Listowel Food Fair - November 5th - 8th

The annual Food Festival takes place in Listowel from the 5th – 8th November. The celebrity chef taking part in this year’s festival is Kevin Dundon of Dunbrody House. He will be giving a cookery demonstration on the Friday night at the Listowel Arms Hotel and on Saturday morning you can have a cup of coffee with him and chat about food! Other events at the festival include an organic fruit and vegetable gardening class, cake decorating class, seminars and of course the competitions. For more information visit listowelfoodfair.com

Kerry Film Festival 2009

The 10th annual Kerry Film Festival runs from October 31st – November 7th. This year’s festival has an amazing line up of films including, Apocalypse Now, The Magnificent Seven, Pans Labyrinth, The Secret of Kells and a number of both Irish and international short films. The main feature of the festival is the short film competition which focuses on young filmmakers seeking exposure for their work. The adjudicators for this year’s festival include Oscar winning actor Jeremy Irons, Michael Fassbender who set the film world alight with his portrayal of Bobby Sands in Steve McQueen’s Hunger, film critic James Christopher and animator Simon Brown who has worked on many films including Matrix Revolutions, Ice Age – The Meltdown and his most recent project, James Cameron’s Avatar.

In 2008 Kerry Film Festival launched the Maureen O’Hara award for women that have excelled in film. This year’s recipient is Rebecca Miller. Rebecca is a writer and director. She is the author of the The Private Lives of Pippa Lee which has been published in over 30 countries. The film version was released this year, playing at the prestigious Toronto Film Festival, with a cast that includes Robin Wright Penn, Keanu Reeves, Julianne Moore, Alan Arkin and Winona Ryder. She has also written and directed award-winning films such as Angela (1995) and The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005).

The Kerry Film Festival also works in close collaboration with the Irish Film Institute, Kerry County Council and various schools throughout the county and has lined up twelve screenings and a number of workshops to appeal to students in primary, secondary and third-level education. The Education Programme begins on Monday, November 2nd and runs through to Friday, November 6th. For more details on this and the various film screenings please visit http://www.kerryfilmfestival.com/

The Pre-Madonnas Show - Waterville

Tech Amergin Waterville is the venue for the Pre-Madonnas show on Friday 30th October at 8.30pm.

Mezzo soprano Liz Ryan (Dublin) and soprano Mary Flaherty (Galway), present a delectable programme of arias and duets from composers such as Verdi, Mozart, Bellini, Delibes and Handel, as well as operetta and Victorian songs and comedy sketches. Deborah Kelleher will accompany them piano. For more information visit www.techamergin.com

Music Network presents Ragnhild Furebotten and Tore Bruvoll’s Norwegian Traditional Group “Hekla Stålstrenga” at Siamsa Tíre,Tralee.

Music Network presents Grammy award winner Ragnhild Furebotten and Tore Bruvoll’s Norwegian traditional group, Hekla Stålstrenga at Siamsa Tíre, Tralee, Co. Kerry, on Wednesday 14th October at 8pm. Inspired by the traditional folk music of Norway and the arctic regions, their playing is characterised by intensity, virtuosity and musical nerve. This concert is promoted by Siamsa Tíre and Music Network.

As part of Siamsa Tíre’s Find Out More..! Initiative, a pre-show chat will take place from 7pm where the musicians will discuss the peculiarities of Norwegian traditional music and how it relates to Ireland’s folk tradition. All those attending the performance are welcome to attend!

Kerry International Chamber Music Festival

A number of concerts have been organised for the weekend as part of the Kerry International Chamber Music Festival. On Friday Con Tempo (String Quartet) with Arvid Engegård (Violin), Juliet Jopling (Viola), Matthew Hunt (Clarinet) will be performing in Muckross House, Killarney. The concert begins at 8.00 pm. On Saturday the music moves to St James Church in Dingle with a lunch-time concert and the final concert of the festival is in Waterville in Tech Amergin. Throughout the festival the musicians will be performing works by Beethoven, Mozart and Dvorák. For more information go to www.kicmif.ie

Dingle Food Festival also takes place in Dingle this weekend. The festival activities include a series of cookery demonstrations, special menus at restaurants, food markets, cheese & wine seminars and culinary trails. For more information go to www.dinglefood.com

The Listowel Harvest Festival

The Listowel Harvest Festival runs in conjunction with the week-long Listowel Races (Sunday 13th – Saturday 19th). The festival includes a wealth of street entertainment including busking, fun street races and the annual All Ireland Wrenboy Bands competition. For more information on the races visit www.listowelraces.ie

Dingle Film Festival 2009

Jim Sheridan is this year's recipient of the Gregory Peck Award at the Dingle Film Festival which runs from the 10th - 13th September. The award which will be presented by Anthony Peck at the Phoenix Cinema on Friday 11th September recognises the contribution that Jim Sheridan has made to the film industry with award winning films such as My Left Foot, The Field and In America to name but a few.

Some of the other guests at the festival include Marc Flanagan, two time Emmy Award winner, writer and producer of the Tracy Ullman show, Geoff Wonfor, Grammy Award winner and director of the Beatles Anthology and Ned Dowd producer of Apocalypto and Last of the Mohicans.

Films such as the Beatles Anthology, Monty Python and the Holy Grail as well as award winning comedy shorts will be screened in various locations around Dingle. There will also be interviews and talks with many of the invited guests during which they will share their experiences and knowledge. For more information visit www.dinglefilmfestival.com