The U.K.’s most successful Irish cultural festival, now in its 11th year, will run from Thursday 10th to Sunday 20th October 2013. The annual festival celebrates the links between Liverpool and Ireland.

The cultural celebration brings together the colourful Irish heritage of Liverpool, with the best of contemporary and traditional Irish arts and culture. A rich mix of music, drama, comedy, film, talks, literature, lectures and walks will fill the concert halls, pubs, clubs, museums and galleries throughout the city for the ten day festival.

Highlights include a rare showing in the U.K. of director Lenny Abramson’s (Garage, What Richard Did) first feature length film, Adam and Paul (2004), taking place on Thursday 17 October at FACT. Followed by an after show discussion with the man himself, who is taking a break from finishing off his fourth feature, Frank, a comedy about a young wannabe musician donning a giant papier-mache head, loosely inspired by musician Chris Sievey’s Frank Sidebottom persona, starring Michael Fassbender and Domhnall Gleeson.

A programme of classic and contemporary short films curated by Úna Feely of Indie Cork Film Festival takes place on Sunday 13th and Monday 14th October at the Picturehouse at FACT. Una Feely brings us some of the best and most interesting short films produced in Ireland this year, as well as some of the great shorts of the past. Once again the screenings will be introduced by some of Ireland’s finest young filmmakers.

Irish Comedy legend Pat Shortt’s new one man show comes to the Unity Theatre on Tuesday 15th October. It charts the life of Dixie Walsh (Jumbo Breakfast Roll, Where did my money go) a solo lounge musician. During the night Dixie reminisces about the path his career has taken and the struggles he has had to get to the top. This is not Pat Shortt’s first appearance at Liverpool Irish Festival, last year he starred as Josie in Garage which was shown in the Irish Film Season at FACT.

As always, it is music that takes centre stage with over 100 musicians from Ireland and Liverpool’s own vibrant Irish music scene – the festival is shaping up to be the country’s premier celebration of Ireland’s glorious music.

Irish music legend Christy Moore is at Liverpool Philharmonic on Saturday 12th October and the opening night’s concert at the Epstein features Celtic superstars Pádraig Rynne, Donal Lunny and Sylvain Barou on Thursday 10th October. Lumiere have grown from strength to strength, bringing their distinct sound from the cosy pub snugs of their native Kerry to international concert halls around the world and now to Liverpool’s Sefton Park Palm House on Sunday 13th October.

The groundbreaking, part super-group, part sessions, project, The Irish Sea Sessions returns on Friday 18th October at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall with a radically new and exciting line up of the most talented musicians in their field. Now in its fourth year, 13 hand-picked multi-instrumentalists and singers from traditional and contemporary music backgrounds, and from both sides of the Irish Sea, come together with the audience for another night of impassioned exposition of the shared music and the special bond between Liverpool and Ireland.

This year’s new-look new line-up includes: Declan O’Rourke, Robert Vincent, Pauline Scanlon, Alan Burke, Bernard O’Neill, Gino Lupari, Dave Munnelly, Neil Campbell, Terry Clarke-Coyne, Eamon Coyne, Mick Coyne, Sean Regan and Emily Portman.

Performances by Damien Dempsey have become one of the cornerstones of Liverpool Irish Festival, he plays The Kazimier on 16th October.

This year will also see the launch of The Festival Club which will run on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights during the festival at The Zanzibar Club on Seel Street. It will be hosted by local musicians Alan O’Hare and Ian Prowse and will feature performances from popular local musicians and those performing at the festival.

More information on the Festival can be found at www.liverpoolirishfestival.com,  Twitter@LivIrishFest and Facebook: LivIrishFest.