• The Frances Browne Literary Festival

    9-12 October 2025

    In honour of Frances Browne our Literary Festival celebrates and supports writers, artists and musicians - new, established and unjustly forgotten - who add to the richness of her legacy.

    In ómós d'Frances Browne, ceiliúrann agus tacaíonn ár bhFéile Liteartha le scríbhneoirí, ealaíontóirí agus ceoltóirí - nua, bunaithe agus dearmadta go héagórach - a chuireann le saibhreas a hoidhreachta.

    The festival is held in October of each year and is unique in featuring Irish, English, and Ulster-Scots. These are widely spoken today in the Finn Valley as they would have been during Frances's lifetime. This situation is unique in Ireland. We also seek to tell the stories of other, less well known writers, from the North West in all traditions.

    Our carefully curated programme embraces all art-forms including theatre, music, singing, song-writing, drawing, painting, photography. We have incorporated events for children and families and a range of age groups.

    We work with schools to raise awareness of Frances Browne, and of other forgotten literary voices from the North West - such as Sarah Leech - and the principles and values they upheld which are as pertinent in today's society as it was in theirs. We invite leading authors, directors, artists and academics to share in the conversation with us. And we celebrate those who have worked to promote and preserve Frances's legacy by awarding the annual France Browne Award.

    The Festival incorporates the Frances Browne Multilingual Poetry Competition.

  • Find us

    Stranorlar & Ballybofey, Co Donegal, Republic of Ireland

  • The Annual Frances Browne Award

    The Annual Frances Browne Award recognises individuals or groups who have contributed to the legacy of Frances Browne either directly by increasing awareness of Frances and her body of work, or by acting in a manner that espouses the values she upheld.

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    Inaugural Frances Browne Award 2021 Paddy Bonar

    Celine McGlynn, Chairperson of the Frances Browne Literary Festival, was delighted to present the Inaugural Frances Browne Award to Paddy Bonar of Ballybofey. The award was presented during the Covid pandemic and was therefore presented to Mr Bonar at his home. Watch the presentation video here.

    Paddy has been the instigator of a large body of research into both the life of Frances Browne and into her work that has emerged in the last 30 years. Through his own research, and by working with and encouraging others, he has brought Frances to life and restored her to a place of pride in her community. In particular, his book 'The Life and Works of Frances Browne' published in 2007 is a hugely valuable resource for anyone who wants to know more about 'The Blind Poetess of Ulster'

    We owe Paddy a huge debt of gratitude for his perseverance and persistence and his continuing celebration of our very own literary heroine. You can access Paddy's website and details of his book here.

    The Award was kindly sponsored by Karen Murphy Speech, Drama & Communications

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    Frances Browne Award 2022 Celine McGlynn

    Celine McGlynn was the recipient of the 2022 Frances Browne Award at the Poetry Awards event of the 2022 Festival. Celine has worked tirelessly to celebrate and promote the legacy of Frances Browne.

    In the late 2000s Celine founded the Frances Browne Multilingual Poetry Awards, an annual event celebrating the unique trilingual legacy of Stranorlar and its hinterland. She is a true innovator and entrepreneur, as well as a gifted poet and artist in her own right.

    Her first poetry collection Forged in the Stars was published by Summer Palace Press in 2011. She edited the Best of William Allingham, and co-edited Sarah Leech: The Ulster-Scots Poetess of Raphoe, Co Donegal. In 1994 she co-founded the Finn Valley Voice, a newspaper that will soon celebrate its 30th anniversary, and has succeeded in surviving the digital age at a time when so many newspapers have not.

    Celine co-founded the remarkable Fiach Arts Circle and the Errigal Writers, Letterkenny, both of which have encouraged and nurtured the talents of so many. Her interest and generosity towards other artists has touched many lives, and inspired them to be all that they can be. Celine’s passion and energy for art and culture, particularly the legacy of Frances Browne, is truly inspirational.

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    Frances Browne Award 2023 Rev. Raymond Blair

    Rev. Raymond Blair, was born in Cavan Upper, Killygordon, in 1960. Raymond received his primary education in the nearby Cooladawson National School. A keen interest in history developed from an early age as a result of the fascinating stories which his father, Joseph, used to tell him about happenings in the locality over the years. His secondary education was obtained at the Royal and Prior Comprehensive School in Raphoe.

    Raymond then went on to study History at Trinity College Dublin, and this course of study deepened his fascination with Irish History. He went on to study Theology at the Reformed Theological College in Belfast, and then served as Pastor in Galway for over 20 years, before moving to minister in Limavady in 2011.

    Raymond is the author of “The Best of Frances Browne: Poems, Stories and Essays by the Blind Genius of Stranorlar.” He has also written many articles for the Donegal Annual and contributed to several other historical journals. A former President of the Donegal Historical Society, he is married with has four daughters.

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    Frances Browne Award 2024 Professor Thomas Mc Lean

    Thomas McLean is Associate Professor in English at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. He is the editor of Further Letters of Joanna Baillie (FDUP, 2010), author of The Other East and Nineteenth-Century British Literature: Imagining Poland and the Russian Empire (Palgrave, 2012) and co-editor with Ruth Knezevich of a new edition of Jane Porter's 1803 novel Thaddeus of Warsaw (Edinburgh University Press, 2019). He is currently preparing an edition of Frances Browne’s Legends of Ulster.

  • History of the Festival

    by Celine McGlynn, Chairperson, Frances Browne Literary Festival Committee

    The first Frances Browne Literary Festival was held in 2021. But it didn’t come out of nowhere... Frances Browne was born in the town of Stranorlar in Co. Donegal. Despite the fact that she had international success in her lifetime, by the middle of the 20th century she had been largely forgotten not just by the world, but even in her hometown. A small band of people were determined that she wouldn’t be completely forgotten however, and worked hard to rediscover her works, the story of her life, and to save the legacy for future generations.

    Paddy Bonar, recipient of the first Frances Browne Award, was the most prominent of these at the beginning. His interest in local history inspired his research and in 2007 he published “The Life and Works of Frances Browne.” The Finn Valley Voice newspaper, based in Ballybofey regularly featured Frances Browne in its history section. In 2008 editor Celine McGlynn, science and history editor Pat Holland, with judges Máire Ní Giolla Bhríde and Dr Pauline Holland decided to host a poetry competition with a difference - The Frances Browne Multilingual Poetry Competition, with a callout to poets in the three languages of Irish, Ulster Scots and English, that are all spoken in the area, the only part of Ireland with the same mix of languages as exists in Northern Ireland. The competition has been a regular feature of the Donegal literary calendar ever since.

    “Treasure Each Voice - 400 years of Anglo-Irish, Irish and Ulster Scots Literature from Stranorlar,” edited by Dr Pauline Holland in 2010, begins and ends with Frances Browne. The title is taken from her anthemic “Songs of Our Land.” It provided the first intellectual examination of Browne’s life and work. Also in 2010, Stranorlar Town Action group erected a statue of Frances Browne at The Pound, Stranorlar.

    2012 saw the launch of “The Best of Frances Browne: Poems, Stories and Essays by the Blind Genius of Stranorlar” by Raymond Blair who with Paddy Bonar has worked tirelessly researching the writer’s life and work. Others joined the movement - Shirley-Anne Bonner who, growing up a few doors down from where Frances grew up, went on to write her play “In My Mind’s Eye”, exploring how Frances Browne’s imaginative inner life and creativity transformed obstacles into unbelievable artistic success. Shirley-Anne also brought Frances’s own works - The Legends of Ulster - to the story in a play adaptation.

    The Bicentenary Event launched on 16th January 2016 with a very strong committee heralded a number of events during 2016 to commemorate Frances Browne including, drama, music, a walking tour, public reading, lectures, art and poetry competitions and events at The Pound Historical Park, Stranorlar. The committee comprised Shirley Anne Bonar, Susan Doherty, Rita Herron (who went to Richmond Cemetery where Frances is buried), Pauline Holland, Philippa Collings, Conor Malone, Gerard Doherty, Paddy Bonar, Whitby McClay, Pat Holland, Moya Holland and Celine McGlynn,

    And so to 2021 when, with the support of Donegal County Council, Celine agreed to start a Festival to promote a revival of interest in Frances in her native area and beyond. In doing so we celebrate the unique linguistic and cultural diversity of this part of Donegal. And perhaps as importantly we also celebrate and support writers, artists and musicians - new, established and unjustly forgotten - who add to the richness of Frances Browne’s legacy. We seek to tell the stories of other, less well-known writers, from the North West in all traditions.

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