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The Shaking Bog Festival 2026 returns to the Glencree Valley, County Wicklow with a stellar programme that is packed with creative engagement and immersive outdoor experience, designed to ignite conversations, inspire new ideas, move the heart and most of all offer a sense of hope by connecting people
Reflecting on the traditions of the ancient Irish Bilberry Festival that marks the beginning of the Lughnasa harvest, this year’s Shaking Bog Festival is about a deep
Complimenting the artistic programme is a series of nature events, the essential walks and talks that root us all in this natural environment.
Farmers Joe & Brendan Burton
atest press release from The Shaking Bog, issued on Friday, August 
23rd 2026…
atest press release from The Shaking Bog, issued on Friday, August 
23rd 2026…The Shaking Bog Festival 2026 returns to the Glencree Valley, County Wicklow with a stellar programme that is packed with creative engagement and immersive outdoor experience, designed to ignite conversations, inspire new ideas, move the heart and most of all offer a sense of hope by connecting people 
more deeply with each other and with the natural world around them.
more deeply with each other and with the natural world around them.Reflecting on the traditions of the ancient Irish Bilberry Festival that marks the beginning of the Lughnasa harvest, this year’s Shaking Bog Festival is about a deep
sense of community and gathering – gathering together to celebrate bats, bogs, hedgerows and sheep as well as immersing the audience in music, literature and, for the first time, dance, in beautiful rural surroundings.
A central event will be the Black Sheep Project, which will celebrate heritage and nature with a deep dive into the revived traditions of using wool for craft and artistic purposes through an immersive programme of interactive activities, led by artists, Caroline Byrne and Sharon Wells. Visual artist Caroline Byrne draws from nature for her printmaking, bookbinding and illustrations and Sharon Wells is a renowned Wicklow-based, wool crafter and artist.
We are also thrilled to welcome renowned sean-nós dancer and choreographer, Edwina Guckian from County Leitrim, accompanied by a group of fourteen accomplished musicians and dancers for The Gathering Field. Together they will lead a participatory celebration in a field belonging to local farmer brothers Joe and Brendan Burton that is nestled into the Glencree Valley. This is a unique celebratory that fuses ancient tradition and heritage with a sense of community and craic. It is sure to have everyone up dancing.
Sarah Macdonald
But, as always, serious artistic endeavour is the backbone of The Shaking Bog festival and this year we are proud to present internationally acclaimed artists such as writer, poet, naturalist and science historian, Helen Macdonald (author of the acclaimed H Is For Hawk) and Trinidadian-Scottish poet and non-fiction writer Antony Vahni Capildeo, winner of the 2025 Windham-Campbell Prize for Poetry. Renowned novelist, essay writer and artist, Sara Baume will also join us in conversation about her latest novel Opening Night and her deep relationship with the natural world that infuses all of her work.
AV Capildeo
In music events, dancer Edwina Guckian will join a host of other widely celebrated traditional musicians and dancers, including the critically-acclaimed multi- instrumentalist Seamas Hyland for a special traditional music concert in the atmospheric surroundings of Curtlestown Church. Other musical moments will include a concert by the wonderful harpist Claire O’Donnell and the inimitable singer-songwriter, Mary Coughlan, who lives in a neighbouring valley, in a rare intimate evening of conversation and song.
Complimenting the artistic programme is a series of nature events, the essential walks and talks that root us all in this natural environment. This year, we are grateful to be joined by many passionate and highly informed naturalists who will guide people through boglands, past hedgerows and into the woodlands at night.
Experts include Andrea Webb, a Conservation Ranger with Wicklow Mountains National Park; Neil Foulkes, an expert in Native Hedgerows; Janic Schulte from National Parks and Wildlife Services who will be guiding an evening bat walk; and finally, Lorna Kelly from Wicklow Uplands Council who will speak about the use of wool in bog restoration.
Artistic Events
⦿ Lindy’s Harp Concert with Claire O’Donnell & Guests 21st August 7pm St Patrick’s Church Curtlestown (Free)
⦿ Helen Macdonald Reading & Conversation 22nd August 4pm St Patrick’s Church Curtlestown (€18)
⦿ Anthony Vahni Capildeo Book Launch & Conversation 22nd August 5.30pm St Patrick’s Church Curtlestown (€18)
Coughlan & Conlon hit the road
⦿ Mary Couglan with Ultan Conlon 22nd August 8pm St Patrick’s Church Curtlestown (€30)
⦿ Sara Baume Reading & Conversation 23rd August 6pm St Patrick’s Church Curtlestown (€18)
⦿ The Gathering Field: A Concert with Edwina Guckian, Seamas Hyland & Guests 23rd August 7.30pm St Patrick’s Church Curtlestown (€20)
The Batstreet Boys
None of this would be possible without the generous support and real engagement of our own local community here in the beautiful Glencree valley. We are blessed by our neighbours and blessed also to share our lives with the wonders of this glorious part of the world.