A Miscellany of Women’s Voices 2026

  • Date: 7 March 2026
  • Time: 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
  • Location: The Dock, St. George’s Terrace, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim, Ireland N41T2X2
  • Type: Literary Event
  • Learn More: View Event Website

The Reading Room Bookshop proudly presents A Miscellany of Women’s Voices for International Womens’s Day 2026.

International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender equality.

International Women’s Day has occurred for well over a century, with the first gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people. Today, International Women’s Day belongs to all groups, everywhere — a movement powered by the collective efforts of all.

Please join us to mark International Women’s Day 2026 with Jan Alexander and Jackie McKenna in conversation with Orlagh Kelly at The Dock. Join a community of voices for an evening of talks, connection, and empowerment — dedicated to sharing knowledge, visibility, and helping women to thrive. Help us honour the achievements of women to build a more supportive world for those to come.

Jan Alexander in Conversation

Born in Australia in the early 1950s, Jan Alexander has lived in Ireland for almost fifty years.

In the 1980s, her voice became well known in Irish media as an early advocate for environmental restoration through tree planting. In 1986, Jan launched the NGO Crann, based in County Leitrim, with the aim of re‑treeing Ireland with broadleaved species. She gave talks and interviews across the country to communities, schools, and the media, planting trees and inspiring local projects as she went.

Jan was appointed to the first Board of Coillte, serving from 1989 to 1994.

She believes that without a love of the land, and an understanding of and compliance with Earth Laws, climate chaos and the collapse of both economic and natural systems are inevitable.

Jan speaks with clarity and conviction about how we might begin to address our fractured relationship with the land, both as individuals and collectively. Her ideas are not book‑learnt; rather, they arise from her deep absorption in and observations with nature, rather than of nature.

Jackie McKenna in Conversation

Jackie McKenna was born in Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim, in 1958. She studied Fine Art in Sligo and completed her degree in Sculpture at Dun Laoghaire College of Art. Most of her work over the past forty years has been site-specific, large-scale outdoor pieces created through public commissions.

Her creative practice centres on social engagement, including participatory projects with refugees, asylum seekers, prisoners, and family carers, working within communities to evoke thoughtful responses to place, people, and situations. Jackie has played a significant role in the development and promotion of the arts in Ireland. She was an active member of the Sculpture Society of Ireland in the 1980s, served on the Cultural Relations Committee for eight years, and co-founded the Leitrim Sculpture Centre in 1997.

“Feminism isn’t about making women strong. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.”
– GD Anderson