It’s the ideal slow-paced activity for August.

The second annual Cork Podcast Festival returns for five days on Tuesday, August 22nd, with a decent schedule of live shows at Cork Opera House and a selection of new additions to enhance the festival experience.

Following sold-out shows earlier in the year, The Two Norries with James Leonard and Timmy Long open the festival. Keelin Moncrieff and Eimear O’Reilly bring their irreverent and charming chat with the Same But Different podcast on Saturday, August 26th at 4pm.

The festival lineup, which also features The Blindboy Podcast, Off The Ball, and I’m Grand Mam,  expands to Firkin Crane in Shandon on Saturday with a live show from one of Ireland’s best-known DJs and radio broadcasters; Catch Up with Louise McSharry will delve into pop culture and current affairs with guests.

From con artists to encounters with the supernatural, Sophie White, Jen O’Dwyer and Cassie Delaney investigate and report on the lesser-known details of bizarre stories that made the headlines in The Creep Dive.

Later the festival will host The Murder of Michael Collins by Paddy Cullivan, 24 Stories, a marketing podcast with Stephen Ryan, and The Critter Shed, a delightful exploration of the natural world for audiences of all ages, at Cork Arts Theatre.

Around the corner from Firkin Crane in Shandon at the delightfully cosy Maureen’s Pub, there will be free events for a very limited capacity including music podcasts The Point Of Everything, and Donal Dineen’s Make Me An Island, and Cornelius The Comedian, who will host a discussion with a very special guest.

There are a number of comedy podcasts at The Roundy over the weekend including Three By The Lee and The Tom O’Mahony Show Podcast.

Pod party 

On Saturday night at The Woodford, Donal Dineen presents Backstory, an audio adventure through his eclectic collection of tunes gathered from the four corners of the globe, making for a very special DJ Set and entry is free for all podcast festival attendees.

Tickets for the Cork Podcast Festival are available from the corkpodcastfestival.ie.