Tommy Tiernan and Anne Waldman announced for Kavanagh Weekend 2026

Kavanagh Weekend – the annual arts and culture festival celebrating the legacy of Irish poet and writer Patrick Kavanagh – is set to return to Inniskeen, Co. Monaghan from September 25–27, with Tommy Tiernan and Anne Waldman among this year's highlights.

The first details of the 2026 edition of the festival were revealed today by the Patrick Kavanagh Centre, in collaboration with SoFFt Productions, and in association with the Patrick Kavanagh Society.

For the first time, the curatorial team Unreal Cities – founded by actor and director Adrian Dunbar and saxophonist and composer Nick Roth – have been invited to shape the Kavanagh Weekend programme.

Credit: Barbra Egan

For 2026, the festival is set to explore Kavanagh's connection to the Beat Generation, through poetry, performance, music and conversation – coinciding with global celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of poet Allen Ginsberg.

"In 1956, Patrick Kavanagh met Allen Ginsberg and fellow Beat writers in New York, recognising in them a raw vitality and a bold voice from the margins of literary America," explains festival director Darren McCreesh. "Kavanagh's later work was inspired in part by the Beat literary style and this year's programme celebrates that connection through a series of events curated by Unreal Cities over the course of the Kavanagh Weekend.

"We want audiences to come to Inniskeen, spend time in the village, move between venues, join the conversations, follow the Procession of Light and experience Kavanagh’s home place in a new way. This is a festival rooted in place, but open to the world.”

Today, the festival team have announced that the festival keynote will be delivered by legendary American poet, performer, professor, librettist and cultural activist Anne Waldman, alongside Adrian Dunbar.

Anne Waldman. Credit: Nina Subin

The opening night will also see the winner of the 54th annual Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award – one of Ireland’s most important awards for emerging poets – announced. Audiences will then be invited to join a Procession of Light, led by The Armagh Rhymers, through the village to the Patrick Kavanagh Centre. The evening will continue with a late-night concert: Unreal Cities presents Kavanagh and The Beats.

On Saturday, September 26, Tommy Tiernan will join Anne Waldman, Adrian Dunbar and Nick Roth for a special live conversation exploring poetry, performance, counterculture, artistic freedom and the enduring influence of the Beat movement.

Natasha Duffy, creative director of SoFFt Productions, describes the weekend as "a gathering that influences conversation and sparks inspiration, from the in-depth conversations at the Kavanagh Centre to the raucous late-night sessions at McNello’s."

"People can expect an incredibly unique experience," she adds.

The full Kavanagh Weekend 2026 programme will be announced in July.

Today's announcement coincides with the opening of entries for the 54th annual Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award – set to be adjudicated by acclaimed poet Victoria Kennefick.

For Poetry Award entry details, see here – and for more information about the festival, visit the Patrick Kavanagh Centre event page here.

Credit: Barbra Egan