OPENING EVENTS
Friday January 2, 1pm - Dr Sketchy - when cabaret meets art school. The Anti-art class that took New York by storm.
Friday January 2, 8pm - Pauper's Ball - featuring Acid Big Band Black-Sookie and vocalist Cara Cowan (daughter of Martin Cowan from The Outcasts).
Saturday January 3, 2pm and 8pm -The Silhouette Old Time Mystery Radio Show - Duke Special presents an event of music, theatre and intrigue accompanied by friends both normal sized and miniature.
COMEDY
Tuesday January 6, 1pm - Maeve Higgins - Star of RTE's Naked Camera, Kitten Brides sees Maeve talking about a range of subjects in a non show-offy way.
Wednesday January 7, 1pm & 8pm - Shappi Khorsandi - Charming, fresh and feisty, Shappi uncovers the humorous side of dark forces.
Thursday January 8, 1pm & 8pm - Ivan Brackenbury's Hospital Radio Christmas Show - his show Disease Hour captures all the fun and excitement you'd expect from being ill in hospital - winner of Spirit of The Fringe.
Friday January 9, 1pm & 8pm - Craig Hill - is one of Scotland's brightest comedy stars. Cheeky, irreverent and, of course, wonderfully camp.
Saturday January 10, 1pm & 8pm - Owen O'Neill - winner of two Fringe Firsts, the Edinburgh Critics Award for best comedy and Perrier nomination.
THEATRE & LITERATURE
Tuesday January 13, 1pm & 8pm - Life Shop till You Drop - The hilarious rise and fall of Ireland's first self-help guru. 'Superb' Irish Times
Wednesday January 14, 1pm & 8pm - Whacker Murphy's Bad Buzz - Edwin Mullane comes to Belfast with his innovative comedy tale from the Dublin Fringe Festival. 'Could well deserve a place among Irish Classics such as Playboy of the Western world.' Broadway Baby
Thursday January 15, 1pm - Bully - Richard Fry wrote Bully drawing on his own experiences of bullies and bigots, fairies and faghags, big bad boyfriends and youth club slags.
Friday January 16, 1pm - Simon Hoggart - Come and hear a rare Belfast talk and wry hilarious readings from the best selling, tireless observer of the eccentricities of Presidents, Prime Ministers, teenagers and their mums.
Friday January 16, 7.30pm - Linton Kwesi Johnson followed by Homespun DJ's - 'You can just hear the reggae drumbeat as his verse vacillates among fire, anger, fear, profound loss, and victory.' Savoy Magazine
Saturday January 17, 2pm (departs from John Hewitt Bar) - Literary Bus Tour of Belfast - A leisurely tour of Belfast's literary haunts which will uncover the Belfast links with authors who lived here, wrote here or spent time in the city.
MUSIC
Saturday January 17, 2pm - Slide guitarist & songwriter Dave Arcari and garage punk blues duo - The Bonnevilles.
Saturday January 17, 8.30pm - Billy Childish and the Musicians of the British Empire - Billy Childish is an English Musician, Artist, Author, Poet, Photographer and Filmmaker. Citied as a genius by the likes of Beck, Nirvana, Patti Smith and the White Stripes.
Tuesday 20 January, 1pm & 8pm - Christine Tobin - Dublin's singer / songwriter Christine Tobin was named Best Vocalist in 2008 in the BBC Jazz Awards. 'A jewel of the London jazz scene. ****' The Guardian
Wednesday January 21, 1pm - Milonga! - Milonga is a term for a place or an event where Tango is danced. Aldo Romero and Anna Lia Carrizo perform a forty minutue dance display, and after the audience are invited to participate in a short session of unbridled Latin passion.
Wednesday January 21, 6.30pm - Joe Boyd - Joe Boys is a record and film producer - producing Pink Floyd, Nick Drake, The Incredible String Band, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, REM, Billy Bragg...to name a few...Joe will read from and talk about his acclaimed autobiography White Bicycles - Making Music in the 1960s.
Wednesday January 21, 8pm - A Celebration of Sandy Denny - tonight we celebrate her beautiful, timeless music. 'Linde Nijland has given Sandy Denny's music the respect it deserves' Joe Boyd
Thursday January 22, 1pm - Afrish - combine the rythms of Zimbabwe, with rich Celtic influences of Northern Ireland.
Thursday January 22, 8pm - Dick Gaughan - Restlessly imaginative, passionate in his beliefs, guitarist and singer / songwriter Dick Gaughan is a commanding presence in the Scots music scene. 'A thought provoking and moving experience.'
Friday January 23, 1pm - Zoe Conway - The Dundalk-born violinist Zoe Conway has managed the rare feat of mastering many styles of playing. 'We had come expectant, we left bedazzled' Irish Music Magazine
Friday January 23, 8pm - The Broken Family Band - peculiar English take on rock music, with folky melodies sat atop chunky indie-rock guitar riffs and big fat drums that could power a small village.
Saturday January 24, 2pm - Cheap Date - featuring music from The Lowly Knights, Jackson Cage and Captain Kennedy.
Saturday January 24, 8pm - Max Tundra - the third Max Tundra LP is a masterpiece of micro-melodies and sound-bytes; a triumph of splicing, dicing and editing. It's an intricate of mosaic sounds and genres.
Sunday January 25, 8pm - Cara Dillon - 'Cara Dillon, is without exaggeration, amongst the very finest to be heard today...' Folk Roots