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arts · Friday 14 August 2026 · 5:30pm 
The International Dublin Writers' Festival '26 (Euro Early Bird Pricing)
At Trinity College Dublin · Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2
At Trinity College Dublin · Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2
The International Dublin Writers’ Festival has been running since 2015 with a single focus: helping writers improve their craft, make industry connections, and leave with the kind of momentum that leads somewhere. The 2026 edition is its most ambitious yet - relocating to Trinity College Dublin for three days across 14-16 August, with the theme “The Future of Story.” That theme is not abstract. Sessions will take a practical look at how AI is reshaping authorship and publishing, how the balance of description, action and dialogue in fiction is shifting, and what agents and publishers are actually looking for right now. If you write, at any level, this is built for you.
The programme runs across three full days of talks, panels, masterclasses and networking. Speakers at the 2026 festival include novelists Louise Phillips and John DeDakis, literary agents Mark Gottlieb and Ciara Finan, screenwriters, publishers and specialists in the psychology of performance. Sessions cover craft - pacing, character, structure - as well as the business side: pitching to agents, understanding publishing trends, navigating a market that is changing fast. There are also pitch sessions with agents and publishers, which is rare at a festival this accessible. Saturday lunch is included with all tickets. Some sessions are also available online for those who cannot make it in person, but the in-person networking is part of the draw. Early bird Euro pricing is available through Eventbrite - worth moving on before it increases.
Trinity College Dublin sits right in the centre of the city on College Green, Dublin 2. It is a short walk from Pearse DART station (about five minutes on foot) and well served by Dublin Bus from all directions. The Luas Green Line stops at St Stephen’s Green, also walkable. If you are driving in from outside Dublin, the M50 feeds the main approach routes; city-centre parking is available at Dawson Street, Drury Street and St Stephen’s Green multi-storeys, but public transport from a park-and-ride at the edge of the city is usually far less hassle on a weekend.
Trinity’s campus alone is worth an hour of wandering - the Long Room Library and the Book of Kells exhibition are on-site and relevant to anyone with a literary bent. The streets around Grafton Street, Merrion Square and the Dublin Writers Museum to the north are all within easy reach. There is more to see in Dublin and across Co. Dublin.
Heading to Trinity College Dublin in Dublin? Dublin has plenty more to see. Read the Dublin area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.