- National Library of Ireland hosts free October 2026 events
- Dublin By Dusk includes after-hours Reading Room access
- Tours cover Live Aid, Seamus Heaney and WB Yeats
- In-person events include talks, symposia and workshops
- Visitors should check opening hours due to industrial action
The National Library of Ireland is hosting a programme of free exhibitions, tours, talks and events during October 2026. The programme includes the Bram Stoker Festival, Open House and the Dublin Festival of History. As part of Dublin By Dusk, visitors can experience the Library and its historic Reading Room after hours, hear from NLI readers about current research in Twilight Talks or attend a talk by folklorist Glynnis Crowley on Samhain and the Thinning Veil.
Tours include The Day The World Rocked, Live Aid on Fridays at 2pm and Saturdays at 11am at the National Photographic Archive in Temple Bar, and daily tours of Seamus Heaney: Listen Now Again from Monday to Saturday at 11.30am and 2pm at the Bank of Ireland Cultural and Heritage Centre on Westmoreland Street. The Journey to A Vision, a guided afternoon tour of the WB Yeats Exhibition, takes place on Tuesday 5 October at 1pm at the National Library of Ireland on Kildare Street. A Director’s Tour of the National Library of Ireland takes place on Thursday 22 October at 6pm at the National Library of Ireland on Kildare Street.
In-person events include Ballybeg Goes Global, A Celebration of Brian Friel on Friday 2 October from 2pm to 8pm, Big Stories Behind Small Treasures on Wednesday 7 October at 5.30pm, Historical fiction and Ficsean stairiúil on Thursday 8 October at 6.30pm, and Air from Another Life: Seamus Heaney and the Reflective Self on Saturday 10 October at 2pm. Further events include Youth and Inter-Cultural Identity in Ireland on Tuesday 13 October from 9.30am to 2pm, Into Irish, Translating a Nation on Thursday 15 October at 6.30pm, Open House Dublin on Saturday 17 October from 1pm to 4.30pm, Supernatural: Exploring Ireland’s Fairy Tradition Through Story and Song on Tuesday 27 October at 6pm, Samhain and the Thinning Veil on Thursday 29 October at 6pm, Dublin By Dusk Twilight Talks on Thursday 29 October at 7.10pm, and My Father’s Shade Appearing: Reflections on Patrick Heaney on Saturday 31 October at 2pm. A nature printing workshop titled The alder is my darling takes place on Saturday 17 October at 2pm. Due to current industrial action across the public sector, visitors should check opening hours for updates before visiting.
