Between The Lines Poetry Festival

  • Date: 27 June 2026
  • Time: 9:30 am – 9:30 pm
  • Location: St. George's Heritage & Visitor Centre, Carrick-On-Shannon, Leitrim
  • Type: Festival
  • Learn More: View Event Website

Overview

Between The Lines Poetry Festival, is a new and exciting addition to the literary calendar which will take place on 27th June 2026

Welcome to the Between The Lines Poetry Festival!

This event brings poets and poetry lovers together. Hosting a diverse range of interactive sessions, the festival offers an immersive experience for enthusiasts of all generations.

The festival program delivers a packed schedule:

9:30 AM – Welcome /Tea & Coffee

10:00 AM – The History of Connaught in 5 Poems: Acclaimed poet Niamh Mac Cabe opens the day. She will chart the rich history of the province through a curated poetic lens.

11:15 AM – Getting Published: Renowned writer and publisher Brian Leyden will provide an essential guide to the industry. He will go through the intricacies of contemporary publishing and offer actionable paths to getting work printed.

12:30 AM – LUNCH

13:30 PM – Poets on Stage: The stage opens to the community. Both published and unpublished poets can participate in a fast-paced showcase of their original work, facilitated by Gerry Boland

3:00 PM – The Poems We Keep: This flagship afternoon event invites attendees of all ages to share the poems that shaped their lives. Facilitated by writer Rhona Trench.

An interactive digital campaign will drive engagement prior to the festival. A dedicated social media initiative to crowd-source nominations for people’s most cherished verses will launch soon. Organisers want to hear about the poems that stayed with you from school classrooms, childhood memories with your granny, major life milestones like weddings and funerals or accidental discoveries in everyday life.

Poetry lives in the moments we remember. Between The Lines Poetry Festival is about celebrating the lines that weave through our shared history, our personal memories, and our communities

7:30 PM – Voice of the Streets, Heart of the Nation: Rita Ann Higgins closes Between the Lines Poetry Festival in Carrick on Shannon. We are delighted to announce that one of Ireland’s most iconic, beloved, and fiercely independent literary figures will close our weekend festivities. On Saturday, June 27th at 7:30 PM, the inimitable Rita Ann Higgins will take to the stage for an evening of readings, dark humour, and unmissable conversation.

For over forty years, Higgins has been celebrated as the people’s champion of Irish poetry. Hailing from Galway, she bypasses elitism to write with a plain, unpretentious, and earthy language that hits the mark every single time. Her verses effortlessly capture the rhythms, warmth, and struggles of working-class life, weaving social commentary with a razor-sharp wit that makes the ordinary border on the epic.

While many people found themselves paralysed by the isolation of lockdown, Rita Ann Higgins, broadcasting to an audience of over 400,000 listeners on The Brendan O’Connor each weekend, became a vital lifeline for the country. Her weekly poems served as a comforting, funny, and raw barometer of the nation’s psyche. Whether she was capturing our collective health anxiety in ‘I Must Wash Down the Banister’ or finding absurdity in public health updates with ‘Knee Deep in NPHET, Higgins spoke directly to the shared Irish experience when people needed it most. These direct, urgent responses were later collected into her acclaimed book, Pathogens Love a Patsy: Pandemic and Other Poems. Festival attendees will have the rare opportunity to hear Rita Ann read from her monumental career, including her latest retrospective collection, Jiving with Wasps: New & Selected Poems.

This closing event promises to be everything a Rita Ann Higgins performance is famous for: provocative, anarchic, full of laughter, and deeply compassionate. Don’t miss the chance to experience the ultimate people’s poet live. Tickets are available for this event only.