Back by popular demand, hear personal tales and local folklore of the hauntings of Spike Island.
Join us on Saturday August 22nd, where we will see if we can makecontactwiththeotherside.
“A genuinely atmospheric, unsettling location”
Walking through creepy abandoned cells, punishment block, and dark underground tunnels is a level of immersion that cannot be faked. Be ready for the low-lighting and sometimes pitch darkness of these centuries old areas of our fortress.
In the 19th century, Spike Island was one of the largest convict prisons in the world, often called “Ireland’s Hell,” with overcrowding and harsh conditions leading to many deaths.
From this era of solitary confinement and children’s prisons, to Spike’s use as a modern prison up until 2004, you’re not just hearing old folklore from our guides – you’re getting stories spanning centuries.
Our guides will recount the paranormalstoriesandsightings, passed down by our former island residents and staff.
There are no actors or jump scares. Any fear you feel on the night comes from atmosphere, darkness, and what you imagine – which for most people is far more unsettling. You’ll feel cut off from the world on our island which can only be accessed by taking out ferry across Cork harbour.
Over 16’s only, not suitable for younger children.
Back by popular demand!
We’re delighted to announce the return of our Spike Island 5km Race. Lace up your running shoes and join us on Saturday 12th September for an unforgettable run on Ireland’s infamous prison island.
This unique event promises an adventure like no other – where else can you begin your race within the walls of a 200-year-old fortress before making your way around an iconic island surrounded by spectacular views of Cork Harbour?
New in 2026, we are using a chip timing system to give you the most accurate timings possible, available online for you to see soon after the event has finished.
The race kicks off at approximately 5:25 p.m., promising an adrenaline-fueled dash through the island’s scenic routes. Our dedicated marshals will be on hand to guide you and ensure you stay on track throughout.
After crossing the finish line, each participant will receive a special Spike Island medal and there will be a special medal ceremony to celebrate your triumphs, with awards for the fastest male and female runners.
So what are you waiting for? Embrace the challenge and create lasting memories at Spike Island. Boats depart from Cobh at 4pm and 4:45pm and spaces are limited for this unique race event.
Gill Perdue, Mary Watson & Sam Blake with Amy Jordan
Listen in as three international bestsellers and masters of misdirection, Sam Blake, Mary Watson & Gill Perdue chat to Amy Jordan about what drives the kind of stories that live with their readers long after they’ve turned the last page.
Reading
Cormac Quinn
Join new debut crime writer Cormac Quinn in the punishment block for an intimate reading from his new book, Murder on Lough Derg.
From Fact to Fiction
Edel Coffey & Claire Coughlan with Michelle Dunne
Join journalists Edel Coffey and Claire Coughlan as they tell Michelle Dunne all about their transition from real life, to crime fiction and whether or not they ever bleed into one.
Gill Perdue
Gill Perdue is the author of bestselling novels If I Tell (nominated for Crime Novel of the Year in the Irish Book Awards 2022), When They See Me (2023) and in 2025 The Night I Killed Him, her third in the Shaw & Darmody series.
Her first standalone crime thriller All Of Them Lied publishes in June 2026 and has already been described by Liz Nugent as ‘the most compulsive reading experience I’ve had this year,’ and ‘unrelentingly tense,’ by Jane Casey.
Gill lives in Dublin with her hiking husband and rescue cat (aka last remaining pet), Dusty.
Mary Watson
Mary Watson is from South Africa and now lives on the west coast of Ireland. She has a PhD from the University of Cape Town, where she taught for many years.
She won the Caine Prize for African Writing for her adult publishing in South Africa, and in 2014 was named on the Africa39 list of writers under 40 with the potential to define trends in African literature.
Her YA novels have been nominated for the Irish Book Awards and the Carnegie medal. Her adult debut, The Cleaner, was a bestseller in Ireland, the UK and Canada.
Sam Blake
Sam Blake is a pseudonym for Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin, the founder of Europe’s biggest writing resources website, the award winning writing.ie, the Writers Ink online writing group and Murder One, Ireland’s International Crime Writing Festival.
She is a multiple No 1 bestselling Irish crime writer and has been shortlisted for Irish Crime Novel of the Year four times, and twice for Irish Teen and YA Novel of the Year. Her second YA novel, Something’s About to Blow Up was Winner of the International Education Services Teen & YA Novel of the Year 2024. Her latest adult thriller is Your Every Move (January 2026). 15 Kill Lane is released January 2027.
Follow Sam on social @samblakebooks or find out more at www.samblakebooks.com, where you can join her Reader’s Club and receive her adult thriller High Pressure for free.
Amy Jordan
Amy Jordan is a crime writer from Cork. Writing as Amy Cronin, she published three books with Poolbeg Press, before moving to HQ, HarperCollins.
The Dark Hours, her international debut, was published in multiple territories, was reviewed by the New York Times, and was an instant Irish Times bestseller.
Amy’s next thriller, Lie Steal Kill, a follow-up to The Dark Hours, will be released in January 2027.
Keep up to date with Amy’s books at @amyjordanbooks on Instagram.
Cormac Quinn
Based in Dublin, Cormac Quinn is a debut author with a passion for the murder mystery genre.
At much too young an age, he started reading detective novels and has yet to stop.
In a previous life, he was a journalist and news editor in Asia.
Edel Coffey
Edel Coffey is an Irish author and journalist.
She has published three number-one bestselling novels.
Her debut novel, Breaking Point, won the An Post Irish Book Award for Crime Novel of the Year.
She is a regular contributor to The Irish Times and RTE Radio One.
Claire Coughlan
Claire Coughlan worked as a journalist before starting to write fiction.
She has an MFA in Creative Writing from UCD and is the author of two crime novels, Where They Lie and Among the Ruins, both published by Simon & Schuster UK.
Where They Lie was nominated for the Irish Independent Crime Fiction Book of the Year at the 2024 An Post Irish Book Awards. In the same year, Claire was selected by the An Post Irish Book Awards as part of its New Voices: Best New Irish Writers list.
She can be found on Instagram @claireelizabethco
Michelle Dunne
Michelle Dunne is the best selling author of 8 psychological thrillers, including international bestseller The Good Girl, voted one of the top ten books to be published in the Czech Republic in 2025, and her new release, Burning Secrets.
Michelle is the organiser and programmer of the Spike Island Literary Festival – a crime-themed festival set in Ireland’s very own Alcatraz. She is also festival manager at Dublin’s international crime writing festival, Murder One.
Join us for some unique insight into the worlds of two of the darkest minds in crime fiction, knowing that this conversation will leave you well and truly entertained.
Reading
R.O. Thorpe
Head to the abandoned cells to see if Australian born author R.O. Thorp can hook you with her new mystery, Marked for Death.
From Page to Screen
Andrea Mara & Catherine Ryan Howard with PJ Coogan
Meet the Irish murderesses behind some of the most binge-worthy TV shows of the decade, as they tell us what it was like to see their ideas journey from their mind, onto the page and all the way to Hollywood.
PJ Coogan is live from the red carpet!
Luca Veste
Luca Veste is the internationally bestselling author of Italian and Liverpudlian heritage.
His books includes The Bone Keeper and the Murphy & Rossi series. He is the bass player in the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers band, co-host of the hit podcast Two Crime Writers and a Microphone, and the co-founder of the Locked Up Festival, which raised over £25,000 for the Trussell Trust charity.
He studied psychology and criminology at the University of Liverpool, and lives on Merseyside with his wife and two daughters. His new book Liar Liar came out in June to enormous praise.
Stuart Neville
Stuart Neville’s debut novel, THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST (published in the UK as THE TWELVE), won the Mystery/Thriller category of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was picked as one of the top crime novels of 2009 by both the New York Times and the LA Times.
He has been shortlisted for various awards, including the MWA Edgar, CWA Dagger, Theakstons Old Peculier Novel of the Year, Barry, Macavity, Dilys awards, as well as the Irish Book Awards Crime Novel of the Year.
He has since published eleven more critically acclaimed novels, two of which were under the pen name Haylen Beck, and a short story collection.
R.O. Thorpe
R.O. Thorpe is an Australian living in Cork, Ireland, where she writes lyrics and herds cats.
She was one of the Observer’s top 10 debut novelists of 2021, and her writing has won the London Short Story Award and been shortlisted for the BBC Opening Lines Prize.
Death on Ice (2025) was her first foray into murder mysteries.
Andrea Mara
Andrea Mara is a number one Sunday Times, Irish Times and Kindle bestselling author, whose books have sold more than one million copies across all formats.
The TV adaptation of her 2021 book, All Her Fault, aired in November 2025 to huge critical and audience acclaim, with Sarah Snook (Succession) playing the lead.
Her latest book, Such A Nice Girl, was an Irish Times number one bestseller and a UK Sunday Times top ten bestseller.
Her 2025 novel, It Should Have Been You, won Irish Crime Novel of the Year at the 2025 An Post Book Awards. Her book No One Saw a Thing was a Sunday Times number one bestseller and has sold over half million copies.
Andrea lives in Dublin with her husband and three children.
You can find Andrea on Instagram @andreamaraauthor
Catherine Ryan Howard
Catherine Ryan Howard is the award-winning, no.1 bestselling author of The Trap, The Nothing Man and Burn After Reading.
A limited series based on her ‘lockdown’ thriller, 56 Days, is now streaming worldwide on Prime Video.
Her latest novel is Buyer Beware. She lives in Dublin.
PJ Coogan
After over 30 years on radio in Cork as a journalist, presenter and analyst, PJ’s voice is instantly familiar across the City & County.
He is the award-winning presenter of the Opinion Line on Cork’s 96FM.
Are you keen to write a crime novel?
Or perhaps you’ve already started your gripping thriller and are wondering how to bring it home in a suitably twisty manner.
Come along to a crime writing workshop with bestselling Penguin author Gill Perdue.
Gill will be exploring the various aspects of writing a successful crime novel, from plot and pacing to character development and voice.
A fun and lively session is planned after which you’ll definitely commit to crime!
From Manuscript to Market: Meet the publishers
with Mercier Press
Ireland’s oldest independent publishers, Mercier Press will be on-hand with their unique insight into exactly what the publishing industry is looking for, and what it’s not.
This masterclass gives invaluable insight into how to perfect your pitch as well as a thorough understanding of how the industry works.
In a relaxed and informal environment, there’ll be lots of opportunities to ask those tricky questions!
Gill Perdue
Gill Perdue is the author of bestselling novels If I Tell (nominated for Crime Novel of the Year in the Irish Book Awards 2022), When They See Me (2023) and in 2025 The Night I Killed Him, her third in the Shaw & Darmody series.
Her first standalone crime thriller All Of Them Lied publishes in June 2026 and has already been described by Liz Nugent as ‘the most compulsive reading experience I’ve had this year,’ and ‘unrelentingly tense,’ by Jane Casey.
Gill lives in Dublin with her hiking husband and rescue cat (aka last remaining pet), Dusty.
Michelle McDonagh & Fiona Gartland with Kitty Murphy
Join bestselling authors Michelle McDonagh and Fiona Gartland as they let us in on some of their plotting secrets.
With fellow crime-writer Kitty Murphy at the helm, no stone will be left unturned.
Michelle McDonagh
Michelle McDonagh is the author of four bestselling rural noir novels.
Her debut There’s Something I Have To Tell You was published in 2023, and her second bestseller Somebody Knows was shortlisted for the An Post Irish Book Awards in 2024. Her latest book If These Walls Could Talk was published in July 2025.
A journalist by trade, Michelle co-hosts books podcast Natter with Kate and Michelle with her friend and fellow writer Kate Durrant.
Fiona Gartland
Fiona Gartland is a crime writer and journalist from Dublin.
Her latest psychological suspense novel, Under Her Care, was published in April by Bloodhound Books. The first part of her Angie and Violet cosy crime trilogy is due for release in January 2027. Her short stories have featured on RTÉ radio and in magazines, including The Stinging Fly.
With The Irish Times for seventeen years, she focused on courts coverage, going on to work as assistant news editor and features section editor. She is married with four adult children and enjoys long walks, great reads, interviewing writers, and singing for fun. Find her at fionagartland.com and @gartlandbooks.
Kitty Murphy
Kitty Murphy lives on the very westerly edge of the Burren, surrounded by cows.
As Kitty, she writes murder mysteries set in a fictional Dublin drag scene – Death in Heels and Death in the Dark published by Thomas & Mercer, followed by Death in the Holidays and Death in Love. She’s Catherine Murphy for reviews, lifestyle pieces, interviews and journalism, and C Murphy for short stories and poems, published in Ireland, the USA and the UK. As C L Murphy she leans into the dark side…
Now in its fifth year, the Spike Island Literary Festival returns this September with a gripping programme dedicated to the art of crime writing.
Set against the unique backdrop of Spike Island’s infamous former prison, this one-of-a-kind festival brings together world-renowned authors and literary experts for a series of thrilling conversations, live readings and thought-provoking panels.
With a dark history of four prisons over 400 years, Spike Island is the perfect setting for literary enthusiasts from book lovers to budding writers.
Engage with your favourite authors and discover what inspires them through author-led panel discussions, experience readings from world-class writers as they recite their most famous works in unique locations or take the first steps to getting your own work published by meeting with a renowned literary agent.
Step inside the walls that once held some of Ireland’s most notorious criminals and immerse yourself in stories that intrigue, unnerve and captivate.
Whether you’re a fan of psychological thrillers, gritty detective fiction, or chilling true crime, Spike Island is the ultimate setting for your next plot twist.
This year’s programme features a stellar line-up of renowned authors such as Mark Billingham, Andrea Mara, Stuart Neville, Catherine Ryan Howard and more.
Join us at the Spike Island Literary Festival this September — where mystery, suspense, and storytelling collide.
The annual Spike Island 5km Race is back for 2026 – and it’s ready to take over Ireland’s infamous prison island once again!
Mark your calendars for Saturday, 18th April, as this much-loved event returns for another unforgettable day of energy, community spirit and that iconic Spike Island backdrop. Whether you’re chasing a PB, jogging with friends, or soaking up the atmosphere, this is one date you won’t want to miss.
This unique event promises an adventure like no other – where else can you begin your race within the walls of a 200-year-old fortress before making your way around an iconic island surrounded by spectacular views of Cork Harbour.
Tickets are on sale now – secure your spot at one of the most popular races of the year! We can’t wait to see you at the starting line.
Get into the festive spirit at Spike Island this Christmas
Join us on Sunday, 7 December, for our annual Charity Christmas Concert, a heartwarming event organised by our Volunteers and staff.
As we celebrate the season of giving, all proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to Street Angels Cork. Expect a memorable afternoon of festive music from The Sonatinas Choir under the direction of Conductor Rachel O’Brien in the charming surrounds of our Mitchel Hall building.
Tickets are €20 and include not only entry to the festive concert but also your ferry journey and time to self-explore our island and fortress.
Special thanks to our ferry provider, Doyle Shipping Group, who have kindly sponsored the boat on the day, to our cafe provider, Centra Cobh who provide food and refreshments free of charge, and to The Sonatinas Choir who give up their time voluntarily as do our tour guides and staff.
Embrace the holiday spirit with us at Spike Island this Christmas.
Secure your tickets now and be part of a day filled with music, history, and the joy of giving.
Walking through creepy abandoned cells, punishment block, and dark underground tunnels is a level of immersion that cannot be faked. Be ready for the low-lighting and sometimes pitch darkness of these centuries old areas of our fortress.
Gill Perdue
Mary Watson
Sam Blake
Amy Jordan
Cormac Quinn
Edel Coffey
Claire Coughlan
Michelle Dunne
Luca Veste
Stuart Neville
R.O. Thorpe
Andrea Mara
Catherine Ryan Howard
PJ Coogan
Ireland’s oldest independent publishers, Mercier Press will be on-hand with their unique insight into exactly what the publishing industry is looking for, and what it’s not.
Michelle McDonagh
Fiona Gartland
Kitty Murphy
Join us on Sunday, 7 December, for our annual Charity Christmas Concert, a heartwarming event organised by our Volunteers and staff.