Event of the week
Dublin Book Festival
From Wednesday, November 5th until Sunday, November 9th, various venues/times/prices, dublinbookfestival.com
The big-ticket items at this year’s Dublin Book Festival include An Evening with Michael Palin (Thursday, November 6th, 7pm, sold out, Burke Theatre, Trinity College Dublin), and Kevin Barry (Saturday, November 8th, 6pm, admission free/booking required, Books Upstairs). Other appealing events include The Art of Writing for a Living (Tuesday, November 4th, 6pm, €8, Mary Lavin Place, with Naoise Dolan, Lisa McInerney and Martin Doyle), The Dublin Review at 100 (Wednesday, November 5th, 7pm, €12, Windmill Lane, with Brendan Barrington, Sara Baume, Patrick Freyne, Doireann Ní Ghríofa and Mark O’Connell), and Echoes on the Page (Friday, November 7th, Bartley’s Lounge, Grafton Hotel, 8pm, admission free/booking required, with Anna Carey, Brendan Mac Evilly and Maggie Armstrong).
Gigs
Maren Morris
Monday, November 3rd, National Stadium, Dublin, 7pm, €33.65, ticketmaster.ie
Texan singer and songwriter Maren Morris can thank her parents for kick-starting her career. Her debut album Walk On, independently released in 2005 when she was 15, was financed by the sale of furniture from the family home. Within 10 years, Morris had moved to Nashville, befriended Kacey Musgraves and embarked on a career that, to date, has efficiently mixed country and pop styles. Pitched somewhere between Musgraves, Taylor Swift’s early country music flavours and contemporary pop (boygenius, Phoebe Bridgers), Morris is on the cusp of mainstream success, so it might be no harm catching her in a venue this size before that happens.
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Zara Larsson
Friday, November 7th, 3Arena, Dublin, 6pm, €61.85/€41.20, ticketmaster.ie
Zara Larsson’s fifth studio album, Midnight Sun, is inspired by Sweden’s summer nights which, according to the songwriter/singer, never end. “It doesn’t matter if it’s December, the summer night will be there for you,” she says.
We’ll check with Met Éireann on that, but what we can be certain of is Larsson’s increasing appeal. She last played Dublin in the summer of 2024 and returns, somewhat triumphant, on her biggest headline tour yet. Expect quality electropop from start to end.
Theatre
Mission Critical, Abbey Theatre
Peacock Stage, Friday, November 14th, 10am-6pm €10/€5 concession abbeytheatre.ie
A one-day symposium exploring the future of theatre criticism in Ireland and beyond, inviting critics, artists, audiences and readers to participate. Supported by the Irish Times, and featuring a line-up of national and international speakers, thinkers and writers, the event is aimed at the public as well as those with a professional interest in theatre. Convened by Literary and New Work Director at the Abbey Theatre, Ruth McGowan, guest speakers will include: Arifa Akbar, chief theatre critic for The Guardian; Ben Brantley, former chief theatre critic at the New York Times, Nancy Durrant, co-host of the London Theatre Review podcast and Irish Times journalist and author Fintan O’Toole.
Festival
Keep Her Lit 2025
Saturday, November 1st/Sunday, November 2nd, St Mary’s Church, Inistioge, Co Kilkenny, various times/prices, tickettailor.com
Founded in 2022, Keep Her Lit debuts its inaugural Féile Samhain programme. On Saturday, November 1st, Cork singer/songwriter John Spillane performs in concert, with special guest singers Pauline Scanlon and Rachel Grace. The concert is in support of the Counter Attack campaign, which aims to raise awareness around heart health. On Sunday, November 2nd, events include traditional music sessions, a Roots of Samhain talk, an Ancestral Storytelling ceremony and a set dancing workshop. Hup!
Visual art
Cecilia Vicuña: Reverse Migration, a Poetic Journey
From Thursday, November 6th, until July 2026, IMMA, Dublin, admission free, imma.ie
Chilean artist, poet and activist Cecilia Vicuña’s solo exhibition, her first in Ireland, explores her ancestral ties to Ireland via site-specific installations, soundscape art, performance and metaphor-driven poetry as a participatory act. On the opening day of the exhibition (Thursday, November 6th, 5pm), Vicuña will be in conversation with poet James O’Hern and IMMA head of programming, Mary Cremin. Admission free, booking required.
Literature
Leaves Festival of Writing & Music
From Tuesday, November 4th until Saturday, November 8th, various venues/times/prices, Co Laois, leavesfestival.ie
One of the country’s best provincial literary events, this year’s Leaves Festival of Writing & Music features public interviews, spoken word, readings and talks. Highlights include The Art of the Short Story (Thursday, November 6th, Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise, 8pm, €20, with Mike McCormick, Mary O’Donnell and Christine Dwyer Hickey), Mary Lavin and the New Yorker (Friday, November 7th, Dunamaise Arts Centre, 7pm, €25) and Roisín O’Donnell and Lisa Harding in conversation with Miriam O’Callaghan (Saturday, November 8th, St Peter’s Church of Ireland, Portlaoise, 6.30pm, €20).
Poetry
A Celebration of Derek Mahon
Tuesday, November 4th, Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin, 7.30pm, €25, gallerypress.com
To mark the fifth anniversary of Derek Mahon’s passing, Co Meath’s Gallery Press (in association with the University of Notre Dame), presents several readings of the poet’s celebrated works by actor Stephen Rea, writers John Banville and Claire Keegan, and fellow poets Paul Muldoon and former Ireland Professor of Poetry (2016–19), Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin. The programme, devised by Gallery Press founder Peter Fallon, will include rare video recordings of Mahon reading a selection of his poems.
Film
Cork International Film Festival
From Thursday, November 6th until Sunday, November 16th, Arc Cinema/Everyman Theatre, various times/prices, corkfilmfest.org
Celebrating 70 years as a highly respected film festival is a milestone achievement, with this particular edition of CIFF delivering more than the usual highlights. Start to end, the quality doesn’t drop, from the opening gala showing of the controversial, Cork-centric football story Saipan (Thursday, November 6th, The Everyman, 7pm) to the closing gala showing of Bradley Cooper’s new directorial work, Is This Thing On? (Sunday, November 16th, The Everyman, 7.30pm).
In between are too many must-sees to list, but do the best you can to book tickets for the following Irish premieres: Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon (co-starring Ethan Hawke and Andrew Scott), the Neil Diamond-themed Song Sung Blue (co-starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson) and Brendan Canty’s documentary Gealtra. Visitors to the festival include actor Gabriel Byrne, producer David Puttnam and costume designer Joan Bergin.
Still running
Ferocity
From Friday, November 7th until Saturday, November 15th, Mick Lally Theatre, Galway, 8pm, €22/€18, druid.ie
On Christmas Eve, a family gathers in a big house under the baleful eye of the matriarch, but festive banter quickly curdles as cold truths emerge. A beating heart of darkness and humour is perhaps the best way to describe Christian O’Reilly’s play, which receives its world premiere. Ronan Harney, Mark Lambert, Aisling Kearns and Marion O’Dwyer feature; Andrew Flynn directs.
Book it this week
- Mary Black, Vicar Street, Dublin, May 8th/9th, ticketmaster.ie
- Richard Ashcroft, 3Arena, Dublin, May 16th, ticketmaster.ie
- David Gray, Live at the Marquee, Cork, June 13th/14th, ticketmaster.ie
- Kodaline, Virgin Media Park, Cork, June 19th, ticketmaster.ie
