Katie Holly Playwright

Katie Holly is a playwright from Charleville, Co. Cork. A graduate of Drama, Theatre Studies and Music at UCC, she completed an MA in Irish Literature at the same university.  

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, 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. She has been supported by an Arts Council of Ireland Theatre Bursary, the Irish Theatre Institute's Six in the Attic programme, Mermaid Arts Centre and The Everyman, Cork. 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 in London in 2026.  Diva is her most recent play.

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 most importantly…she’s from Cork.