Storytelling Session with Órla Mc Govern and Patrick McCabe

On the eve of Dublin Book Festival 2026, join us for an immersive storytelling session for grown-ups, with storyteller Órla Mc Govern and IPUT Writer in Residence Patrick McCabe. In this lively and engaging session, the pair will also chat about what makes a story great, and what lies behind the tales we tell.

You are warmly invited to join us for a drink when the stories are done.

Writing Dublin at Wilton Park is part of a series of arts and literary events at Mary Lavin Place, the first public space in Ireland to be named after a woman writer. Located at Wilton Park on the banks of the Grand Canal, this area, also known as Baggotonia, enjoys an extraordinarily rich literary and artistic heritage.

This is an 18+ event. Please note: due to the pop up nature of the venue, there are no facilities on site.

Órla Mc Govern is an award-winning storyteller, performer and writer based in The West of Ireland. She performs, tells stories and leads workshops at venues small and large around the world. Órla has told stories to acclaim from The Finnish Forests to the Glens of Antrim. Her plays have been produced globally and she has written two books of stories: Dublin Folk Tales For Children and Wild Waves & Wishing Wells. She is a member of Storytellers of Ireland and of the Connemara Arts Collective Interface Inagh. Órla acts for film and TV and is the founder and artistic director of Galway Storytelling Collective, Moth & Butterfly.

Patrick McCabe was born in Clones, County Monaghan in 1955. His acclaimed writing career includes such novels as The Dead School, The Butcher Boy, Breakfast on Pluto, Winterwood, Poguemahone and Goldengrove. He has written extensively for radio and television, while The Butcher Boy and Breakfast on Pluto were both made into films, directed by Neil Jordan. His theatre work with Monaghan’s Garage Theatre is on-going and, in 2024, his installation on Brendan Behan was presented at the Museum of Literature Ireland, MoLI. A member of Aosdána, he is married to artist Margot Quinn and is currently working on what he describes as an analogue monologue on Patrick Kavanagh, and a novel entitled Home Entertainment.

Description supplied by the event organiser.