Doolin Writers' Week

Poet Francis McNamara once lived in Doolin House before it was burned down by the British. He ran with the bohemian set of his day and was known to bring his writer friends skinny dipping in Bones Bay, a spectacle promptly denounced from the pulpit by a scandalised parish priest. 

That same church stands on the site of the ancient MacClancy Brehon School, where law, poetry and learning were handed down in an earlier Ireland. 

Writers’ Weekend continues that lineage. It is where words go wild again. 

Established authors and emerging voices share stages and stories in intimate settings that allow for real connection. You can sit in a reading in the evening and find yourself in conversation by the fire afterwards. Ideas move easily here. 

The programme blends readings, workshops and conversations in a way that feels natural rather than overproduced. Music often follows the words. The audience leans in. The setting does the rest. 

It is serious about craft without losing its sense of mischief. 

For one weekend each year, the village tilts toward language again.