CQAF 2026 / words / Bad Bridget, with Leanne McCormick and Elaine Farrell

Bad Bridget, with Leanne McCormick and Elaine Farrell

Bad Bridget, with Leanne McCormick and Elaine Farrell

The Black Box

Thursday 30 April, 1.00pm

£6.00/£5.00 (Unwaged)

Sold Out

Due to demand, this show has moved venue to The Black Box, Hill Street, Belfast City Centre. 

Join us for a lunchtime talk by Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick, authors of the number 1 bestselling book, Bad Bridget: Crime, Mayhem and the Lives of Irish Emigrant Women.” Hear about women’s experiences of poverty and hardships, their criminal escapades, and their defiance and resistance on the streets and courtrooms of nineteenth and early-twentieth-century New York, Boston and Toronto.

Leanne McCormick is Professor of Modern Irish History at Ulster University, and co-chair of the Independent Truth Recovery Panel for Northern Ireland.

Elaine Farrell is Professor of Irish History at Queen’s University Belfast and is currently writing a book on secrets in nineteenth-century Ireland.

Together they lead the Bad Bridget project, which focuses on Irish women in North America who found themselves on the wrong side of the law in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The project includes a popular podcast starring Siobhán McSweeney, a #1 best-selling book, Bad Bridget: Crime, Mayhem and the Lives of Irish Emigrant Women (Penguin Sandycove, 2023), and an exhibition at the Ulster American Folk Park in Omagh (2022-2026).

Also available via Zoom, if you would like to access the talk via Zoom, you can purchase tickets here:

https://cliftonhousebelfast.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873682367

Tickets also available from:
Visit Belfast | 028 90 246 609
9 Donegall Square North - Open 7 days a Week

CQAF 2026 Words

Louis Theroux In Conversation

Louis Theroux In Conversation

Assembly Buildings Conference Centre, 2-10 Fisherwick Place, Belfast, BT1 6DW

Thursday 30th April, 8.00pm

Bad Bridget, with Leanne McCormick and Elaine Farrell

Bad Bridget, with Leanne McCormick and Elaine Farrell

The Black Box

Thursday 30 April, 1.00pm

Derek Mahon – A Celebration with Stephen Rea, Katy Mahon and Stephen Sexton

In association with the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's

Derek Mahon – A Celebration with Stephen Rea, Katy Mahon and Stephen Sexton

Carlisle Memorial Church

Saturday 2 May, 6.00pm 

Rob Newman: ‘Intelligence ‘ Book Talk and In Conversation

Rob Newman: ‘Intelligence ‘ Book Talk and In Conversation

The Black Box

Sunday 3 May, 2.00pm

Punk Rock Ruined My Life: And Other Stories – John Robb

CQAF In association with Strange Victory

Punk Rock Ruined My Life: And Other Stories – John Robb

The Sunflower

Sunday 3 May, 7.30pm

Philip Hoare – William Blake and the Sea Monsters of Love

Presented by Ulster Presents and CQAF

Philip Hoare – William Blake and the Sea Monsters of Love

Ulster University - Lecture Theatre 2

Tuesday 5 May, 7.00pm

Colin Graham: ‘Sensation’ and ‘I am the Border, so I am’

Colin Graham: ‘Sensation’ and ‘I am the Border, so I am’

Seamus Heaney Centre, QUB

Wednesday 6 May, 6.00pm

Earth to Alice: Escape Artist (Alice McCullough Work in Progress)

Earth to Alice: Escape Artist (Alice McCullough Work in Progress)

The Dark Horse

Sunday 10 May, 2.00pm, 5.00pm, 8.00pm

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The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival and Out To Lunch are annual festivals of music, comedy, theatre, art and literature which take place in January and May in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

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Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival / Out To Lunch Arts Festival
Unit 8
Northern Whig House
Bridge Street
Belfast
BT1 1LU