LIKE many an unpublished hopeful, Derry writer Claire Allan used to devour the novels of best-selling author Marian Keyes while dreaming of writing her own one day.

MAIRÉAD Ní Mhaonaigh is a woman who doesn’t do anything by half when it comes to life and love.

SHARON Needles is bringing her Celebrity Morgue show to Belfast next month.

"DOES that mean we're conducting this in Gaelic?" jokes Beach Boys leader Mike Love when he learns that he's speaking to The Irish News about the iconic US hit-makers' imminent return to Dublin and Belfast We offer to try our best if he's game, but the suggestion is quickly brushed aside with a cheerful "just kidding" before the singer and founding band member gets down to plugging the Boys' latest release.

MODERN horror films seldom prioritise nerve-shredding suspense – the kind of creeping dread that sends beads of sweat trickling down your spine and haunts your waking dreams.

TAKING its title from a short story for children by Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince is an elegiac account of the final years of the Irish playwright and poet following his incarceration for gross indecency.

THE Defiant Ones may be 60 years old but it still packs a serious punch as both a slice of heavyweight social commentary and a rollicking good drama.

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP Avengers: Infinity War took the world by storm earlier this year, but the small yet mighty Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) was notably missing from the action.

Today Nile Rodgers & Chic, Soul II Soul, Queen & Disco – Belsonic, Ormeau Park, Belfast The Bonnevilles, Amy Montgomery – The Mandela Hall, QUBSU, Belfast Girls Names, Ghost Office, Fears – The Black Box, Belfast Wynona Bleach, Roe, Ember Trails etc – Voodoo, Belfast Lunasa – Duncairn Arts Centre, Belfast Brennen Leigh, Noel McKay – The American Bar, Belfast Cara Dillon – The Glassworks, Derry Saturday June 16 Liam Gallagher, Richard Ashcroft, Louis Berry – Belsonic, Ormeau Park, Belfast UK Subs, Buck Eejit, Confrontation Time – The Empire, Belfast Bad Manners – The Limelight, Belfast Cry****, Jordaan Mason, Oscar Jennings – Nerve Centre, Derry Kaz Hawkins, Sam York – Market Place Theatre, Armagh Sunday June 17 Picture This, Lany, John Gibbons – Belsonic, Ormeau Park, Belfast CW Stoneking – The Black Box, Belfast Monday June 18 The Beach Boys – The Waterfront Hall, Belfast Wednesday June 20 Saint Sapphire, Petty Youth, Modern Rome – Voodoo, Belfast Eliza and Martin Carthy – Seamus Heaney Homeplace, Bellaghy Thursday June 21 Timmy Trumpet – Belsonic, Ormeau Park, Belfast Crazy Town, Surf Green, Crisis – Foundry, Belfast Lonesome George, Siomha, Abhainn Bheara – Voodoo, Belfast Friday June 22 Malojian – American Bar, Belfast No Oil Paintings, Buffalo Bay etc – Voodoo, Belfast Kieran Goss – Portico, Portaferry Crazy Town – Skylite Room, Warrenpoint Saturday June 23 Carl Cox etc – Belsonic, Ormeau Park, Belfast From The Jam – The Ulster Hall, Belfast Riley Pearce – American Bar, Belfast This Place Hell, Donum Dei – The Limelight 2, Belfast, 5pm Wasps, Alpha Twin, Willoware Jackson – Foundry, Belfast Villiers & The Villains – Duncairn Arts Centre, Belfast Peter McVeigh – The Sunflower, Belfast Paper/Boy, Oh Boland, Atticus etc – Nerve Centre, Derry Kieran Goss – Seamus Heaney Homeplace, Bellaghy Sunday June 24 The Script, Gavin James – Belsonic, Ormeau Park, Belfast Peter McVeigh – The Sunflower, Belfast Monday June 25 Kris Kristofferson – Millennium Forum, Derry Tuesday June 26 Kris Kristofferson – The Waterfront Hall, Belfast Beth Rowley – Studio 1A Theatre, Bangor Thursday June 28 Deap Vally, Hand Models – The Limelight 2, Belfast Lock Horns etc – Voodoo, Belfast .

Liberation Christina Aguilera Liberation, Christina Aguilera's first record in six years, is right on time with its focus on female empowerment.

AND now, ladies and gentlemen, for the first time ever, this column is going to focus on a dancer.

The sweater he wore in Smells Like Teen Spirit is among the items being exhibited next month.

1. When did you think about a career in acting and what were your first steps into it? I got the acting bug when I was 16.

IT BILLS itself as the biggest celebration of Irish/Celtic culture in the world and Armagh writer John McAllister will be heading to the Milwaukee Irish Fest on the shores of Lake Michigan later this summer to share his craft.

THERE was a time when Rupert Everett was a frequent presence on the big screen.

LEADING historian and broadcaster Dr Eamon Phoenix will be the special guest speaker at a charity event in Belfast next week in aid of Brain Injury Matters.

AUSTRALIAN blues singer-songwriter CW Stoneking will play a rare solo show at The Black Box in Belfast on Sunday June 17.

How would you describe Cirque du Soleil's OVO show? OVO is a show that is immersed in the world of nature and insects, telling a simple love story between a ladybug and a fly.