Malachy McCourt, Martin Hayes, and Dr Jane O’Meara-Sanders among line-up for I.NY Festival 2019

I.NY Festival 2019, in Limerick, this October 16-20, will explore the relationship between Ireland and New York one story at a time

Exploring and celebrating the relationship between Ireland and New York one story at a time, I.NY Festival 2019, welcomes speakers such as NYPD Commissioner James P. O’Neill, Margaret Molloy, HBO’S Qool DJ Marv, Kevin Barry, John Kelly, Aoife Nic Canna, Donal Dineen, Hugh Linehan, Mother DJs and many more. IrishCentral's own Managing Editor Kate Hickey will be among the panelists at the Limerick festival this year.

The third installment of the I.NY Festival will take place at various venues throughout the city. An anchor event within Fáilte Ireland’s Global Irish Festival Series, the I.NY Project explores and celebrates the relationship between Ireland and New York, one story at a time.

The annual I.NY Festival, is one of the central elements of the I.NY Project, bringing the unique relationship between Ireland and New York to life in all its diversity and richness, history and modernity. Focusing on the personal stories of the Irish in and of New York, I.NY welcomes and tells those stories through conversation and debate, interviews and performances, cultural and political discourse, music, literature, film, fashion, food, sport and arts events. 

I.NY Festival - exploring and celebrating the relationship between Ireland and New York one story at a time

This year’s festival program will feature a line-up of dynamic, unique and sometimes challenging events with key contributions from a host of guests who personify the depth and breadth of the Ireland New York relationship.

Headline guests include writer and actor Malachy McCourt, NYPD Commissioner James P. O’Neill, and the return to the festival of Dr. Jane O’Meara Sanders, political activist and senior adviser to US Senator Bernie Sanders. Also appearing will be Limerick-born Booker Prize-nominated author Kevin Barry, WearingIrish founder and Siegel+Gale Global CMO Margaret Molloy, world-renowned fiddle player Martin Hayes and award-winning author and broadcaster John Kelly.

Other panellists, moderators, speakers and performers travelling to Limerick for the festival include Dr Miriam Nyhan Historian and Director of Irish American Studies at Glucksman Ireland House at NYU, J.P. O’Meara, VP at Ralph Lauren New York, Brooklyn and Manhattan club owner and LGBTQ activist Brenda Breathnach, Google Creative Labs’ Mary Leonard, Qool DJ Marv of HBO and NYC’s Soho House, Rugby Union New York Founder/Owner James Kennedy, Irish Times Arts & Culture Editor and Inside Politics podcast host Hugh Linehan and IrishCentral Managing Editor Kate Hickey, plus Irish DJs Donal Dineen, Aoife Nic Canna and Niall Colgan, and a return to I.NY for Dublin’s Mother DJs. More contributors will be announced shortly.

Alongside the I.NY headline shows which take center stage each evening, The Annie Moore Talks series returns with conversations grounded in Irish identity and experience in New York, including an examination of our understandings and misunderstandings of what it is to be Irish and Irish-American in New York. Further discussions will include the Irish LGBTQ experience in the city, the impact of young Irish entrepreneurs and executives in leading New York businesses, and the influence that the city and its people have had on some of Ireland’s best-loved musicians, writers, and broadcasters.

Tickets are on sale now at www.thisisINY.com from €0 - €25 including booking fee. Full program details available at www.thisisINY.com.

News and updates from I.NY Festival can be found on the usual social media channels @thisisINY #INYFestival.