Five For Your Radar: Cork Roots Fest, Wolf Alice, Schull films  

There's a whiff of summer in the air and some fine events to get along to over the next week 

Left to right: Nicola Coughlan and Live at Worthy Farm of Wolf Alice.

Festival: Cork Roots Festival 

Coughlan's, Friday-Monday, May 16-19 

A whole host of great acts, new, up-and-coming, and long established, take to the stage at Coughlan’s this weekend for Cork Roots Festival. John Blek and Scullion are already sold out, but the likes of Dublin-based duo Lemoncello, regular visitor to these shores James Yorkston, and local legend Ricky Lynch also appear over the weekend. Make sure to get to the venue early to get a good seat.

Lemoncello play Coughlan's as part of Cork Roots Festival 2025. 

Books: International Literature Festival Dublin 

Merrion Square Park, Dublin, Friday, May 16 to Sunday, May 25 

There are any number of highlights at ILF Dublin 2025. Stuart Murdoch (Friday) of Belle and Sebastian is one of the big names. He’ll be playing some of the band’s classic hits and talking fiction (his debut novel Nobody's Empire came out last year) and songwriting. Shon Faye (Sunday) discusses Love in Exile, a powerful and deeply moving exploration of love, exclusion, and identity. On Monday environmental storyteller Colin Butfield, long-time collaborator of David Attenborough, shares the story behind Ocean: How to Save Earth’s Last Wilderness.

Art: Sanctum 

The Vaults at Lavit Gallery, Cork, until May 31 

Artist Orla O'Byrne.

 Cork artist Orla O’Byrne is currently overseeing a conservation project of a large collection of historical plaster models at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral in her native city. This exhibition involves photographic work, drawing and installation that were created in response to the project. 

Concerts: Wolf Alice 

Cyprus Avenue, Tuesday, May 20 

English rock band Wolf Alice haven’t played shows since 2022 but after the release of new single Bloom Baby Bloom on Thursday, they have three Irish shows lined up early next week. They play Kilkenny’s Set Theatre on May 19, Cyprus Avenue on May 20, and Limerick’s Dolans Warehouse on May 21 — tickets were only available via the band’s mailing list. They play Glastonbury next month.

Cinema: Fastnet Film Festival 

Schull, Co Cork, Wednesday-Sunday, May 21-25 

Domhnall Gleeson, Barry Keoghan, Nicola Coughlan, and Bill Pullman will all be in conversation across the week at the Fastnet Film Festival. There’s a special panel on RTÉ crime show Kin with Aidan Gillen, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Clare Dunne, and co-creator Peter McKenna, while In the Opinion of the Censor, directed by Andrew Gallimore, gets its world premiere. That’s alongside masterclasses, short film screenings and lots more.