Katie Holly Playwright

Katie Holly (pictured above in a borderline 'vintage' photo...she promises to get a new headshot when she has a minute) is a playwright from Charleville, Co. Cork. A graduate of University College Cork, she completed a BA in Drama, Theatre Studies and Music and an MA in Irish Literature .  

Her plays Marion, Sharon and Crowman premiered at Cork Midsummer Festival and toured nationally. Sharon was broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 and won a New York Festivals Silver Award for Best Digital Drama in 2019.  

In 2023, Katie completed a residency at the Everyman Theatre, Cork under the mentorship of Enda Walsh completing a new comedy called Blindspot, and was shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize — the world's leading award for women playwrights — as the sole Irish writer on a global shortlist of ten for her play Her Hand on the Trellis. She has been supported by an Arts Council of Ireland Theatre Bursary, three Arts Council project awards, the Irish Theatre Institute's Six in the Attic programme, the Mavens writing program at The Mill Theatre (Dundrum), Mermaid Arts Centre (Bray), Sirius Arts Centre (Cobh), Schoolyard Theatre (Charleville) and The Everyman Theatre (Cork). 

More recently, in 2024 Katie co-wrote Summer Revels, a commission for Cork Opera House. Katie was commissioned by Landmark Productions to write a ‘Theatre for One’ piece called Ambition for Cork Midsummer Festival 2025.  Ambition will tour to the Barbican Theatre in London in 2026.  She promises to get right on updating her headshot, as soon as she's not up to 90 about her new play 'Diva' being on in the Cork Arts Theatre 26th to 30th May 2026.  The script for Diva was developed with the kind support of Cork Theatre Collective and the Arts Council of Ireland.

Katie Holly is a Cork playwright whose work has been recognised with a New York Festivals Silver Award, received an Arts Council of Ireland Theatre Bursary, and a shortlisting for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She completed a residency at the Everyman Theatre under the mentorship of Enda Walsh. She has been commissioned to write by Cork County Council, Cork Opera House and Landmark Productions.  DIVA is her latest play.

Mentored by Enda Walsh, Katie Holly is a New York Festivals Award winning playwright who was shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and supported by the Arts Council, but more importantly…she’s from Cork.