The Quills And The Quarter Podcast: The Letterkenny Cathedral Quarter Literary Festival 2025

Welcome to the final episode of the Quills and the Quarter podcast for the Letterkenny Cathedral Quarter Literary Festival2025,  which this year is celebrating its 10th anniversary. For this special closing conversation, I was joined by my co-host, poet and writer Denise Blake, as we sat down with award-winning journalist and author Kathy Donaghy. It’s a conversation full of humour, heart, and inspiration — so stay with us right to the end.

In this episode, my co-host Phil Dalton and I are joined by one of Donegal’s best-known voices — writer, broadcaster, journalist, short story writer, poet, Bluegrass festival MC, and all-round raconteur, Frank Galligan.As with all of our guests this year, we put our set of five thought-provoking questions to Frank, but as you’ll hear, his answers come wrapped in wit, wisdom, and a fair dose of mischief. Along the way, he shares the tale of an unusual engagement where he was asked to tell funnystories about the 1916 Rising, the innocent interpretation of Yeats’ “terrible beauty” by a young boy, the day he found himself standing in for an archaeologist who had taken to the drink, and even his father’s wry prediction of how Frank himself might one day meet his end.It’s a conversation full of laughter, storytelling, and sharp reflections. So sit back and enjoy !

This year we are celebrating the festival’s 10th anniversary and we’re really looking forward to the biggest and best ever line up of festival events taking place between the 16th & 19th of October 2025.It’s a late summer Friday evening in Letterkenny —  the town is buzzing, the astro pitches are alive with shouts and laughter, and traffic is backed up all the way to the Cathedral ! That’s the backdrop as Denise Blake and I sat down in the Letterkenny Community Centre with our guest, actor and creative powerhouse Maura Logue.During the podcast, Maura also shares her thoughtson the five big questions we’ve been asking all our guests — from her earliest memory of words that made an impact, the books that shaped her, to the voices that inspire her work today. Along the way, we laugh about the challenge ofactually getting into town on such a busy night, we reflect on Donegal and Letterkenny as a place of creativity, and we hear about the power of story in shaping community.

I’m joined this time on the podcast by Kieran Kelly — teacher,playwright, historian, and a man with an eye for the quirks of both the past and the present. Poet and author Denise Blake also joins me for the first time as my co-host We recorded today’s conversation on a gloriouslate-summer evening in the beautiful and historic Conwal Parish Church — the perfect setting for stories, history, and a few surprises.Kieran shares what it would be like to drink pints with Brendan Behan, uncovers the real truth about Wolfe Tone’s allegedcapture in Letterkenny, and tells a remarkable true-crime story from his own familyWe also talk about the literary festival, now celebrating its 10th anniversary, and the impact it’s had on the town — as wellas Kieran’s own upcoming appearance at the festival. And Denise will be filling us in on the reflective writing competition that festival-goers can look forward to this year.It’s a conversation full of history, literature, humour, and a few unexpected twists. So settle in enjoy.

Welcome to Quills and the Quarter, the official podcast of the Letterkenny Cathedral Quarter Literary Festival 2025.This year is extra special – it’s the 10th anniversary of the festival, and to celebrate we’re trying something a little different. Across the series, I’m joined by a co-host for each episode,  long time Letterkenny residents, Phil Dalton and Denise Blake. We’ll be asking each of our guests the same set of five big, thought-provoking questions. That way,you’ll be able to compare and contrast their answers, and enjoy the variety of perspectives that writers, poets, actors, historians, and journalists who will be joining us on this series bring to the table.Our first guest is a perfect way to begin. Poet andartist Celine McGlynn and Chairperson of theFrances Browne Literary Festival in Stranorlar – joins myself and Phil Dalton  for a wide-ranging and lively chat. Aself-taught artist who works in oils and a host of other media, Celine is passionate about making art accessible to everyone, believing it’s a universal language that crosses cultural and social barriers. She brings both wit anddepth to our conversation. I hope you enjoy it !