The XV ISLA Festival, Dublin’s Irish, Spanish and Latin American literary festival, returns to Instituto Cervantes Dublin on 21 and 22 October 2026, bringing together writers and cultural voices from Ireland, Spain and Latin America for two evenings of conversations, poetry and cinema.
Now in its fifteenth edition, ISLA has become an established space for cultural exchange between Irish, Spanish and Latin American literary voices, bringing different literary traditions and perspectives together in Dublin.
The free festival offers audiences an opportunity to explore contemporary literature and culture through conversations on humanity, creativity, memory, identity and the challenges shaping society today. Events will take place in Spanish and English, with simultaneous interpretation available.
ISLA Festival Programme
This year’s programme features writers including Peruvian-Argentine author Katya Adaui, Irish writer Mary Costello, Spanish journalist and author Roger Mateos, Irish poet Billy Ramsell and Cuban poet Sergio García Zamora, alongside other guests from Ireland, Spain and Latin America.
The festival opens on Wednesday 21 October with Portraying the Human, a conversation between Katya Adaui, Mary Costello and Roger Mateos, chaired by Irish novelist Catherine Dunne. The evening will explore the complexities of human relationships, personal identity and the ways literature can illuminate individual experience.
The programme continues with Creativity Always, Everywhere, followed on Thursday 22 October by The Extraordinary Within the Ordinary, an Irish-Spanish poetry event featuring Sergio García Zamora and Billy Ramsell, moderated by Rafael Mendes. Their work explores displacement, identity and the relationship between poetry and everyday life.
The festival will conclude with a screening of the Chilean film Denominación de origen.
About ISLA Festival
ISLA creates a space where Irish, Spanish and Latin American literary traditions can meet, allowing writers and audiences to discover new perspectives and shared experiences through literature.
ISLA — the Irish, Spanish and Latin American Festival — is an annual literary and cultural festival organised by Instituto Cervantes Dublin. Now in its fifteenth edition, the festival brings together writers and audiences from Ireland, Spain and Latin America, creating a space for cultural exchange, new perspectives and dialogue between different literary traditions.
The name ISLA refers to the Spanish word for “island”, while also standing for Irish, Spanish and Latin American Festival.
The 2026 edition is supported by the Embassies of Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Cuba and Chile, Literature Ireland, Dublin UNESCO City of Literature – Dublin City Council, and RTÉ Supporting the Arts.
The festival celebrates Ireland’s rich literary landscape while creating connections with writers and literary traditions from Spain and Latin America.
See here for further information and bookings.
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