Ennis Book Club Festival 2026
Friday 6th – Sunday 8th March 2026
Ennis Book Club Festival Committee has confirmed the full programme for the 20th Ennis Book Club Festival taking place this year from Friday 6th to Sunday 8th March at various venues throughout the town and county.
This year’s festival will offer a vibrant programme of live events and activities for book lovers of all ages. As always, the festival will offer opportunities to engage with your favourite authors and features an additional programme of events for younger readers.
The opening event of the Festival, The Hare’s Corner – Making Space for Nature is a celebration of the quiet, hopeful revolution in Ireland, where people are restoring habitats and reconnecting with the land and takes place at 12pm on Friday 6th. Continuing with this theme, at 2pm environmental campaigner, John Gibbons discusses the crisis in Irish farming and agriculture with environmental consultant Féidhlim Harty, whilst offering solutions for a sustainable future.
Love & Change – New LGBTQ+ Writing with Seán Hewitt, Chloe Michelle Howarth & Nicola Dinan in conversation with Jackie Lynam celebrates distinctive narratives and the power of representation. EBCF is delighted to give voice to our poets who consistently shine a piercing light on the business of living. Poetry 2026 features Karen J McDonnell, Erin Fornoff & Molly Twomey and takes place in De Valera Library.
New Perspectives in Writing will bring together three of the most exciting writers in Ireland today, Wendy Erskine, Oona Frawley & Oisín Fagan who play with form and content in surprising and inventive ways and will be in conversation with Aoife Barry in The Temple Gate Hotel. The annual Clare-based Writers event takes place in St Columba’s Church and this year features Karen Fitzgibbon, Joe Queally & Michael McTigue in conversation with Diarmuid de Faoite.
Join the EBCF team and Artistic Director Martina Durac for a warm welcome at the opening of the 20th Festival, taking place in the at the beautiful Súil Gallery at 7pm and one of the highlight events of the Festival takes place at 8pm in glór celebrating Irish fiction and featuring authors Michael Harding, Edel Coffey & Anna Carey in conversation with Declan Hughes.
Saturday morning events kick off with one of Ireland’s most critically acclaimed writers, Hugo Hamilton in conversation with Éilís Ní Dhuibhne at 10am in St Columba’s followed by Festival favourite Ten Books You Should Read at 11.30am, this year with Bryan Dobson & Cecelia Ahern, moderated by broadcaster and journalist, Ciana Campbell.
Another Festival favourite, Debut Novelists with Elaine Garvey, Shane Tivenan & Claire Gleeson takes place in glór where the authors will be in conversation with Eoin Devereux. Beyond Borders Book Club showcases great writing from countries beyond Ireland and this year features Cecilia Brizuela, Aneta Stepien & Mercedes Verona in conversation with Sarah Clancy at the Temple Gate Hotel. Celebrate the joy of reading together in a welcoming discussion led by our visiting book club The Tired Mammy Book Club at De Valera Library.
In an event titled Climate Fiction, EBCF is delighted to welcome Abi Daré, winner of the inaugural Climate Fiction Prize 2025 & Caoilinn Hughes, a New York Times Editor’s Choice author to chat with editor of The Moth, Will Govan at 4pm. One of Ireland’s most remarkable journalists and campaigners Nell McCafferty will be remembered in a special event taking place in glór with Rosita Sweetman, Muire McCallion, (Nell’s niece) & Ailbhe Smyth.
Clare Youth Theatre present The Freedom to Read is the Liberation of the Spirit, a site-specific performance in De Valera Library, exploring free access to books and the role of libraries. Historical fiction lets us explore the human side of history, bringing the past alive through vivid detail, rich characters, and emotional depth and the genre is explored by authors Andrew Miller, Sarah Waters & Nuala O’Connor in conversation with Juliana Adelman in The Temple Gate Hotel.
The Festival is honoured to welcome Anne Enright for the 8pm event in glór where she will explore her writing life and latest work in a wide-ranging conversation with Niamh Campbell.
An early start on the closing day of the festival as we step into Hush Hour in Sweet ‘n’ Green, a reading party that redefines social gatherings for book lovers followed Sunday Miscellany in glór. With a simple format of short essays, memoir pieces and the occasional poem interspersed by complementary music, Sunday Miscellany has been part of the lives of listeners for over half a century on Irish radio.
Another highlight of Sunday’s events is the Literary Lunch, featuring Dr Marie Cassidy taking place in The Old Ground Hotel. This promises to be a fascinating encounter as Marie will be in conversation with fellow crime novelist Catherine Kirwan.
As always, there are lots of other terrific events taking place across the festival weekend including the beloved Books n ‘ Bun’s event on Saturday morning, testing your knowledge of all things literary and fascinating Walking Tours with Jane O’Brien.
Festival hosted events for children and teenagers will take place in glór and include Alex Dunne in conversation with Sarah Moore Fitzgerald for primary school goers and a Talk on the work of Seamus Heaney for leaving cert cycle students with Gillian Chute. On Saturday, the Festival will host Interactive Writing Workshop for Children with Alex Dunne & Laura Keohane for children age 9-12.
Ennis Book Club Festival, in association with Clare Libraries, also features an extensive programme for younger readers, with readings and workshops with young adult authors, facilitators and visual artists. Events taking place as part of Teen Week include Word Power with Deirdre Devally; Fighting Words Workshop for Teens; Kel Menton in an interactive writing class; Eco Soap Making with Aoife Munn and a poetry workshop with Winner of the An Post Teen & Young Adult Book of the Year 2025, Grainne O’Brien all taking place in De Valera Library, Ennis and Seán Lemass Library, Shannon.
Commenting on the 2026 programme, Artistic Director Martina Durac notes, ‘It is a huge pleasure to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the festival in 2026. When a passionate group of book lovers first started dreaming of a way to bring book clubs together with writers, they lit a hopeful spark. Since then, we’ve welcomed writers and readers from all over the world to Ennis. We are proud of all that the first volunteers achieved, and each year seek to build on it and offer engaging, insightful and hopefully, surprising ways of bringing the written word to our flourishing audiences.’
All events now on sale on www.ennisbookclubfestival.com Please note that some events are of limited capacity, early booking advised.
See www.ennisbookclubfestival.com for full details on all events.