The sun shone for the first RUSH FESTIVAL OF WRITING, which took place on Saturday, April 25th 2026 and saw some of the country’s best writers descend on the seaside town for a day of conversations and workshops.

The day began with two workshops for children at the beautiful Rush Library, which was formerly the town’s 18th century church, where former Children’s Laureate na nÓg Niamh Sharkey held a workshop based around her latest picture book Penguin TV before encouraging attendees to take to the floor and share their own drawings by joining her infamous giant ‘doodle’.

Alan Nolan brought his unique energy to his Design Your Own Superhero workshop with a hilarious presentation on his own work, as well as talking readers and writers aged 8-12 through how to design their own comic book creations.

The day continued at the nearby festival hub at Rush Community Centre - also the site of the pop-up bookshop run by Antonia’s Bookstore - where festival co-founder Lauren Murphy quizzed celebrated authors Sinéad Gleeson and Anna Carey on their creative practices in an illuminating conversation about how and why they write, as well as practical advice on how to get your work published. On a similar theme, acclaimed author Belinda McKeon led a two-hour afternoon workshop for adults on Creative Writing, with one attendee saying it was “particularly beneficial” for developing character and story.

At The Strand Bar & Restaurant, Irish cultural icon and raconteur Eamon Carr regaled a captive audience in an enthralling conversation led by journalist Pat Carty, which took in his work as a poet, songwriter and journalist. The Horslips man also shared some amusing stories about his first time in Rush many years ago.

The evening events took place in front of capacity crowds at the Millbank Theatre, where at 5pm crime fiction writers Catherine Ryan Howard and Andrea Mara proved as entertaining in conversation as they are in the written form. The world-beating duo discussed the pros and cons of the big-budget TV adaptations of their work, how they stumbled upon the genre of crime fiction, their sources of inspiration and more in a lively discussion led by Sinéad Cuddihy of Tired Mammy Book Club.

Finally, following a short speech by Mayor of Fingal Cllr. Tom O’Leary, who spoke of the importance of the creative arts and the particular abundance of talent in North County Dublin, the festival’s headline event began at 8pm with one of Ireland’s greatest writers, John Banville in conversation with author Kevin Curran. Their hugely entertaining discussion was both profound, enlightening and humorous as Mr. Banville noted the importance of imagination in writing, his experience of winning the Man Booker Prize, his thoughts on Ireland under the Catholic Church, and how all of his books are “reserved sins”, while playfully threatening to direct the hordes of tourists that have descended upon his locality in Howth towards Rush.

All tickets for the inaugural literary festival were sold or booked out by early April, and the festival was deemed a “huge success” by co-founders Lauren Murphy and Sean Smith.

“We couldn’t have dreamed of a better inaugural Rush Festival of Writing,” said Murphy. “It was clear that there was an appetite for this sort of event in this part of Dublin, but seeing the crowds milling around Rush on Saturday is proof that we’ve hit upon something special. Considering that this was still a pipe dream even six months ago, we’re both proud and delighted to have created something that has huge potential.”

“The feedback from people has been overwhelmingly positive” added Smith. “People were already asking about next year before the day was over - so watch this space! We were so thrilled to have such a strong programme in our inaugural year and full venues at every event. It was an honour to host such luminaries of the Irish writing scene and we’re looking forward to building on this hugely successful foundation.”

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Some feedback from festival authors:

“A delight” - John Banville

“Not all festivals are created equal and I hope everyone involved in the Rush Festival of Writing knows what a truly incredible job they've done in their very first year! Andrea Mara and I spent a lovely sunny afternoon getting expertly grilled by Tired Mammy Book Club on plotting vs pantsing, book-to-TV adventures and what's coming next. Thanks to everyone who came and congrats to Lauren, Sean and your team.” - Catherine Ryan Howard

“What an honour to be part of the inaugural Rush Festival of Writing… a brilliant interview by Tired Mammy Book Club, fabulous audience questions, gorgeous venue, lots of sun before and after… Huge congratulations to the whole team, may the festival run and run!” - Andrea Mara

“Huge congratulations and thanks so much for having me! Such a fantastic festival with a lovely vibe. Can’t wait for next year!” - Anna Carey

“What a brilliant day. Honestly, it was so well run it’s like you’ve been doing this for years!” - Sinéad Gleeson

“Honoured to be part of RFOW #1. I have no doubt it will grow and grow - it already has a lovely energy.” - Belinda McKeon

“Best book festival in the North County!” - Niamh Sharkey

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“I enjoyed every moment of it! Thank you so much for having me! Congratulations on an absolutely brilliant day, I’m sure Rush Festival of Writing will go on and on!!” - Alan Nolan