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On today’s show we go to Hodges Figgis in Dublin’s Dawson Street to talk to Elizabeth Wassell Montague about her new novel At the Villa Celeste which she launched at the bookshop recently. The novel is a haunting story of ‎longing, memory, and the fragile architecture of identity. When Clementine Dove begins to ‎fall apart  under the weight of familial love and unspoken trauma, she finds herself turning to France for a kind of salvation. In Paris and along the  Côte d'Azur, ‎past and present collide as two generations of women navigate desire, restraint and the hunger to ‎be truly seen. The launch was introduced by novelist and friend of Books for Breakfast Christine Dwyer Hickey so you’ll hear introduction first, followed by our interview with Elizabeth. 

This episode is supported by a Project Award from the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon. 

Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, 'Thou Shalt Not Carry' from The Hare's Corner, 2008, with thanks to Colm for permission to use it. 

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Most poets write under their given names – Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon, Denise Riley, Elizabeth Bishop. Some on the other hand use pseudonyms; there is no such person as Biddy Jenkinson, except in her poems; Pablo Neruda was born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto in order not to offend his family. And of course there is Fernando Pessoa who wrote under a series of heteronymns – Alvaro de Campos, Alberto Caeiro the keeper of sheep, the artistocratic monarchist Ricardo Reis, and so on. Billy Ramsell’s new book Render from Banshee Press follows in this tradition, plunging us into Barcelona in the middle of the 20th century. The book purports to be the selected poems off one Alberto Cenas, lonely scion of a wealthy Catalan family

My verses stretch and hesitate,
scale their rickety trellises.
My fruit comes rust-red, grudging.

Billy came to Books Upstairs in Dublin earlier this summer to read from his work and talk to poet and critic Adam Wyeth about his complex portrait of a strange and sympathetic figure, a sort of Irish export to the poetry industry of Catalonia ….  

This episode is supported by a Project Award from the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon. 

Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, 'Thou Shalt Not Carry' from The Hare's Corner, 2008, with thanks to Colm for permission to use it. 

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This year marks the 45th anniversary of Salmon Poetry now based in The Salmon Bookshop and Literary Centre, in Ennistymon, County Clare. We invited poet and critic Ciarán O’Rourke, whose own new collection, Prophetstown, is published by Irish Pages in August, to review four new poetry books from Salmon Poetry. And we talk to US poet Tess Barry, a  native of Western Pennsylvania who lives in Pittsburgh, about her debut collection The Marvelous Real, a published by Meadowlark Press. So, accompanied by a  good strong mug of coffee or pot tea, sit back and enjoy a feast of new poetry. 

The four Salmon books reviewed are  All the Tattered Stars: Selected and New Poems by Richard W. Halperin;  Sky Sailing by Tony Kitt; Dodder Daughter by Nessa O'Mahony and Throat Full of Feathers by Lorna Shaughnessy.

This episode is supported by a Project Award from the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon. 

Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, 'Thou Shalt Not Carry' from The Hare's Corner, 2008, with thanks to Colm for permission to use it. 

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Epistolary novels used to be all the rage Think Clarissa, think Dracula, think the more recent We need to talk about Kevin. Last year saw another smash hit epistolary novel, The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, published to wide acclaim and stellar sales, and shortlisted for the 2026 Women’s Fiction prize . Three times a week, 73-year-old Sybil Van Antwerp sits down at her desk in her Maryland home to write her letters. Her correspondence has been, as she puts it, "the mainstay of my life". Virginia was in Dublin this June  for the Carlow University Pittsburgh's MFA in Creative Writing Program residency at Trinity College, Dublin and we’re thankful to poet and program director Tess Barry for allowing us to feature this interview on Books for Breakfast. The interviewer is noted writer Carlo Gebler who was also Virginia’s mentor during the year she spent on the creative writing MPhil in Trinity. So grab a coffee and sit back and listen to Carlo Gebler and Virginia Evans. 

'A warm, funny gem of a novel'
LAURA HACKETT, THE TIMES

'Masterful . . . I was delighted and moved'
NEW YORK TIMES 

'Immensely enjoyable'
GUARDIAN

'The year's breakout novel no one saw coming'
WALL STREET JOURNAL

Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, 'Thou Shalt Not Carry' from The Hare's Corner, 2008, with thanks to Colm for permission to use it. 

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On today's show we travel down the road to Carlow University Pittsburgh's MFA in Creative Writing Program during its annual June residency at Trinity College, Dublin where we have been invited to interview novelist Caitriona Lally about her latest book, the memoir Home Economics. So grab that flat white, latte, tea and rasher sandwich and have a listen to Caitriona's fascinating account of balancing life as a cleaner in the housekeeping department of Trinity College with the life of a successful writer.

Bold and thought-provoking, self-deprecating and soaked in Caitríona Lally's singular voice, her first memoir quietly but forcefully puzzles over personal/home economics, creativity and the true impact of 'success' and 'failure' on a writer's life.

'Since I've had my first book published, I've earned more from cleaning than from writing. The home economics don't add up.'

Between 2015 and 2021, Caitríona Lally published her first two novels, Eggshells and Wunderland. To buy her time to write during those years, she returned to the housekeeping department at Trinity College Dublin, a job she once held as a student. This begins a negotiation between the practical and creative demands of her life, further complicated when she becomes pregnant and almost impossible when the pandemic hits.

Reviews for Home Economics

"This is absolutely one to read about the reality of 'making it' as an artist, and how to live, make money and create."
– AOIFE BARRY, THE JOURNAL

"Hilarious, audacious, and deeply felt. An idiosyncratic hymn to the drudgery of life!"
– SARA BAUME

"I thought I'd be interested in Home Economics because I too work a manual job that pays a pittance, yet still provides more income than writing books. And yes, Lally is wonderfully insightful about the difficulties and advantages of such a life. But in the end it was her wit, her ever-curious and amused outlook on the daily trials and joys of life, that had me hooked. This book has that delicate quality of seeming simple while containing all the complexity of trying not simply to make a living, but to live."
– LUCY SWEENEY BYRNE

"A remarkable piece of writing ... As a fellow writer, I read the book with a profound sense of respect for what Caitríona has achieved, particularly given the difficult circumstances under which much of this work has been produced. Her account of sustaining a writing life alongside paid labour and motherhood is both unsparing and generous, and it resonated deeply with me ... There is something quietly bracing in encountering such a lucid account of a writing life, one that refuses myth-making while still allowing space for ambition, desire and joy ... This is a generous, intelligent and finely wrought book."
– PATRICK HOLLOWAY

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Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, 'Thou Shalt Not Carry' from The Hare's Corner, 2008, with thanks to Colm for permission to use it. 

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On today's episode we visit 11 Parnell Square in Dublin for the launch of Poetry Ireland/Éigse Éireann's restored headquarters. We hear about the new performance spaces, education resources and Seamus Heaney Library and talk to director Claire Power about her vision for the building and the organisation. We also talk to Poet in Residence Sean Borodale about his poetry and his plans for the residency. Sean's widely acclaimed books include Notes for an Atlas, Asylum, Bee Journal, Human Work: A Poet's Cookbook and Inmates.

This episode is supported by a Project Award from the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon. 

Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, 'Thou Shalt Not Carry' from The Hare's Corner, 2008, with thanks to Colm for permission to use it. 

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On today’s show we talk to Joseph Woods, director of the Strokestown Poetry Festival about what this year's programme will offer poetry lovers this May Bank Holiday weekend in Strokestown House. Ands we welcome back to the breakfast table poet and Irish Times reviewer Adam Wyeth to talk with us about recent poetry publications that have grabbed his attention. Adam is himself an award-winning and critically acclaimed poet, playwright and essayist with five books published with Salmon Poetry and we are delighted to have him with us this morning.

He will be talking about Rita Ann Higgins, Jiving with Wasps: New and Selected Poems; Gerard Smyth, The Turn for Ithaca; Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Hymn for the Restless Girls; Billy Ramsell, Render; Paddy Bushe, Uncertain Passage; Jamie O'Halloran, Ballast; Colm Scully, Neanderthal Boy. 

This episode is supported by a Project Award from the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon. 

Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, 'Thou Shalt Not Carry' from The Hare's Corner, 2008, with thanks to Colm for permission to use it. 

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This morning we talk to Mary Costello about her new novel A Beautiful Loan. 

My name is Anna, and for some time now, I have been trying to account for certain events in my life – my adult life, that is – which, from this vantage point of forty-five years, I often find baffling …

In 1985 Dublin, nineteen-year-old Anna Hughes is in thrall to Peter Gallagher, an older, worldly man. Anna is introverted and naïve, and Peter’s experience, wide circle of friends and thirst for adventure captivate her. Her obsessive longing for him leads to marriage and, eventually, a crushing betrayal.
As Anna’s life becomes less predictable, she uncovers deeper layers of herself. Her journey gives an intimate portrait of a woman embracing herself as she is, claiming the life she yearns for.

“Costello is one of Ireland’s greatest writers … Her prose is precise and focused and, like a stiletto blade, sinks deep … This is a big book in a small package, about one woman’s growth”
JOHN SELF
Financial Times

”A Beautiful Loan is a beautiful novel; Mary Costello guides her reader through a cloud of emotional turmoil in fine, controlled sentences. We must hope it delivers her the belated recognition she so richly deserves”
LUCY THYNNE
Times Literary Supplement

This episode is supported by a Project Award from the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon. 

Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, 'Thou Shalt Not Carry' from The Hare's Corner, 2008, with thanks to Colm for permission to use it. 

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In this episode we go to one of our favourite places in Dublin, Hodges Figgis bookshop in Dawson Street, to interview Cathy Galvin on the occasion of the launch of her collection of poems from Bloodaxe, Ethnology, A Love Song for Connemara. We also meet and hear poet John F. Deane, who spoke about Cathy’s book and read some of his own recently published Carcanet collection, Jonah and Me, a Poetry Society Recommendation.

from Bloodaxe:

Ethnology draws on the mystical cry for the dead of Cathy Galvin's Irish-speaking ancestors. Within an epic narrative she reclaims place, people and language, creating a bridge between our own times and a Connemara community on the margins of Europe.
Drawing on classic forms within literary and oral traditions, Ethnology becomes a love song for Connemara, witness to vivid encounters: between the living and the dead and between the poets, folklorists and ethnologists who have written about the West of Ireland for their own agendas.
In her first full-length book of poetry, fragility and strength are finely balanced, focused on the ruins of an island cottage built by her great-grandfather. Here, Cathy Galvin locates humour and joy as well as mourning. The poems give a vivid, original voice to the tradition of keening, of honouring the loss of those we love.

from Carcanet

John F. Deane's new book follows the publication of his career-spanning  New and Selected Poems, which was published on the occasion of his eightieth birthday in 2023 and shows no relaxation in his descriptive and lyric powers.
Ireland's foremost living religious poet, the new book includes a sequence, 'Of Human Flesh', which takes Easter's rituals as its occasion, and dwells on its continuing purchase and meaning as the poet remembers others and walks a landscape where, sometimes, as he puts it, the spiritual and material worlds come together:

'all here fits 
together, oxbow and pillow-stone, holon and fractal, 
stunning, admonishing, this morphogenic field.'

This episode is supported by a Project Award from the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon. 

Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, 'Thou Shalt Not Carry' from The Hare's Corner, 2008, with thanks to Colm for permission to use it. 

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We’re back for the first episode of 2026. This week we’re back in Books Upstairs in Dublin to interview Hugo Hamilton about his latest novel, Conversation with the Sea.

Fleeing his failed marriage in Berlin, Lukas Dorn revisits the West of Ireland, the place of his honeymoon two decades earlier. While his former wife is being cancelled at work and his daughter is arrested at a street protest, he tries to make sense of his broken life with a journal as his sole companion. 
 
His inherited memory of the Nazi Holocaust comes face to face with the present when he meets a refugee from a recent warzone. As Lukas communes with the elements in this wild coastal place, he is forced into a confrontation with the past that will carry him to the edge of existence. 
 
Conversation with the Sea speaks with heart-rending tenderness to the present moment, as it explores truth, illusion and the deadly silencing of war in a captivating tale of love in a time of displacement. 

Truly a book for our time' PAUL LYNCH
 
FROM THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF 'THE SPECKLED PEOPLE'
   
'Told with Hamilton's signature purity of tone, an epic story about how love and history intersect.' ANNE ENRIGHT

'I don't think I've ever read a book as wise, or as moving. I will treasure it forever.' DONAL RYAN

'Hypnotic, passionate, urgent … Hamilton cuts a clean line to the truth of our mindless moment.' PAUL LYNCH

This episode is supported by a Project Award from the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon. 

Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, 'Thou Shalt Not Carry' from The Hare's Corner, 2008, with thanks to Colm for permission to use it. 

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