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The high point of the festival year. Winners of the 2026 Frances Browne Poetry Competition are announced at Kee’s Hotel, and the winning poems are read live in all three languages of the competition: English, Irish and Ulster-Scots.  This is a free event and everyone is welcome. It is a great night out, and a genuinely moving one.

Now in its eighteenth year, the competition celebrates the multilingual heritage of East Donegal and the Finn Valley, and this year drew entries from poets close to home and from right across the globe. Prizes are awarded in the English, Irish and Ulster-Scots categories, along with the Eilish McBride Award and the Local prizes for poets born in or living in the Lifford-Stranorlar Municipal District.

Novelist Sue Divin gives the keynote address, and poet Jennifer Leong reads her poem Hills.

Sue Divin, keynote speaker

Sue Divin is a Derry-based writer with Armagh roots. Her critically acclaimed novels are popular with teens and adults alike. Published in May 2026, Runaway Road (Macmillan) is on the Irish Times “Best fiction of 2026” list. Set in Donegal and Northern Ireland, it explores themes of belonging, identity, borders and youth justice. Guard Your Heart was Carnegie listed. Truth Be Told is on Ireland’s curriculum.

Jennifer Leong, reading

Festival guest, from Singapore. Jennifer Leong is a Pushcart Prize nominated Singaporean poet and advocate who began writing to raise funds for autism causes in2021. Lacking a formal background in writing, she quickly made her mark by inventing the "DuaTresPentaStep" poetic form which she attributes to divine inspiration. Her signature piece, "Hills," written in this unique structure, won the Spirit of the Festival Award at the Frances Browne Literary Festival in 2022 when she was 60. 

Known for exploring reverse poetry, catharsis, and Southeast Asian multilingualism, Jennifer actively engages with the local literary scene, including SingPoWriMo and the National Library Board, where she leads workshops bridging photography, memory, and verse. In the year Singapore turned 60, she co-founded NoesisConverseNation with two others. It is a multilingual showcase that traverses various arts genres. At its first two iterations, Chinese calligraphy, dance, music and virtual reality were created in responsive spontaneity and shared space with poetry readings. She is indescribably grateful that NoesisConverseNation takes place at National Gallery Singapore and fundraises for Poetry Festival Singapore.  Also known as Soy Avocado on social media, Jennifer loves collaborations both in poetry and other genres, locally and internationally. She aspires to advocate for hope in whatever she does.

Host Dr Dubhán Ó Longáin will host the Awards Ceremony.

2026 judges Dr Pauline Holland, Dr Dubhán Ó Longáin and Anne McMaster.

Funders and sponsors 

The Eilish McBride Award is sponsored by Edel MacBride.

Festival sponsors: Donegal County Council and the Finn Valley Voice.

About the Frances Browne Literary Festival

The Frances Browne Literary Festival celebrates the life and legacy of Frances Browne (1816 to 1879), the "Blind Poetess of Ulster". Rooted in her hometown of Ballybofey-Stranorlar, Co. Donegal, the festival brings together poets, writers, musicians and communities from Ireland and beyond to share in her spirit of creativity, inclusion and multilingual expression.

Frances Browne is the most important writer to emerge from Donegal’s Finn Valley. Her masterpiece, the children’s storybook Granny’s Wonderful Chair, was a bestseller all over the world, but she also deserves to be remembered for her unswerving opposition to slavery and all sorts of injustice. The festival works to bring Frances’s writing and astonishing life story to new generations, and to celebrate contemporary writers who continue in her tradition.

Full programme and festival information: www.francesbrowneliteraryfestival.com