Organised annually by the Munster Literature Centre, the 17th Cork International Short Story Festival — the only one of its kind in the country and now the oldest in the world — has been taking place in Leeside all week, giving readers and writers a rare chance to revel in the pleasures of short form fiction.

Cork Midsummer Festival launches today for 10 days of theatre, art and family fun. Des O’Driscoll selects a few of the upcoming highlights.

There is, we are told, no business like show business, and every year brings more and more starry-eyed youngsters beating at the doors of success and fame.

Weekend number 2 of Cork Midsummer Festival features a tour of local homes to view their art, dancing with buckets, and more, says Ellie O’Byrne

Cork Midsummer Festival runs this weekend and next. Here are some of the early highlights:

Luke Murphy’s new dance piece explores issues around the independence struggle, says Jo Kerrigan

KEEN students attend ballet school; trained artistes perform with ballet companies across the world. But where is the stepping stone in between, that would give the experience necessary for moving on from one to the other? 

A CREATIVE choreographer/dancer, Maria Nilssen Waller has never been content merely to interpret feeling through movement.

MUSIC NEWS: Girl Band have cancelled their remaining gigs this year, with appearances in Cork and Dublin among those pulled by the group. 

IndieCork is proud of its niche status and ability to foster emerging talent, writes Colette Sheridan

THE newly formed Cork City Musical Society, in association with the Firkin Crane, is about to stage its debut production, Sweet Charity. 

Details of a new festival of music, art, and conversation curated by The National’s Bryce Dessner to mark the 160th anniversary of Cork Opera Houseare set to be announced next week.

Ballet Ireland’s current tour combines classic and contemporary works writes, Jo Kerrigan

It’s little wonder Keith Hanley was chosen last Christmas to play Prince Charming in Cinderella at the Everyman Palace in Cork.

AS A secondary school pupil in Carraig na bhFear all Simon McKeown wanted to be was a vet. 

CADA Performing Arts drama school in Cork, having successfully staged the musical CATS, is now preparing for Les Miserables, at the Firkin Crane theatre. Catherine Mahon-Buckley, CADA’s unflappable director, takes the enormous undertaking in her stride.

A giant fire-breathing dragon will wake from his year-long slumber tonight to terrify and thrill at a Halloween parade through Cork City.

It takes two to tango. And when your partner is internet giant Google, your dance is going to go global.

An extensive critique of the McAleese Report into the Magdalene laundries could be published by the year end, according to the Justice for Magdalenes (JFM).

Choreographer Laura Murphy is planning something very new and different for this year’s Cork Midsummer Festival.

Modern communications and dance and theatre are merging.

Director of the Montfort College of Performing Arts Trevor Ryan is up to his eyes in pantomime, which is his favourite genre of theatre.

Supported by the Arts Council, Cork City Council, and the Firkin Crane, Laura Murphy is Cork’s Dancer in Residence at Firkin Crane for 2013/2014. Originally from Kinsale, this highly-qualified dance artist, performer and choreographer is bubbling over with ideas.

The home of dance in Cork has been selected for a prestigious scheme that will help it connect with existing and new audiences through digital marketing.

Cork City Ballet’s artistic director, Alan Foley, recently announced a long-cherished ambition: a full-time dance college opening in Sept 2014.

“Watch me fly, see me soar, you will see all that I am meant to be, like an eagle up on high,” sang 140 young voices, as sun blasted the steps of Cork’s Triskel Christchurch.

A Cork woman who became a byword in the campaign for miners’ rights in the US is to be honoured in a special festival in her native city next month.

WHEN Cork City Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty opens at Cork Opera House on Thursday, it’s probably safe to say the majority of the audience will be women.

Despite losing Arts Council funding, Cork City Ballet’s Alan Foley is refusing to give up on his dream, says Jo Kerrigan

A highlight of Midsummer Festival was a series of plays performed in unlikely locations about Cork city, says arts editor Marc O’Sullivan

CORK Midsummer Festival launches today with openings that include Rian at Cork Opera House; the world premiere of Fearghus Ó Conchuir’s Starlight at Firkin Crane; Pat Kinevane in Silent at the Commodore Hotel in Cobh; Catherine Wheels’ White at the Granary Theatre; and TPO Company’s Kindur: The Adventurous Life of Icelandic Sheep at the Cork School of Music.

Joan Denise Moriarty instilled a love of ballet in Cork people, taught it to their children, and gave it a home in Firkin Crane, says Jo Kerrigan

IT got off to a soggy start, but no amount of moisture could have killed the carnival in Cork last night where jazz junkies got down and dirty to swinging big band music and lashings of Latin groove.

U2 FRONTMAN Bono was rumoured last night to be planning to join tens of thousands of music fans in Cork this weekend for the city’s jazz festival.