Tickets for non-glór events will be available on the doors of venues 30 mins prior to the events. Please note that card facilities will not be available, cash only.
Ennis Book Club Festival 2023: To view all events please click here
Friday 3rd March
Haven Horizons – Light on the Horizon
Friday 3rd March at 12.00pm,
Venue: Temple Gate Hotel
Tickets: Free but ticketed
Light on the Horizon is the inspiring story of two women, Colette Reddington and Mary Fitzgerald who said no to domestic abuse and of an entire Clare community that walked that journey with them. More information and tickets
Meeting Eavan Boland – Her Life and Legacy
Friday 3rd March at 2.00pm
Venue: Temple Gate Hotel
Tickets: Free but ticketed
A celebration of the life and legacy of one of Ireland’s most gifted and influential poets. It will feature poets Nessa O’Mahony, John O’Donnell and Annemarie Ní Churreáin in conversation with journalist Olivia O’Leary. More information and tickets
Seán O’Driscoll discusses his book on Rose Dugdale – Heiress, Rebel, Vigilante, Bomber
Friday 3rd March at 4.00pm,
Venue: Temple Gate Hotel
Tickets: €12/€10
Martina Durac, Artistic Director of EBCF, will be in conversation with Clare author Sean O’Driscoll about his book on Rose Dugdale. Born into a wealthy family, Rose began giving away her inheritance and moved to Ireland in the early 1970s having become devoted to the Republican cause. More information and tickets.
Festival Weekend opening
Friday 3rd March at 5.00pm
Venue: glór foyer
Free, all welcome
Join us in the gorgeous setting of glór foyer to celebrate the opening of our 17th festival. The perfect opportunity to meet friends old and new and plan your weekend activities.
Debut authors – Emerging Writers Aingeala Flannery, Megan Nolan, Luke Cassidy in conversation with Pat Carty
Friday 3rd March at 6pm
Venue: glór
Tickets: €12/€10 Conc.
The festival is delighted to showcase the work of three emerging writers in this event, to applaud their achievement and bring their voices and words to our audience. More information and tickets
Jane Casey, Liz Nugent and Catherine Ryan Howard in conversation with Declan Hughes discuss crime fiction
Friday 3rd March at 8.30pm
Venue: glór
Tickets: €16/€14 Conc.
This promises to be a great evening in their company as we investigate what is behind great crime fiction and why we love it so much. More information and tickets
Saturday 4th March
Walking Tour of Ennis with Jane O’Brien
Saturday 4th March at 9.30am
Meet at glór
Tickets: €10
Join Jane O’Brien on her award-winning walking tour of Ennis. Praised by the Lonely Planet as the best way to appreciate the town! More information and booking.
Books and Buns Quiz
Saturday 4th March at 10.00am,
Venue: Temple Gate Hotel
Tickets: €15
Enjoy a Saturday morning book club gathering and test your knowledge of all things literary in our beloved Books and Buns session. Refreshments included, setting you up for a busy day! More information and tickets
Kit de Waal discusses her memoir ‘Without Warning & Only Sometimes’
Saturday 4th March at 10.00am
Venue: Ennis Courthouse
Tickets: €12/€10
EBCF is delighted to welcome Kit de Waal back to Ennis to explore her new book, Without Warning & Only Sometimes, which takes the form of a memoir in vignettes, exploring her childhood in an unusual and rough and tumble family. More information and tickets
Ten Books You Should Read – 1 event, 2 contributors, 10 reading suggestions
Saturday 4th March at 11.30am
Venue: glór
Tickets: €16/€14 Conc.
In this event, we’ll explore the books that have left our guests breathless, thoughtful and wanting to go back and read them all over again! More information and tickets
Clare Writers event with Aoibhín Garrihy & Marc O’Riain
Saturday 4th March at 2.00pm
Venue: Ennis Courthouse
Tickets: €12/€10
In what promises to be a lyrical event, Marc Ó’Riain (The Last of the Light) and Aoibhín Garrihy (Every Day is a Fresh Beginning) will share poetry and stories about landscape and memory and friendship. More information and tickets
Beyond Borders Book Club
Saturday 4th March at 2.00pm
Venue: Temple Gate Hotel
Tickets: Free
The Beyond Borders Book Club is a celebration of great literature from countries beyond Ireland, recommended by guests who have connections to the places discussed in these writings. More information and booking
Clare Youth Theatre performance
Saturday 4th March at 2.30pm
Venue: Outside glór
Tickets: Free
Clare Youth Theatre’s performances at the EBCF are an annual treat: they will present selections from literature and dramatise them in their own inimitable way.
Nan Hogan, her life in Cumann na mBan among women of the Irish Revolution
Saturday 4th March at 4pm
Venue: Temple Gate Hotel
Free but ticketed
Nan Hogan was a leading member of Cumann na mBan, the paramilitary organisation for women which played a decisive role in the Irish war of Independence. More information and booking
Clouded Reveries (Aisling Trí Néallaibh)
Saturday 4th March at 4.00pm,
Venue: glór
Tickets: €10
A documentary about local poet and novelist Doireann Ní Ghríofa. This film by director Ciara Nic Chormaic is a beautifully shot and intimate portrayal of Doireann’s life and creative development. More information and tickets
Northern Irish Writing Flourishing – Lucy Caldwell, Olivia Fitzsimons and Michelle Gallen in conversation with Neil Hegarty
Saturday 4th March at 6pm
Venue: Temple Gate Hotel
Tickets: €12/€10 Conc.
Northern Irish fiction is thriving in the variety of form and genre of work being published now. These new works are innovative and compelling, engaging with the sometimes messy and challenging lives of their protagonists in a nuanced and sympathetic way. More information and tickets
Saturday night author interview – Tessa Hadley
Date: Saturday 4th March at 8.30pm
Venue: glór
Cost: €16/€14
Described by the Washington Post as “one of the greatest stylists alive”, Tessa Hadley has published eight novels and three collections of short stories. Hadley’s work is a triumph of restraint and wonderfully rich prose, wherein she explores the quiet burdens and losses her characters live with as they negotiate their way through life. Tessa will be in conversation with Bríona Nic Dhiarmada, (Kathleen O’Donnell Professor Emerita of Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame in the U.S., film maker and writer). More Information & Tickets
Sunday 5th March
Ionbhá: The Empathy Book for Ireland
Sunday 5th March at 10.00am
Venue: Sweet N Green
Tickets: €10
In this event we will explore some of the reflections on empathy contained within the book Ionbhá: The Empathy Book for Ireland along with two of the contributors, in a wide-ranging conversation about joy in the everyday. More information and tickets
Sunday Symposium – Environment, Ecology and Climate Change: Where to now? Eoghan Daltun, Harrison Gardner, Dr. Olive Heffernan and Éanna Ní Lamhna and others in discussion.
Sunday 5th March at 11am
Venue: glór
Tickets: €16/€14 Conc.
The challenges facing our world are immense. In what promises to be a fascinating and lively discussion, our contributors explore the challenges and opportunities that surround us as they grapple with the question: where to now? More information and tickets
Literary Lunch
Sunday 5th March at 1.30pm
Venue: Old Ground Hotel
Tickets: €30
An annual highlight of the festival this year the literary lunch on Sunday will feature Donal Ryan talking about his writing life and times and the influences that colour his work. More information and tickets
The Ennis Book Club Festival aims to promote and celebrate reading. Each year, readers both from Ireland and further afield, come to Ennis to share the joy of reading. Our audiences include avid readers, those who haven’t had the time to pick up a book in some years, those with a keen interest in current affairs, those who are simply looking to be inspired…Our aim is to meet each of their different expectations!
In 2007 a small group of local volunteers, in association with Clare County Library, identified the need for a new literary and social event to replace the demised Ennis October Arts Festival. Being members of a local Book Club the wish was to create a literary event that focused primarily on readers and book lovers. Since its inception, The Festival has attracted a host of national and international writers and speakers.
These have included: John Banville, Roddy Doyle, Anne Enright, Blake Morrison, Edna O’Brien, Joseph O’Connor and Martin Sixsmith. Newer writers such as Colin Barrett, Sara Baume, Donal Ryan, Lisa McInerney and Henrietta McKervey have also proved very popular. The contribution of local writers and artists has also been a strong feature of the Festival each year.
Not only does the Festival include author readings and discussions however, it has offered a diversity of events each year, including debates on topical affairs, workshops, poetry readings, theatre, music, bookclub quizes and walking tours through the historic streets of Ennis.
