An informal lunch to celebrate the closing of the festival. A chance to share memories and make plans to meet again for the Bere Island Arts Festival 2026. A suggested donation will be recommended on the day.

This event, concluding the third annual Bere Island Festival will bring the literary excellence of Cónal Creedon, the musical innovation of The OARS, the choral expertise of Eva McMullan Glossop together in a spectacular performance of Creedon’s piece ‘This is Bere’. Cónal Creedon was appointed cultural ambassador to the City of Cork 2019. Cónal’s friendly and humorous style has made him a regular at International literary festivals. His novel, Begotten Not Made was awarded the prestigious Eric Hoffer Award USA 2020 and his historical fiction, Art Imitating Life Imitating Death, was awarded the IP Gold Award USA 2023.

Dr. Eva McMullan Glossop is a musicologist at the Department of Music UCC whose interests are rooted in connecting communities through choral music and devising teaching methodologies that increase the accessibility and receptiveness of music.

The OARS is a new contemporary duo featuring songwriter and guitarist Eoin Coughlan and multi instrumentalist Brian Morrissey. Their recently released album was produced by multi-Grammy winner Dirk Powell. ‘The tunes and grooves are rock solid yet always moving. The songs arrive in the centre of this feeling, full of brave lyrics, vivid imagery, and fearless emotion. Their combination of rawness and finesse is truly rare and instantly engaging’. They recently supported The Stunning and toured with Damien Dempsey.