The hugely popular five-day Ballyshannon Allingham Festival - which showcases the very best of all forms of literary, musical and artistic talent - got off to a bright start last night (Wednesday, November 6).

The Ballyshannon Samba Band got the festival off to a rousing start at the official opening in the Abbey Arts Centre by Niamh Kennedy, Chairperson of Donegal County Donegal, from 7.30-8.30 pm, with the Abbey playing host to many key events throughout the festival.

Well-known journalist Richard Curran gave an illuminating talk on Artificial Intelligence in the centre from 8pm-9pm while singers, poets and storytellers performed in the atmospheric Thatch Bar from 8pm-11pm.

Today’s (Thursday's) packed programme begins with eclectic storyteller Joe Brennan who will visit all the primary schools in the area and sprinkle some of his magic for the little people.

There are two book launches, both in the Abbey Arts Centre, entitled ‘The House of Fiddlers’ and ‘110 Donegal Fiddle Tunes’ by Glenn Kendrix and Caoimhin MacAoidh from 5.30pm to 6.30pm.

Then from 7.30pm to 7.50pm, a short film entitled ‘Man of Stone' will be played, which is told through the eyes of Sarah McInaw about her grandfather Patsy McInaw, who has built over two miles of dry-stone walls on his farm in Mountcharles, County Donegal.

‘In The Shadow of Beirut' is a searing documentary by Ballyshannon native Garry Keane about four families living in modern-day Lebanon, from 8pm to 9.30pm in the Abbey.

Finally,  McIntyre's Bar, The Mall, hosts an open mic for musicians, poets and storytellers which features loads of local talent, from 9.30pm to 11.30pm.

Friday’s fare is even more packed with Joe Brennan continuing his storytelling at primary schools from 10am to 3pm.

The Mertales Writers Group will host a poetry and music session in Dicey Reilly's Bar from 3.30pm to 4.30 pm.

From 5pm to 6pm, there is a Fifth Court Podcast in the Abbey with legal eagles Peter Leonard B. L. and Mark Tottenham B. L. and Nelofar Nazira, an Afghan-Canadian actor, journalist and author who married Robert Fisk, the great war correspondent, in 2009, and wrote a postscript to his novel, ‘Night of Power’, about the betrayal of the Middle East.

Local author Jennifer Liston is launching a poetry collection in the Abbey from 7pm to 8pm.

Entitled ‘Grace Notes’, it reimagines the voice of Grace O’Malley, or Grainne Mhaol, the famous Irish sea pirate of the Sixteenth Century.

Paddy Campbell brings his one-man show, ‘Night In November’, directed by Christian Carbin, which tells the tale of one man’s struggle with his national identity during the toxic soccer World Cup Qualifier between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in 1994, running in the Abbey from 8pm to 10pm.

Local artistic tour de force Maura Logue, of Dark Daughters Productions, takes us on a lightning tour through history with her versatile character 'Nora' and a host of others in the Thatch pub from 10pm to 11.30pm.

Saturday kicks off with Christine Fox’s Children’s Art Workshop, from 10am to 11.30am.

Kilbarron House hosts a WORD regional meeting for current writers and prospective writers from 10.30am to noon.

From 10.30am to 3.30pm, Kids Little Top Stars show their circus skills in the iconic St. Anne’s Hall.

Ballyshannon native Ken Fox presents ‘Magic Primitivism in a Border Landscape’ on how Donegal has been portrayed in film, running from 11am to noon in the Abbey.

The ‘Literary Lunch’ is from noon to 2pm, and features the winners in the poetry and flash fiction sections, and the launch of a historical crime novel by local writer, Tom Sigafoos.

From 2pm to 3pm there are two films in the Abbey, ‘Where The Wind Is Always Young’, by Strabane native Declan Foley, about poet Declan Doherty, and ‘The Battle of Assaroe’, by award-winning film-maker Emer McShea, which explores the history of Assaroe Lake.

Three great writers - Phyl Herbert, Liz McManus and Mary Rose Callahan - discuss their acclaimed memoirs, ‘The Price of Silence’, 'When Things Come To Light’ and ‘The Deep End’ with renowned journalist Sinead Crowley, from 3.15pm to 4.15pm in the Abbey.

Staying at the Abbey, and from 5pm to 6pm, writer and journalist Paul O’Brien takes a look at the plays of the great dramatist, Sean O’Casey, in his book, ‘Sean O’Casey - Political Activist and Writer'.

From 6pm to 9pm in the Abbey, there is something unique to mark the 200th anniversary of William Allingham’s birth.

Two well-known local actors, Michael McMullin and Trisha Keane, play the parts of William and his wife, Helen, as they are interviewed by Sinead Crowley.

Ballybofey’s teenage singing sensation Muirean Bradley will be playing in St. Anne’s Church from 7.15pm to 10pm, and this gig is already sold out.

On Sunday morning, local singers, writers, musicians, poets and storytellers will strut their stuff in the Abbey from 11am to noon in ‘Gather Again’, for the P J Drummond Cup, which is judged by the audience.

Sinead Crowley launches her book, ‘A Maid On Fifth Avenue’, and will read from her book in a chat with Susan O’Keefe, Director of the Yeats Society Allin Sligo, from 1.30pm to 2.30pm.

Celina Muldoon, Dr. Clare Kelly and Rhonda McGovern will consider the climate emergency global political landscape, and the effect of late-stage Capitalism on the world in which we live, from 2.30pm to 3.30pm in the Abbey.

From 3.30pm to 4.30pm, three playwrights - Sean Byrne, Kieran Kelly and Gerry Moriarty - will have excerpts from their works, ‘Homegirls’, ‘The Evicted’ and ‘The Priests’ performed by Ballyshannon Amateur Dramatic Society, in the Abbey.

The marathon cornucopia of culture ends with music, poetry and readings in St. Anne’s Church, from 7pm to 8pm, not far from where the poet William Allingham rests in Mullinaghshee, looking over ‘the friendly spot and kindly town’ that he loved so well.