Music, Book + Fanzine Festival 2026

“Celebrating Art, Ideas and Do-It-Yourself Spirit” is how The Music, Book and Fanzines Festival 2026 posits itself.

The two-day festival is the brainchild of two longtime punk rockers and authors: Niall McGuirk, the founder of the Hope Collective, the organisation responsible for bringing acts like Green Day, Fugazi, Jawbreaker, NOFX, Bikini Kill, and Refused to Ireland in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and Dr Michael Mary Murphy, a lecturer on the music industry and former A&R rep for Virgin and Imago Records.

In addition to their respective bibliographies, McGuirk and Dr Murphy have co-edited 2016’s In Concert: Favourite Gigs of Ireland's Music Community, 2021’s Great Gig Memories: From Punks and Friends, and 2023’s Punks Listen, which compile the writings of various journalists, musicians, writers, promoters, and fans, and donates the proceeds from the books to various charities and causes. This festival is co-presented by Hope’s new project, The Irish Pop Archive, which seeks to preserve documentation of Ireland’s musical history. “We've invited some of our favourite musicians, authors, designers and fanzine makers,” Dr Murphy said when he announced the festival online.

Day one will take place at Volume Records and Books in Dún Laoghaire on Saturday, April 18th, from 20:00 to 22:00, and will feature three punk authors discussing their latest offerings.

The first will be Boff Whalley, the poet, playwright, and former guitarist for the anarcho-punk legends Chumbawamba, who will discuss his book, But: Life Isn’t Like That, Is It?; a compilation of stories about real people, contrasting tropes found in creative writing.

Then, John Robb, author, journalist, frontman of The Membranes and Goldblade, and founder of the online music magazine Louder Than War, will discuss his upcoming series of essays, titled Punk Rock Ruined My Life: And Other Stories, which documents the chronology of punk rock through his first-hand experience.

Wrapping up the first night will be author, musician, documentarian, and scholar Kevin C. Dunn, who will share his contribution to the ongoing 33 1/3 book series, which focuses on the Belfast punks Stiff Little Fingers’ 1979 debut album and significant document of The Troubles, Inflammable Material.

The following week, on Saturday, April 25th, the second day of the event will take place at the Carnegie Library within the Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design + Technology (IADT), from 10:00 to 17:30.

The event will begin with some opening remarks from Dr Murphy, followed by a panel discussing fanzines, and featuring Hope’s McGuirk, the founder of Riot 77, Cian Hynes, the organiser of the Drogheda Zine Fair, Rita Hynes, the Irish fanzine historian, Ciarán Ryan, and the founder of PUNC, DJ MAL.

Then, two seasoned Dublin punk rock royalty will discuss their new books together. Paul “PA System” Jones, the guitarist of Dublin’s oldest and longest-running anarcho-punk band, Paranoid Visions, and founder and owner of the homegrown vinyl-pressing plant Rotator Vinyl, will discuss his autobiography, Too Old To Die Young: Paranoid Visions, Punk Rock and Me, and The Lee Harveys’ frontman, Bitzy Fitzgerald, will compliment Jones’ reminiscence of the local scene with his own, as documented in his autobiography, Past the Point of Rescue: A Tale of Addiction, Jail, and Punk Rock.

After, the Irish Times and Guardian journalist Michael McCaughan will discuss Coming Home: One Man’s Return to the Irish Language, his book about returning from Latin America and studying Gaeilge, with one half of the postpunk duo The Prongs and author of the cult novel The Now Now Express, John Fleming.

Following, the Hi Tone Books co-founders, Garry O’Neill (author of Where Were You?: Dublin Youth Culture & Street Style 1950–2000) and Niall McCormack (author of Grand Stuff: Label Art from Ireland), will engage in a discussion on art, music, and culture.

The Canadian folk singer-songwriter and author of Song of the Sparrow: A Memoir, Tara MacLean, will then conduct an in-depth one-on-one interview with the author and former concert promoter and manager, Paul Charles, to discuss his latest book and third in the McCusker Mysteries, Hi Love, You Just Dropped Your Glove.

To conclude the evening, the punk poet and artist Joolz Denby will discuss the topic of “The Golden Age of Album Design” with the graphic designer and former Radiator from Space, Steve Averill, who has worked on the artwork and visual elements for artists like U2, Elvis Costello, The Script, The Dubliners, Aslan, and The Virgin Prunes.

The Music, Book and Fanzine Festival will take place on Saturday, April 18th and Saturday, April 25th. Tickets for both days can be purchased via Eventbrite.