Sunday Morning Coming Down

Hosted by John Healy

Sunday, 11 October 2026, 12 noon

Location: Festival Dome, Bridge Lane, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, F23 PN20

Special guests: Maura Connolly, Gerard Moran, Liam Egan and Edwin McGreal

Coffee and chat with a panel of hometown writers in a relaxed, informal setting, outdoors in the Festival Dome. Short presentations followed by lively banter and free-flowing audience input.

Booking info: All events at this year’s festival are on a first come, first served basis. We recommend wrapping up warmly and arriving early to secure a seat. All events in the festival dome are free of charge.

Liz Nugent in conversation with Darina Molloy

Liz Nugent is a writer of award-winning psychological suspense novels Unravelling Oliver (2014), Lying in Wait (2016), Skin Deep (2018), Our Little Cruelties (2020), Strange Sally Diamond (2023) and The Truth About Ruby Cooper (2026).

All six books topped the Irish bestsellers list and Liz has won multiple literary awards.

Liz’s “wickedly dark, twisted and brilliantly observed” fifth novel, Strange Sally Diamond went straight to number one in Ireland and won Crime Novel of the Year at the ‘An Post’ Irish Book Awards 2023.

It was the second bestselling book of 2023 in Ireland, after the Booker-winning ‘Prophet Song’ by Paul Lynch and was also the most borrowed adult book in Irish libraries in 2024.

Liz’s sixth novel The Truth About Ruby Cooper was published in March 2026 and also went straight to number one.

Liz’s novels have been translated into over 30 languages across 42 territories and she has also written extensively for radio and television.

Readings and presentation of prizes to the winner and runner-up in the annual Wild Atlantic Words short story competition, judged this year by Colin Barrett. Sponsored by Bridge St and Mayo Books Press.

Location: Festival Dome, Bridge Lane, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, F23 PN20

Time: 7pm*

*This event will be immediately followed by Colin Barrett in conversation with Ken Armstrong

Booking info: All events at this year’s festival are on a first come, first served basis. We recommend wrapping up warmly and arriving early to secure a seat. All events in the festival dome are free of charge.

Colin Barrett in conversation with Ken Armstrong

(Note: This event immediately follows the short story reading and prize-giving at 7pm)

 Wild Atlantic Words’ 2026 short story competition judge Colin Barrett is the author of the short story collections Young Skins (2013), Homesickness (2022) and the novel Wild Houses (2024). In the year of its publication, Young Skins was the winner of the Guardian First book award, The Frank O'Connor International Short Story Prize and the Rooney Prize for Literature. Homesickness was a 2022 Irish Times and New Yorker Book of the year, and included in the 2022 New York Times 100 notable books of the year.  His novel Wild Houses was longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize and won the Nero Debut Fiction Prize. His short fiction has appeared regularly in The Stinging Fly, Harpers and The New Yorker, among many other journals and magazines.

Colin was one of the Observer New Review's 10 Best New Novelists of the Year 2024, is a former '5 under 35' National Book Award Winner in the United States, and was a 2018-20 Rolex Protégé in Literature for the Rolex Mentor & Protégé Arts Program, mentored by Colm Toibin. He is the current Writer in Residence at DCU.   

Book Fair

Saturday, 10th October 2026

11am – 4pm

Location: Festival Dome, Bridge Lane, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, F23 PN20

Booksellers from around Ireland will be at the Wild Atlantic Words selling secondhand and antiquarian books.

Large selection available.

PRESENTATION followed by Q&A

How to Find Hope for Humanity in the Superhuman Age

Mark Little

Mark Little is an entrepreneur and journalist who speaks and writes about the impact of technology on politics, media and business. Mark built two successful tech start-ups and worked for Twitter and Spotify. He is a former presenter and foreign correspondent for RTÉ. His new book, The Last Good Day on the Internet, makes the case for hope and human agency in the age of superhuman machines, and is published by Hachette Ireland.

BOOK LAUNCH

Blue Heart: War, Climate and the Battle for the Ocean that Keeps us Alive

By Mark Mellett, Vice Admiral Rtd DSM PhD

In conversation with Aidan Crowley

“Blue Heart is more than a book about the ocean. The ocean is both its subject and its lens, revealing the connections between leadership, stewardship, security, sustainability and humanity’s relationship with the natural world.”

Drawing on personal experience, history and systems thinking, it reveals how many of the defining challenges of our time are deeply interconnected. At its heart is a message of responsibility and agency: that by changing how we understand our relationship with nature, and with one another, we can still help shape a more resilient and hopeful future.

“Mark Mellett has written a powerful, deeply informed and urgent book that is both a timely warning and a call to conscience. Drawing on his extraordinary career at sea and his deep commitment to climate justice, he shows us that the ocean’s fate is our own.”

— Mary Robinson, Former President of Ireland

A POEM & A PINT

Hosted by Ken Armstrong

With contributions from local poets and anybody who feels like reciting their favourite poem in the outdoor tent at one of our local pubs. A very popular, laidback and fun event for everybody!

Thursday, 8th October 2026

Location: Festival Dome, Bridge Lane, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, F23 PN20
Time: 8.30pm

Booking info: All events at this year’s festival are on a first come, first served basis. We recommend wrapping up warmly and arriving early to secure a seat. All events in the festival dome are free of charge.

BOOK LAUNCH

Never Stop Dreaming

– Mayo’s Story of All-Ireland Glory

By Anthony Hennigan & Edwin McGreal

Picture Editor: Michael McLaughlin

Never Stop Dreaming tells the story of Mayo’s unforgettable 2026 season.

Written and produced by experienced Mayo GAA journalists Anthony Hennigan and Edwin McGreal, and award-winning Mayo photographer Michael McLaughlin, the book follows Mayo from the cautious optimism of a new era to the final whistle in Croke Park and the extraordinary celebrations that followed, capturing the football, the players, the fans and the joy.

The story unfolds as it happened, game by game combined with insight from inside the dressing room.

Jack Carney, Diarmuid O’Connor, Jack Livingstone, Sam Callinan and Aidan O’Shea share their memories of a season that changed Mayo football forever, alongside interviews with players and members of the Mayo management conducted throughout the year.

Beautifully produced, with Michael McLaughlin’s photography and picture editing complemented by striking match photography from Inpho and the elegant design of Siobhán Foody, Never Stop Dreaming is more than a record of Mayo’s greatest year. It is a book to treasure and a keepsake of the moment Mayo finally realised their dream.

Published by Mayo Books Press, the book proudly supports Mayo Roscommon Hospice Foundation’s Sunflower Children’s Hospice project in Castlebar.

Living with Swallows

Chris and Lynda Huxley are passionate conservationists and environmentalists widely known for their dedication to protecting migratory birds and local biodiversity. Based in Belcarra, County Mayo, Chris is a retired professional ecologist, while Lynda is a nature photographer and advises on volunteer conservation efforts for swifts, swallows, house martins and sand martins across Ireland. Together, they have conducted extensive research on Lough Carra, a unique limestone marl lake in Co. Mayo, and published a book about the lake in 2015. They are both directors of the charity, the Lough Carra Catchment Association.

Their passion for swallows was highlighted by their observations of the massive Lough Carra swallow roost in August and September each year, which can host up to 20,000 birds late in the summer breeding season. Their latest publication, Living with Swallows, gives an account of how the colony in their outbuildings has been encouraged to the point where they had nine pairs nesting. Their observations of the bird’s ecology and behaviour are combined with Lynda’s evocative and informative photos. The text explores the symbiotic relationship between humans and swallows, offering practical insights into how communities can safeguard traditional nesting spaces.

BOOK LAUNCH

Those Who Listen

– New Irish Writing on the Bog

Edited by Alice Kinsella

The bog: ancient, a carbon sink, energy source, way of life, ecosystem, childhood memory. A place of heritage, of nature, of inspiration. With contributions from both award-winning authors and first time writers, this anthology showcases how bogs connect us to our natural and ancestral roots, while also exploring themes of heritage, the rural working-class, and ecological and historical conservation. A collection of original poetry and prose, Those Who Listen explores the ecological, historical, and cultural significance of the Irish bog.

Contributors: Terry McDonagh, Eimear McBride, Jane Clarke, Christina Hennemann, Maya Ní Mhóráin, Margaret Flanagan, Niall Scully, Kate Carty, (dw) dean black, Liam Horan, Edel Burke, Seán McNicholl, Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Laura Healy, Belinda McKeon, Daniel Wade, Bethany Dawson, Sinead Grimes, Benny Martin, Terri Metcalfe, Elizabeth Reapy, Dani Gill, Seán Lysaght, Niall Scully, Ailbhe Wheatley, Anne Walsh Donnelly, Kerri Ní Dochartaigh, Kate Flood, Tony Deffely, Róisín Stack, Gustav Parker Hibbett.

About the editor: Alice Kinsella is a writer, editor, and creative writing teacher. Her books include Milk: On Motherhood and Madness (Picador, 2023), Wake of the Whale (Mayo Books, 2024) which was a Sunday Independent Book of the Year, and The Ethics of Cats (Broken Sleep, 2025). She edited Empty House: Poetry and Prose on the Climate Crisis (Doire, 2021). She runs All Weather Words creative workshops and retreats, and writes the substack ‘Creation in Crisis’. She’s an Arts Council of Ireland Next Generation Artist, and lives in County Mayo.

BOOK LAUNCH

John Gunnigan: Keeping the Faith

Mayo supporters everywhere have their own stories of the long journey to Sam Maguire. Keeping the Faith is John Gunnigan’s. It is a deeply personal account of nearly 60 years following the green and red, and of the website that became a unique part of that journey.

In 2007, John started the Mayo GAA Blog which grew into an essential resource for Mayo supporters worldwide, creating a community united by the same hope: that Mayo would one day win the All-Ireland.

Keeping the Faith takes readers through John’s own highs and lows as a Mayo supporter, from the great teams and agonising defeats to the changing face of following Mayo in the modern era. Alongside it is the story of the blog itself – why he started it, why he nearly walked away more than once, and what kept him going.

Then, after 75 years of waiting, Mayo finally reached the promised land.

For everyone who has ever believed, doubted, suffered and hoped, Keeping the Faith is a story of the Mayo journey and one fan’s perspective on finally seeing the dream come true.

Clocha ar mo Phaidrín – Máirtín G. Ó Maicín

Cnuasach as an gcolún, Beo Go Deo

Seo an 3ú leabhar as Gaeilge ó Mháirtín G. Ó Maicín ina bhfuil bailiúchán dá ailt a scríobh sé sa Connaught Telegraph agus i bhfoilsíúcháin eile le blianta beaga anuas. Is iontach an éágsúlacht ábhar atá clúdaithe aige. Tugann na hailt seo siar muid ar bhóithrín na smaointe. Tá ábhar ar fáil faoi chúrsaí reatha a thit amach le blianta anuas, faoi chúrsaí polaitíochta, faoi a ghrá don nádúr agus freisin tá sé sásta a mhothúcháin a léiriú i leith a chúrsaí pearsanta féin.

Bainfidh an léitheoir taitneamh as an eolas cruinn agus an taighde doimhin a léiríonn sé go deas reidh tríd na hailt go léir. Tá stíl scríbhneoireachta aige a mheallann idir óg is aosta agus tá an Ghaeilge líofa éasca a thuiscint don bhfoghlaimeoir freisin. Tagann na hailt as a chroí amach.

­­

Tugann sé le fios dúinn na fadhbanna iomadúla agus cora crua an tsaoil ach airíonn muid freisin an dóchas go bhféadfaí rudaí a chur ina gceart. Tá an gol agus an gáire agus ábhar machnaimh iontu.

Tá moladh mór ag dul don údar as a thaithí saoil a nochtadh dúinn i dteanga bhinn ár sinsir. Gura fada buan é ag leagan a phinn ar phár gach seachtain.

Our Stories, Our Lives

by Mayo Self Advocacy Group

Book launch with special guest Faith Hogan

Our Stories, Our Lives is a celebration of the people, voices, experiences, and community that make up their lives. Through personal stories, memories, photographs, creativity, and shared moments, this book reflects the richness of everyday life and the importance of belonging, friendships, independence and inclusion.

Each page captures the unique journey of people connected through Mayo Self Advocacy Group — our achievements, challenges, laughter, creativity, and connections that shape who we are. More than a collection of stories, this book is a tribute to the power of people being seen, heard and valued.

Our Stories, Our Lives reminds us that every voice matters and every life has a story worth telling.

About the Authors

Mayo Self Advocacy Group is dedicated to empowering individuals and promoting inclusion through self-advocacy. This book reflects the voices and experiences of its members, sharing their stories and journeys.

About Western Care Association

Western Care Association exists to empower people with a wide range of learning and associated disabilities in Mayo to live full and satisfied lives as equal citizens.

Western Care Association is a voluntary organisation founded in 1966 by a group of concerned parents and friends who recognised the need to establish services for family members in County Mayo.

Enjoy a great night out at our fundraising quiz! Limited number of tables – first come, first served.

Sunday Morning Coming Down

Hosted by John Healy

Sunday, 12 October 2025, 12 noon

Location: Festival Dome, Bridge Lane, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, F23 PN20

Special guests: Sarah Butler, Fr Benny McHale, Fiona Neary and Paraic Horkan

Coffee and chat with a panel of hometown writers in a relaxed, informal setting, outdoors in the Festival Dome. Short presentations followed by lively banter and free-flowing audience input.

Booking info: All events at this year’s festival are on a first come, first served basis. We recommend wrapping up warmly and arriving early to secure a seat. All events in the festival dome are free of charge.

The Racket with Conor Niland

In conversation with David Brennan

Saturday, 11th October 2025

7.30pm

Location: Festival Dome, Bridge Lane, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, F23 PN20

When Conor Niland was 16, he was chosen to hit with Serena Williams at Nick Bollettieri's famed tennis academy. Conor, the Irish junior number one, was feeling a bit homesick. Serena, also 16, already owned her own house beside the academy.

Conor Niland knows what it's like when Roger Federer walks into the dressing room ('Ciao, bonjour, hello!'), and he has had the exquisitely terrible experience of facing Novak Djokovic in the world's biggest tennis stadium - while suffering from food poisoning. But he never reached the very top.

The Racket is the story of pro tennis's 99%: the players who roam the globe in hope of climbing the rankings and squeaking into the Grand Slam tournaments. It brings us into a world where a few dozen super-rich players - travelling with coaches and physios - share a stage with lonely touring pros whose earnings barely cover their expenses. Painting a vivid picture of the social dynamics on tour, the economics of the game, and the shadows cast by gambling and doping, The Racket is a witty and revealing underdog's memoir and a unique look inside a fascinating hidden world.

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Booking info: All events at this year’s festival are on a first come, first served basis. We recommend wrapping up warmly and arriving early to secure a seat. All events in the festival dome are free of charge.

——

'Conor Niland may only have managed a career-high ranking of 129 – only? that is some achievement in itself! – but The Racket, his account of how he managed this, is up there with the best half-dozen books on tennis ever written.' Geoff Dyer

'Blending a passion for his chosen sport with a realistic study of the traumas of the tour, The Racket offers a brilliant insight from Ireland’s greatest ever tennis player.’ John Boyne

'A brilliant, unvarnished look at a brutal sporting life.' Michael Foley, Sunday Times

‘One of the best Irish sports books of the last decade’ Kieran Shannon, Irish Examiner

'This will rightly join the list of The Best Irish Sports Books Ever Written. A superb insight into professional tennis from the ground up' Paul Howard

'I ate this book up ... reveals the sacrifices, commitment and decidedly unglamorous side of life on the tennis circuit' Sinéad Moriarty

'A really wonderful read ... Conor Niland has delivered an all-timer for tennis and sports journalism' Ashlee Vance

‘Genuinely such a brilliant book, a brilliant read’ Ciarán Murphy, Second Captains

‘Unsparing in his depiction of the drudgery of tennis’ Mike Jakeman, Spectator

‘Compelling’ Tennis365.com

'Brilliant book, I inhaled it' Jonathan Drennan, Sydney Morning Herald

'Devoured it in a day ... I've read many tennis autobiographies: this is one of the very best' Charles Arthur

'If it's not a contender for Sports Book of the Year, the world has gone mad.' Fionn Davenport, Off The Ball

'Sure to become a must read of the tennis literature canon' Paul Perry

‘Witty and insightful … an homage to the game he clearly still loves’ Anna Carey, Irish Times

‘Honest and droll’ Laura Slattery, Irish Times

'His funny, sometimes painful, memoir, is a brilliant insider's look at the brutally competitive world of tennis as well as a meditation on moments missed by inches.' Sunday Independent

'A crushing reminder of the grist from which sporting greatness emerges' The Economist

‘A visceral, melancholy and often self-lacerating book … History is usually written by the winners, but this intelligent, unvarnished, emotionally draining memoir shows why an also-ran’s perspective can be just as valuable’ Andrew Lynch, The Business Post

'A brutally honest assessment of his career and the effort it took to take him to the margins of the world’s elite.' Tom Lyons, The Currency

‘An excellent book’ Denis Hurley, Irish Farmers Journal

'A searingly honest account of the real world of tennis’ Irish Country Living

‘One of the great sports memoirs. Funny, moving, informative - it’s got the lot.’ Tony Parsons

Book Fair

Saturday, 11th October 2025

11am – 4pm

Location: Festival Dome, Bridge Lane, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, F23 PN20

Booksellers from around Ireland will be at the Wild Atlantic Words selling secondhand and antiquarian books.

Large selection available.

Richard Hogan: Thriving – How To Do More Than Just Survive Life

In conversation with Darina Molloy

Friday, 10th October 2025

8.30pm

Location: Festival Dome, Bridge Lane, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, F23 PN20

Richard Hogan is a systemically trained family psychotherapist registered with the Family Therapy Association of Ireland. Clinical director of the Therapy Institute, Richard Hogan is the leading contributor on RTÉ ‘Raised by the village’. Richard is also an expert contributor on Virgin Media’s ‘Eating With The Enemy’, and RTÉ’s ‘Raised by the Village’ and ‘Traitors Ireland’. He is also a regular contributor on shows such as: Drivetime, RTÉ Radio 1; The Hard Shoulder, Newstalk; The Today Show, RTÉ; Ireland AM, Virgin Media; The Tonight Show with Claire Brock; and he is a regular contributor on The Brendan O’Connor show where he offers his expertise and progressive strategies for better mental health promotion.

Richard is the author of the best-selling book Parenting the Screenager. This book is a practical and accessible guide for parents of the modern child. The book received critical acclaim from The Irish Times as a ‘must buy for any parent of a teenager’. His recent publication, Home is where the Start is was a national bestseller and shortlisted for an Irish book award.

He writes every Thursday for the Irish Examiner. His column ‘Learning Points’ explores his progressive approaches to mental health promotion.

He is the clinical director of the award-winning psychotherapy and counselling service Therapy Institute. Trinity College Dublin invited Richard, in 2017, to undertake a PhD with the university to explore how his paper, ‘systemic practices in education’ could be introduced into the Irish educational system. Richard was awarded a Fulbright scholarship for his work in 2020 and travelled to America in 2021 to carry out research in a leading American university on how to better promote inclusion in Irish and American schools.

Booking info: All events at this year’s festival are on a first come, first served basis. We recommend wrapping up warmly and arriving early to secure a seat. All events in the festival dome are free of charge.

Eimear McBride: The City Changes Its Face

Hosted by Jarlath Killeen

Friday, 10th October 2025

7pm for 7.30pm* Note: This event immediately follows the annual short story presentations and prize-giving in the festival dome, which begins at 7pm. This year’s short story competition was judged by Eimear McBride.

Location: Festival Dome, Bridge Lane, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, F23 PN20

Eimear McBride is the author of four novels: A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, The Lesser Bohemians, Strange Hotel and The City Changes Its Face. She held the inaugural Creative Fellowship at the Beckett Research Centre, University of Reading and is the recipient of the Women's Prize for Fiction, Goldsmiths Prize, Kerry Prize, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

So, all would be grand then, as far as the eye could see. Which it was, for a while. Up until the city, remembering its knives and forks, invited itself in to dine.
It's 1995. Outside their grimy window, the city rushes by. But in the flat there is only Stephen and Eily. Their bodies, the tangled sheets. Unpacked boxes stacked in the kitchen and the total obsession of new love.
Eighteen months later, the flat feels different. Love is merging with reality. Stephen's teenage daughter has re-appeared, while Eily has made a choice, the consequences of which she cannot outrun. Now they face a reckoning for all that's been left unspoken - emotions, secrets and ambitions. Tonight, if they are to find one another again, what must be said aloud?
Love rallies against life. Time tells truths. The city changes its face.

'A writer with the courage to reinvent the sentence as she pleases, and the virtuosity required to pull it off.' – Literary Review
'A writer for whom language is an end not a means, a beginning not an end.' – Jeanette Winterson
'A writer of remarkable power and originality.' – Times Literary Supplement

Booking info: All events at this year’s festival are on a first come, first served basis. We recommend wrapping up warmly and arriving early to secure a seat. All events in the festival dome are free of charge.

Readings and presentation of prizes to the winner and runner-up in the annual Wild Atlantic Words short story competition, judged this year by Eimear McBride. Sponsored by Bridge St and Mayo Books Press.

Location: Festival Dome, Bridge Lane, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, F23 PN20

Time: 7pm*

*This event will be immediately followed by Eimear McBride: The City Changes Its Face

Booking info: All events at this year’s festival are on a first come, first served basis. We recommend wrapping up warmly and arriving early to secure a seat. All events in the festival dome are free of charge.

Seán Lyons: A Stranger Walking the Roads

Hosted by John Healy

Thursday, 9th October

8.30pm

Location: Festival Dome, Bridge Lane, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, F23 PN20

Seán Lyons describes himself as a child of the Sixties who cannot remember the Seventies. He is an award-winning writer of short stories and has published a novel that rose into obscurity.

He has published two volumes of humorous verse and has featured in the Strokestown International Poetry Festival where he twice won the Percy French Award for humorous poetry. He has also featured at the Bard of Armagh. Seán has read his poetry at the Los Gatos Listowel Writers’ Week in California and on Ellis Island. A recording of a reading in Listowel has been viewed more than 160,000 times. He regularly broadcasts on Radio Kerry and is a former chair of Listowel Writers’ Week.

He first joined Toastmasters in Castlebar in 1982 and has spoken at clubs in Sydney, Seoul, Gambia, California, London, and all over Ireland. He won the District 71 Humorous Speech Contest in 1997 and has been dining out on that ever since.

In A Stranger Walking the Roads, family, faith, first loves, and late nights collide in stories that are as funny as they are fearless – an intimate, spirited portrait of a life well wandered.

From small-town Mayo to African kingdoms and Chicago streets, this memoir brims with wit, warmth, and unflinching honesty, as the author recalls a childhood shaped by Catholic rituals, family traditions, and unforgettable characters. We witness the joys of first loves and near-misses, the pull of emigration, the camaraderie of pubs and politics, and the search for meaning in faith, teaching, and travel. Laced with humour and compassion, these pages capture the music of memory – the laughter, the losses, and the quiet revelations that give life its poetry.

Whether you are Irish by birth, heritage, or heart, A Stranger Walking The Roads will leave you laughing, reflecting, and longing for one more chapter by the fire.

‘Brims with stories told with humour and warmth by a natural raconteur’ – Martina Devlin, author and columnist

Booking info: All events at this year’s festival are on a first come, first served basis. We recommend wrapping up warmly and arriving early to secure a seat. All events in the festival dome are free of charge.

Sean Cadden: Seventy Years in the Wild West

Hosted by Harry Hughes

Thursday, 9th October 2025

7.30pm

Location: Festival Dome, Bridge Lane, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, F23 PN20

This is a story of almost 80 square miles of Southwest Mayo, from the evictions of 1851 to its repopulation in 1923.

The post-Famine decade 1851–1861 was a cruel period for many small hill farmers who had survived the Great Hunger. The Marquis of Sligo and the Earl of Lucan evicted 44 townlands in southwest Mayo. Captain William Houstoun leased 37 of those townlands to assemble Dhulough Farm, the largest farm in Ireland. John Louden leased the remaining seven townlands to create Killary Farm.

The captain built Dhulough Lodge in the beautiful but very remote Dhulough valley, where he and his wife Matilda, the novelist, lived for 20 years. William Houstoun made a success of the farm. However, he was succeeded by his unwise son George, who was bankrolled by his shrewd cousin Alfred Houstoun Boswall, until George left the country to escape his debtors.

The captain imported Scotch Blackface sheep and introduced a hill farming system based on this sheep breed. That farming system survived for 120 years and has been difficult to replace.

In the early 1900s, agrarian agitation forced the sale of the farm to the Congested Districts Board. The division of the farm created more than 90 new farms and this book also includes a wealth of genealogical information on these new farmers and their neighbours.

Booking info: All events at this year’s festival are on a first come, first served basis. We recommend wrapping up warmly and arriving early to secure a seat. All events in the festival dome are free of charge.

Wild Atlantic Words/Bridge of Song Songwriting Workshop with John Spillane

Thursday, 9th October 2025

11am – 1pm, Upstairs at Bridge St, Castlebar (F23 PN20)

PRE-BOOKING ESSENTIAL via Eventbrite: http://bit.ly/4gwHKtV

Curated by Eamonn Mulderrig, Wild Atlantic Words in association with Bridge of Song presents a songwriting workshop with John Spillane, upstairs at Bridge St.

Experience the craft and mastery of the singer and the song with one of Ireland’s great songwriters.

A POEM & A PINT

Hosted by Ken Armstrong

With contributions from local poets and anybody who feels like reciting their favourite poem in the outdoor tent at one of our local pubs. A very popular, laidback and fun event for everybody!

Wednesday, 8th October 2025

Location: Festival Dome, Bridge Lane, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, F23 PN20
Time: 8.30pm

Booking info: All events at this year’s festival are on a first come, first served basis. We recommend wrapping up warmly and arriving early to secure a seat. All events in the festival dome are free of charge.

John Patrick McHugh: Fun and Games

Wednesday, October 8th

7.30pm

In conversation with Ken Armstrong

Location: Festival Dome, Bridge Lane, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, F23 PN20

An Observer Best Debut Novelist of 2025 and an instant Top 10 Irish bestseller, John Patrick McHugh has been described by Sally Rooney as ‘one of the most exciting writers working in Ireland today'.

No stranger to the Wild Atlantic Words, we are delighted to welcome JP back to Castlebar to discuss his debut novel, Fun and Games. A stunning debut novel following a teenage boy as he comes of age on the west coast of Ireland, from the author of the acclaimed story collection Pure Gold.

Seventeen-year-old John Masterson has no idea what he wants. It's his last summer on the small island where he has grown up and he should be enjoying the weeks until his exam results come through. Instead, he's working mind-numbing shifts at the local hotel and trying to keep his head down after his mother's nude sext to another man was leaked to the whole island.

As John joins the local senior football team, gets caught up in fights and parties, and embarks on a tentative relationship with his slightly older co-worker Amber that he feels both proud and ashamed of, he can almost pretend that this summer will last forever. But soon John must face up to the choices before him: to stay or leave, to stand out or fit in, and whether to love and let himself be loved, despite or perhaps because of, the flaws that make us all human.

Fun and Games is a darkly comic, beautifully crafted debut novel that is full of feeling both harsh and tender. It takes in social class and its firm borders, manhood and its frailties, family and, of course, love.

'Brilliantly written; as evocative as it is funny. Think: the male version of Sally Rooney' – Vogue

'A writer at the top of his technical game' – The Telegraph

'In 20 years of reviewing, I'm not sure I've read a funnier book, or one I've enjoyed more' – Daily Mail

'Warmth and sensitivity, and a skillful humour' – The Guardian

'Brilliant and bittersweet ode to young love, friendship and GAA' – The Irish Times

'An utter joy to read' – Colin Barrett

'Totally brilliant and unputdownable' – Irish Examiner

Booking info: All events at this year’s festival are on a first come, first served basis. We recommend wrapping up warmly and arriving early to secure a seat. All events in the festival dome are free of charge.

David McGowan: Have Ye Trouble?

In conversation with Aidan Crowley

Tuesday, October 7th 2025

8pm

Location: Festival Dome, Bridge Lane, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, F23 PN20

Author of The Irish Times’ bestseller, A Life Amount The Dead, David McGowan, Ireland's best-known funeral director, and subject of the award-winning Netflix documentary ‘The Funeral Director’, guides us through the business, the science and the unexplained elements of death.

David is also an embalmer and entrepreneur and hails from Easkey, Co. Sligo. He attracted worldwide attention when he moved a Boeing 767 from Shannon Airport to his site in Enniscrone, where he plans to open a transport themed glamping village called 'Quirky Nights'.

Alongside exploring the unique approach of Irish culture when it comes to grief and death, David seeks to demystify the process of dying and what happens to the body afterward. The only certainty when we come into this life is that we are going to leave it, and yet it's something most people are reluctant to discuss or allow themselves to think about. David's mission is to open up conversations and encourage people to have an understanding of their loved ones’ wishes as well as their own. Poignant, humorous and educational, this is an account of a life lived with purpose in the service of the dead.

About the author

David McGowan is a master funeral director, embalmer and entrepreneur based in the West of Ireland. He has a lifetime of experience in the death care profession. David has been an education provider to the funeral industry since 1995 when he established the Irish College of Funeral Directing and Embalming. He has trained funeral directors and embalmers from Ireland and abroad. He regularly appears on television and radio in Ireland, and in 2019 he was the subject of the RTS award-winning documentary, The Funeral Director, currently screening on Netflix.

Booking info: All events at this year’s festival are on a first come, first served basis. We recommend wrapping up warmly and arriving early to secure a seat. All events in the festival dome are free of charge.

The Linenhall Storytelling Circle at WAW

Hosted by Carolyn Claire Mitchell 

Tuesday, October 7th

7pm

Location: Festival Dome, Bridge Lane, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, F23 PN20

Come and join us for an evening of oral storytelling! We welcome tellers and listeners alike.

All types of stories are invited – traditional, mythic, funny, personal, folktales... The only criteria are that it should be told not read, and should last 10 minutes or less.

There's a special magic that can happen when we embody a story and transmit it without the intermediary of the written word. 

No need to be an expert storyteller.

But if you feel intrigued or curious come and join us for an evening. 

Good listeners are as important as tellers - so there's never any pressure to tell.

Booking info: All events at this year’s festival are on a first come, first served basis. We recommend wrapping up warmly and arriving early to secure a seat. All events in the festival dome are free of charge.