Longford lets Goldsmith shine for the 41st festival

Economic progress and subsequent social inequality will be explored at the 41st annual Goldsmith Literary Festival. Taking place from May 30 to June 1, the event promises to entertain all who attend.
Festival Chairperson of six years, Arthur Conlon, said:

“It’s a unique social, cultural and literary event. It’s not just a literary event, but it combines music, drama, song, poetry and general good fun. So I became involved because of all those things. Undoubtedly, Oliver Goldsmith is the most significant writer to have emerged from Irish midlands and it’s essential that his life and works continue to be promoted. And his works are studied and critiqued across the world, so it’s promoted to continue to promote him in his local area.”

The festival will consist of a packed schedule including musical performances, a tour of ‘Goldsmith Country’ and poetry readings. The action will commence at The Rustic Inn, on Friday evening May 30, where the festival will be officially opened by Senator Michael McDowell at 8pm.

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Proceedings will commence at 9.30am on Saturday morning with the Literary Tour of ‘Goldsmith Country’. Another key event is the energetic ‘Goldsmith Live’ session which kicks off in Skelly’s Courtyard, Ballymahon from 2.30pm this will see a new play about Goldsmith’s life written and performed by acclaimed actor Michael J Ford.

Mr Conlon added, “We have two main aims: to promote Goldsmith country as a tourist attraction and to promote interest in the life and works of Oliver Goldsmith.”

This year's theme for the festival is a quote from Goldsmith: “Where wealth accumulates and men decay, must economic progress mean social inequality?”

The adjudicator for the Goldsmith Festival Poetry Competition is Noel Monahan, a Granard-born poet. The Sunday awards for the poetry competition has free admission at Pallas at 3:30pm. 

The Festival will take place in numerous locations: The Rustic Inn, Abbyshrule; Ballymahon Library; Skelly's Courtyard, Ballymahon; Pallas (Goldsmith’s birthplace); and The Three Jolly Pigeons. 

Ahead of the Goldsmith Festival, Mr Conlon said “after the excitement of our 40th Anniversary Festival last year, in 2025 we are continuing to build on the recent innovations to our festival, all with the aim of offering something for everyone over the course of the weekend. This year we are offering a programme including speakers of the highest quality, who will inform, provoke, question and above all entertain.”

Distinguished economist, Trinity College academic, and former director of the Economic and Social Research Institute, Professor Frances Ruane, is this year’s keynote speaker. Independent senator and former attorney general for Ireland, Michael McDowell, award-winning poet Noel Monahan, and journalist with the Irish Times Frank McNally are also among the speakers who will attend the festival from May 30 to June 1, in south Longford and south Westmeath.

For more information on the Goldsmith Festival 2025 programme and how to register for ticket prices and where each event takes place, visit: www.olivergoldsmithfestival.com