At Multiple venues across County Donegal (Letterkenny, Rathmullan, Gola Island, Gaoth Dobhair, Lifford, Donegal Town) · Multiple venues across County Donegal (Letterkenny, Rathmullan, Gola Island, Gaoth Dobhair, Lifford, Donegal Town), Co. Donegal
The Earagail Arts Festival is one of Ireland’s longest-running summer arts festivals, now in its 39th year, and it spreads across County Donegal from 10 to 25 July 2026. Rathmullan on the western shore of Lough Swilly hosts one of the weekend’s most distinctive events - The Journals Fleadh, a three-day celebration of Ireland’s literary journal scene. If you care about short fiction, poetry, and the publications that launch writing careers, this is a genuinely rare gathering: editors, writers, and readers in a seaside village, talking about the work and occasionally swimming in the lough between sessions.
The Journals Fleadh runs 17 to 19 July, with the opening night in Letterkenny on Friday and the main programme in Rathmullan across Saturday and Sunday. The event is in its third year and has grown into a proper fixture for the Irish literary community.
The 2026 programme brings together some of the country’s best-known journals - The Stinging Fly, Banshee, The Dublin Review, Poetry Ireland Review, Tolka, The Pig’s Back, and others - and puts their editors and contributors in front of an audience. The Saturday features a conversation with Jan Carson, one of Ireland’s most awarded fiction writers, at 3:30pm, followed by a Journal-Vision night at 9pm. Sunday offers two writing workshops: a prose workshop with Dean Fee, editor of The Pig’s Back, at 1:30pm, and a poetry workshop with poet and critic Mícheál McCann at 3:30pm. Essayist and journalist Roisin Kiberd also features across the weekend.
The wider Earagail Arts Festival runs simultaneously across Donegal, with circus, dance, street arts, theatre, and music taking place in Letterkenny, Gaoth Dobhair, Gola Island, Lifford, and Donegal Town - many events free or low-cost.
Rathmullan sits on the R247, roughly 25 kilometres north of Letterkenny on the western shore of Lough Swilly. From Letterkenny, follow the N56 north then take the R247 along the lough shore - the drive takes around 30 minutes. There is no regular direct bus service to Rathmullan, so a car is the practical choice. Parking in the village is free and generally straightforward, though it can fill up on summer weekends.
Rathmullan is a quiet lough-side town with a long beach, the ruined Rathmullan Priory, and the Flight of the Earls Heritage Centre telling the story of one of the most significant departures in Irish history. There is more to see in Rathmullan and across Co. Donegal.
Heading to Multiple venues across County Donegal (Letterkenny, Rathmullan, Gola Island, Gaoth Dobhair, Lifford, Donegal Town) in Rathmullan? Donegal has plenty more to see. Read the Rathmullan area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.