Where are all the up-and-coming literary critics? Hunched over texts in libraries, usually. But from Friday (5 p.m.) to Sunday, they'll be at large in the Irish Film Centre, Dublin, to listen to each others' papers and present their research to the public. This weekend conference, called New Voices in Irish Criticism, is co-ordinated by P.J. Mathews of TCD's English Department and sponsored by the Arts Council. The aim is to facilitate debate and to consider the future of Irish Studies as an academic discipline. The broad range of topics includes: Politics and Revival, Theorising the Novel, Women and Fiction, Imagining Northern Ireland, Literary Journalism, and Children's Literature. Admission is free.

One of the authors under scrutiny at the conference also pops up tonight, in the History is Now lecture series at Butler House, Kilkenny (8 p.m.). Hubert Butler's essays on events in the Balkans during the second World War will be discussed by poet and critic Chris Agee.