Meet the Festival team and artists from the #LIF2025 programme.
Hear about the programme and meet with friends. The Centre, the spiritual home of the Irish community in Liverpool, provides a convivial space in which to toast ‘fáilte’ (welcome) to all those who join us, have helped us and will be with us for Festivals ahead. Book ahead to claim your free arrival refreshment!
Be among the first to claim your free Brave Maeve treasure map and meet Stu Harrison — the illustrator and storyteller that brought Liverpool’s real life Brave Maeve to 2D!
We’ll have speeches, music and entertainment to mark the arrival of #LIF2025, with other surprises along the way.
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Multi-award-winning novelist Eimear McBride chats to literary critic (and Irish literature fan) David Collard in an informal, friendly tête-à-tête.
Speaking to the Festival theme of ‘arrivals’, David Collard and Eimear McBride will discuss Eimear’s latest novel — The City Changes its Face — and her recent film debut (as a director) A Very Short Film About Longing (currently available on BBC iPlayer). Eimear (born in Liverpool to Irish parents) moved with her family to Ireland as a toddler. Her arrival on the literary scene was a long time coming – it took nine-years to find a publisher for her first novel A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing. Subsequently she has been internationally lauded for her unique blend of experimentation and very contemporary female-centred storytelling.
The author of two additional novels The Lesser Bohemians and Strange Hotel, as well as the non-fiction work Something Out of Place: Women and Disgust, Eimear held the inaugural Creative Fellowship at the Beckett Research Centre (University of Reading), during which she wrote Mouthpieces; three short powerful plays on the female experience. Her debut directorial work A Very Short Film About Longing (DMC Films/BBC) screened at the 2023 London Film Festival. Eimear is the recipient of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Goldsmiths Prize, Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, Kerry Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
David Collard is the author of About a Girl (CB Editions) and Multiple Joyce and A Crumpled Swan (both published by Sagging Meniscus) and writes for the Times Literary Supplement. He curates and hosts the weekly online salon The Glue Factory.
Recorded exclusively for #LIF2025, this is the first of a series of Festival-linked Literary Salons we will run with David in the coming years.
Image credit: Kat Green (detail only).
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The Irish Countess (75mins) brings to life the extraordinary story of Countess Constance Markievicz. Born into Anglo-Irish privilege, she rejected her comfortable lifestyle and made a defining choice to stand alongside Ireland’s revolutionary movement. From the Gaelic Revival through the Easter Rising and the battle for Irish independence, this play presents a reflection on her courage and conviction.
The theme of identity continues in Declan Duffy’s thoughtful and moving presentation: Call Yourself an Irishman (90mins), which follows. Using humour, reflection and song Declan explores what it means to be Irish through the lens of second- and third-generation voices. He’ll consider the history of Irish migration to Britain — including the huge contribution of Irish people to Liverpool and Manchester — alongside the difficulties encountered by the people who made that journey. In doing so, he’ll share how all of this has influenced us, their descendants, in our consideration of who and what we are.
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Join Liverpool Irish Festival‘s John Maguire (also of ArtsGroupie) on an expanded walking tour of several Liverpool Irish Famine Trail sites, including Clarence Dock – the entry way for over 1.8m+ Irish Famine poor – and others in the town centre.
Spectators will hear how The Great Hunger changed Liverpool’s streets, learning how locations were used for sanctuary, nourishment and safety. Along the route, sites of Irish influence will also be marked helping to show the geographic memory of these times. Walkers will also hear about the benevolence of Liverpool’s people and on-going effects on the city today.
Using a new trail app, headsets and recent Walk of the Bronze Shoes experience, your guide will really help you to walk in the shoes of Liverpool and Irish people 180-years ago.
The walks leave at 2pm. Bookers are asked to gather in the 15mins prior at the Pilotage Building (near the Museum of Liverpool). The walk will last approximately 120mins.
Bookings for these walks close at 5pm on Fri 17 Oct 2025.
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Completely informal opportunity to come along for a tune. The first seisiún of two in the Festival; the other takes place the following Fri (24 Oct 2025).
Bring an instrument, your voice and a will to play along. There’ll be Festival friends to help bring the gang together, whilst a fully stocked bar — in one of the most historic and quirkiest pubs in Liverpool — eases you towards the dawn. This event gets busy quickly and sometimes it’s ‘standing room only’, so be prepared to ‘hotch up’ and swap places so everyone can get a piece of the action. This is a night that almost guarantees high kicks ‘til dawn.
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Completely informal opportunity to come along for a tune. The second seisiún of two in the Festival; the other takes place Fri 17 Oct 2025.
Bring an instrument, your voice and a will to play along. There’ll be Festival friends to help bring the gang together, whilst a fully stocked bar — in one of the most historic and quirkiest pubs in Liverpool — eases you towards the dawn. This event gets busy quickly and sometimes it’s ‘standing room only’, so be prepared to ‘hotch up’ and swap places so everyone can get a piece of the action. This is a night that almost guarantees high kicks ‘til dawn.
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Join award-winning Irish playwright and actor David Gilna for an unforgettable evening of storytelling as he delves into the laughter and heartbreak that shape our lives. Through themes of grief, nostalgia, and the enduring power of humour, David asks the ultimate question: why do we tell the stories we do? A deeply moving and wildly entertaining night that will leave you laughing, crying, and craving more.
So why do we tell stories? Why does David I tell stories? Maybe it’s to make sense of the madness we call planet earth. Maybe it’s to hold on to the people we’ve lost. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because stories are the only thing that last. The only thing that matters. Because we’re all in this mad, beautiful mess together.
After a string of sold-out shows at The Viking Theatre and The Civic Theatre, David’s thrilled to be bringing his new play to Liverpool’s Royal Court as part of #LIF2025 following his 2023 performance of Bolt From D’Blue.
Written by award-winning Irish playwright David Gilna and directed by Frank Allen.
“Some stories heal, some stories haunt, and some fill the room with laughter—this one does it all”, The Viking Theatre.
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Join Green Curtain Theatre for a celebration of one hundred years of the Irish Passport.
Settle into an evening of music, stories and sketches that shine a light on what the Irish passport means to people from all walks of life. It’s more than a travel document — it’s a lifeline, a laugh, a link to home. Through songs you know and tales that feel familiar, we’ll explore how a little book can carry hopes, memories and pride across borders and generations. It’s honest, it’s heartfelt, and it’s got good tunes. We’d love to see you there.
A one-act comedy about not getting to choose your family, growing up in rural Ireland, the cultural divide between north and south, and finding solace in art.
Cousins Annie and Mick are two young people in the Gaeltacht of County Donegal. They’re not particularly close; Mick works in the tax office, recently graduated from secondary school, and spends his evenings analysing data for his fantasy football team. Annie, four years his senior, is Doc Martin-clad and refuses to listen to anything other than The Smiths.
When a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity arises that will see one young person in the community train at a drama school in Dublin – the big smoke! – Annie and Mick go head-to-head to escape the drudgery of a normal life. As their dreams collide, they realise they aren’t so different after all, and a reluctant bond emerges between them in this true-to-life comedy.
Written and starring Mícheál Ó Fearraigh and Anna Ní Dhúill.
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A private view to open a new show: Review at the Rathbone. Visitors can speak to the artists and meet the makers.
In 2024 Liverpool Irish Festival recruited several artists to work with citizen groups across Merseyside to create art works responding to Liverpool Irish Famine Trail sites. The resulting work can be seen in our app, but this exhibit provides an opportunity to see the original art works close-up, with some works on show for the very first time.
The Rathbone family – William IV (b.1757-d.1809), William VI (b.1819-d.1902) and Eleanor (b.1872-d.1946) especially – were key figures in the abolition of slavery, nursing and Ireland’s land league, harking back to their Irish connections. Being in an eponymously named gallery feels fitting.
Read more in the exhibition listing.
Image credit: Tadhg Devlin (detail only).
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