebook feed.