Kavanagh Weekend has unveiled its full 2026 programme, bringing leading Irish and international poets, musicians, actors, performers and cultural figures to Inniskeen, Co. Monaghan, from Friday 25 September to Sunday 27 September.
Curated by Unreal Cities, the multidisciplinary arts project founded by actor and director Adrian Dunbar and saxophonist and composer Nick Roth, this year’s festival explores Patrick Kavanagh’s connection with the Beat Generation during the centenary year of American poet Allen Ginsberg’s birth.
The three-day programme places Kavanagh’s work in dialogue with jazz, spoken word, folk traditions, spirituality and counterculture. It features legendary American poet Anne Waldman, comedian and broadcaster Tommy Tiernan, actor Jean-Marc Barr, musician and performer Jinx Lennon, novelist and playwright Liz Nugent, The Armagh Rhymers and The Master Musicians of Jajouka led by Bachir Attar.
The festival will unfold across the Patrick Kavanagh Centre, the Round Tower Church, Brehon Brewhouse, and the landscape surrounding Inniskeen, combining major performances and live conversations with workshops, readings, traditional music, guided tours and long-standing community events.
Speaking about the programme, Darren McCreesh, Festival Director of Kavanagh Weekend 2026, said:
“We want Kavanagh Weekend to be a place where artists, audiences and the local community experience the festival together, moving between poetry, music, conversation and the landscape that shaped Patrick Kavanagh’s imagination. This year connects Inniskeen with an extraordinary range of international voices and artistic traditions. It honours Kavanagh’s legacy while creating space for experimentation, new interpretations and unexpected encounters.
“Whether people come to see a particular artist, take part in a workshop, explore Kavanagh Country or simply spend the day moving between events, we want everyone to have their own experience of the festival and of Inniskeen”.
See the full programme here.
Darren McCreesh, Festival Director, Kavanagh Weekend 2026, said:
“We’re delighted to welcome Unreal Cities as co-programmers of this year’s Kavanagh Weekend festival. In 1956, Patrick Kavanagh met Allen Ginsberg and fellow Beat writers in New York, recognising in them a raw vitality and a bold voice from the margins of literary America.
Kavanaghs later work was inspired in part by the Beat literary style and this year’s programme celebrates that connection through a series of events curated by Unreal Cities over the course of the Kavanagh Weekend.
We want audiences to come to Inniskeen, spend time in the village, move between venues, join the conversations, follow the Procession of Light and experience Kavanagh’s home place in a new way. This is a festival rooted in place, but open to the world.”
Unreal Cities, Adrian Dunbar and Nick Roth, said:
“Just before Christmas 1956, poet Patrick Kavanagh arrived in New York City. At the height of his powers, and ably assisted by friends and his brother Peter, he soon attested to the temperature of writing in America, declaring that ‘all American literature is trash, with the notable exception of the Beat poets.’
Working outside the establishment, in Kavanagh’s view, was the key to the Beats’ original and authentic voice. The dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima had proven a watershed moment for the American youth, whose subsequent rejection of the military-industrial complex caused ripples across the United States, with their direction of travel fuelled by bebop and bourbon. Unreal Cities explores this collision of the Beats and the late poetry of one of Ireland’s most important writers in their curation for the Kavanagh Weekend 2026”.
Natasha Duffy, Creative Director of SoFFt Productions, said:
“As a proud Monaghan woman, I am incredibly excited to see a festival of this ambition curatorially embed itself in our rolling hills. SoFFt have been working with Darren on this festival for the past three years and seeing it grow from strength to strength is a real joy.
It really is a gathering that influences conversation and sparks inspiration, from the in-depth conversations at the Kavanagh Centre to the raucous late-night sessions at McNello’s. People can expect an incredibly unique experience.”
First programme highlights include the festival’s annual opening night event, where the festival keynote will be delivered by legendary American poet, performer, professor, librettist and cultural activist Anne Waldman, alongside Adrian Dunbar. The evening will also see the announcement of the winner of the 54th annual Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award, one of Ireland’s most important awards for emerging poets.
Following the opening night event at The Round Tower Church, Inniskeen, audiences will be invited to join a Procession of Light, led by The Armagh Rhymers, through the village to the Patrick Kavanagh Centre. The evening will continue with a late-night concert, Unreal Cities presents “Kavanagh and The Beats”.
Tommy Tiernan at Kavanagh Weekend 2026
On Saturday, 26 September, Irish actor, comedian and broadcaster Tommy Tiernan will join Anne Waldman, Adrian Dunbar and Nick Roth for a special live conversation exploring poetry, performance, counterculture, artistic freedom and the enduring influence of the Beat movement.
The announcement also marks the opening of entries for the 54th annual Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award. Since its inception in 1971, the award has been a crucial milestone for emerging Irish poets on their journey towards recognition and publication. This year’s award will be adjudicated by acclaimed poet Victoria Kennefick, who will announce the 2026 winner as part of the festival’s opening night event.
For Poetry Award entry details and further information on the festival, visit: https://patrickkavanaghcentre.com/events/.
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