The Borris Festival of Writing and Ideas continues to punch above its weight, with a new list of artists announced which includes Michael Chabon, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier and Clay and Wonder Boys. The list already includes Stephen Frears, Simon Callow, Lenny Abrahamson, Martin Hayes and more besides. Should be a fun weekend!

Kate Tempest – Michael Chabon – Joseph O’Neill – Kate Summerscale – Bruce Robinson – John Banville – Christina Lamb – Don McCullin – Mariella Frostrup – Viv Albertine  – Lenny Abrahamson – William Dalrymple – Kamila Shamsie – Sara Baume – Rory Stewart – Hyeonseo Lee – Kevin Barry – Deborah Levy – Stephen Frears – Simon Callow – Anjan Sundaram – Fintan O’Toole – Lia Mills – Ayelet Waldman – Harry Parker – Claire Kilroy – Luke Harding – Janine Di Giovanni – Iain Overton – Jason McCue – Danielle McLaughlin – Sinéad Gleeson – Sulaiman Addonia – Lisa Dwan – Lemn Sissay – Thomas Morris – Rob Penn – Georgina Harding – Lucy Caldwell – Gavin Corbett – Martin Hayes – David Power – Conor O’Clery – Olivia O’Leary – Vincent Woods – Sophie Gorman – Rob Doyle – Lisa McInerney – Cait O’Riordan – Claire-Louise Bennett – Brian Burroughs – and more to come

Festival Guide –

Offset – April 8th-10th

MusicTown – April 8th-17th

Bray Jazz Festival – April 29th-May 1st

Bealtaine – All through May

The Kilkenny Rhythm and Roots Festival – 29th Apr – 2nd May – Richmond Fontaine, Teddy Thompson & Kelly Jones, Ryley Walker, Fernando Viciconte, The Weather Station, Lewis & Leigh, John Blek & The Rats, Hayes Carll…

Dublin Dance Festival – May 17th-28th –

International Literature Festival, Dublin – May 21st-29th

Life – May 27th-29th – Belvedere House and Gardens, in Mullingar – Paul Kalkbrenner. 2ManyDjs. Jamie Jones. Laurent Garnier. Jeff Mills. Hot Since 82. Mano le Tough. Ben Klock. John Talabot

Listowel Writers’ Week – June 1st-5th

Vantastival – Fri 3rd – Sat 4th June – Beaulieu House, Drogheda – Badly Drawn Boy, The Hot Sprockets, The Young Folk, Jinx Lennon, Elephant, Sample Answer…

Forbidden Fruit 2016 – Fri 3rd – Sun 5th June – The Royal Hospital, Kilmainham – Tame Impala, Underworld, Flume, Jungle, Kiasmos Live, Battles, Groove Armada and many more…

Cork Midsummer – June 7th-19th, 21st, 24th-26th

Borris House Festival of Writing and Ideas – June 10th-12th- Borris House, Carlow – Kate Tempest, Michael Chabon, Joseph O’Neill, Lenny Abrahamson, Stephen Frears, Simon Callow, Martin Hayes…

Carlow Arts Festival – June 10th-19th

Bloomsday – June 15th-19th- Dublin

Dublin Pride – June 15th-25th

Body and Soul – 17th – 19th June  – The Gloaming , Santigold, St Germain, Hudson Mohawke, Floating Points (live), Mercury Rev, Neon Indian, BadBadNotGood, Wolf Parade, Sun Kil Moon

Santigold, St. Germain, Mercury Rev, Sun Kil Moon, Wolf Parade

Hay Festival Kells – June 19th-26th – Kells, Meath

Sea Sessions – 24th – 26th June – Bundoran in Donegal – Primal Scream, Tinie Tempah, Ham Sandwich, Bad Manners, Pleasure Beach, Raglans…

Royal Hospital Kilmainham

Sun 26/06/16 – Sigur Ros with support James Vincent McMorrow

Tue 28/06/16 – Disclosure with support Vince Staples

Thu 30/06/16 – Stereophonics, The Vaccines

Sat 2/07/16 – Faithless, Le Galaxie

Groove – Sat 2nd & Sun 3rd July – Killruddery House, Bray, Co Wicklow – The Academic,  The 4 of Us, Ocean Colour Scene, The Blades, Aslan and Jupe…

Castlepalooza – Fri 1st – Sun 3rd July – Charleville Castle, Tullamore – Caribou, Jurassic 5, Villagers, Cat Power, Romare, Tiger & Woods and many more…

Live at Iveagh Gardens – Through July

Jul 8 Fri – Bell X1
Jul 9 Sat – John Grant
Jul 10 Sun Wilco
Jul 14 Thu – Pixies
Jul 16 Sat – Elvis Costello & the Imposters
Jul 22 Fri – Richard Hawley
Jul 23 Sat – Little Green Cars

Laya City Spectacular – July 8th-10th and 16th-17th – Merrion Square, Dublin, before moving to Fitzgerald Park in Cork

Longitude – Fri 15th – Sun 17th July – Kendrick Lamar, Major Lazer, The National, Róisín Murphy, Father John Misty, Jamie xx, Tyler the Creator, Action Bronson, Courtney Barnett, CHVRCHES, Mo, ASAP Ferg and more! ‪

Happy Days – July 21st-August 1st – Enniskillen lakelands – Samuel Beckett

Knockanstockan – July 22nd-24th – Blessington Lakes –

Indie Pendence – 29th – 31st July – Deer Farm, Cork – Editors, Bell X1, The Kooks, Ash, The Strypes, Hudson Taylor, The Blizzards, Idlewild…

Kilkenny Arts Festival – August 5th-14th

Electric Picnic – Fri 2nd – Sun 4th Sept – LCD Soundsystem, Lana Del Rey, New Order, HAIM, Super Furry Animals, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Wolf Alice, Animal Collective, Wild Beasts, Broken Social Scene, Phosphorescent, Ezra Furman, Girls Names – Sold Out

Tiger Dublin Fringe – September 5th-18th

Culture Night – September 16th

Dublin Theatre Festival – September 29th-October 16th- Don Giovanni

Bram Stoker – October 28th-31st

Cork Guinness Jazz Festival – Oct 28th-31st

Other Voices – Dec 2nd-4th

NYF Dublin – Dec 30th-January 1st