Literary Belfast
Friends and Partners
Literary events and community
The heartbeat of the Centre pulses through its vibrant series of literary events for the general public and contributing to the artistic culture of the community through, among others, The Belfast International Arts Festival, Belfast's Crescent Arts Centre, No Alibis bookstore, Linen hall Library and The Tangerine, a Belfast-based magazine of new writing.
Belfast has over the years been home to a vast array of great writers, both native and expatriate, from past icons of literary culture like CS Lewis and Louis MacNeice, to more contemporary poets like Seamus Heaney and Paul Muldoon, all of whom have been recognised internationally for their literary achievements.
The city now hosts a thriving literature scene, with literary events, readings and festivals taking place regularly.
The Lifeboat
A project coordinated and hosted by Stephen Connolly and Manuela Moser, both students of the Heaney Centre, the Lifeboat readings have become a fixture of the Belfast poetry scene. As well as their regular readings, they publish pamphlets and recently collaborated with The Tangerine to publish the anthology, Happy Browsing, to mark the closure of Bookfinders Bookshop and Café.
No Alibis Bookstore
Since 1997 No Alibis has been a welcoming and inspiring place to buy great books. They host Noireland, an annual international crime writing festival, and through regular literary gigs and concerts, the shop has hosted local greats and international bestsellers. No Alibis Press is their latest project, publishing extraordinary novels including December Stories by Ian Sansom.
The Crescent Arts Centre and The Belfast Book Festival
The Belfast Book Festival is Northern Ireland’s leading literary festival, and the Crescent Arts Centre’s core literary programme. The Crescent is also the home of The SHC Presents.. event series.
The Tangerine
The Tangerine is a Belfast-based magazine of new writing, published three times a year and covering culture and politics. When the speaker in Louis MacNeice’s poem Snow peels and portions a tangerine, they are struck by ‘the drunkenness of things being various’. The Tangerine is also concerned with ‘things being various’, and seeks to provide a space for a plurality of voices: for new creative work, thoughtful discussion, and critical engagement with culture and politics in Belfast and beyond.
Irish Pages: A Journal of Contemporary Writing
Irish Pages is a biannual journal edited in Belfast and publishing poetry, short fiction, essays, creative non-fiction, essay reviews, nature-writing, memoir, translated work, and literary journalism, from Ireland and overseas.