Cúirt International Festival of Literature

[1][2][3] The festival consists of a variety of events taking place over the course of a week each April with attendances and contributions from Irish and international writers.

It featured John Cooper Clarke, Ian Crichton Smith, Paul Durcan, Douglas Dunn, Gerald Dawe, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Sorley MacLean, Eavan Boland, founder Fred Johnston, Eva Bourke, Thomas McCarthy, Kathleen O'Driscoll, Rita Ann Higgins, Patrick Deeley, Pat Ingoldsby, and John Hogan.

[9] Rosita Boland of The Irish Times described as "a baffling piece of programming" a history discussion in Middle Street's Mechanics Institute during which historians Niall Whelehan, Sonja Tiernan and John Borgonovo presented academic papers to the audience; "the event had no connection with literature or even with the arts in its most general form.

[13][14] In 2018, Sally Rooney, Daniel Woodrell, Bernard MacLaverty, Juan Pablo Villalobos, Declan Kiberd and Forward Prize winners Sinead Morrissey and Daljit Nagra were announced as taking part.

[15] On 30 March 2020, the organisers said that Cúirt—scheduled for between 20 and 25 April—would not proceed "in its physical form" in 2020 due to the incurable virus rampant throughout the country; however, only a small selection of the advertised events (including the Eilís Dillon centenary commemoration) were officially "postponed" and full ticket refunds were offered.

[21] The winners in 2013 were Caoilinn Hughes for three poems from her collection, Gathering Evidence ("Rational Dress", "Two Roundelets", and "Airbowing in Second Violins"), and Hugo Kelly for his short story, "There It Is".