Books for Breakfast (Ireland)

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What’s the state of criticism in Ireland? Who needs reviewers and critics and are they even worth reading in any case? Well, one man who is worth reading is Kevin Power, novelist, whose The Written World, just published by The Lilliput Press, gathers some of the reviews and essays he’s written over the last decade. I’ll be talking to Kevin about his book in this, the last Books for Breakfast of the current season; we hope you’ve enjoyed the journey so far and hopefully we’ll be back with more in the autumn. In the meantime feel free to enjoy the now extensive back catalogue of breakfast bites …

Kevin Power established his reputation early, with the publication of Bad Day at Blackrock, which told a fictionalised version of a story that had gripped the country, the death of Brian Murphy  in Dublin in 2000 as a result of a violent assault outside a nightclub. That novel was subsequently made into the award winning film What Richard Did  directed by Lenny Abrahamson in 2012. He was the winner of the 2009 Rooney Prize and last year his much anticipated second novel White City was published and won a lot of attention and praise. A darkly funny book, it revisits the same sort of terrain occupied by Bad Day at Blackrock, set in the word of Celtic Tiger Ireland among the city’s privileged and in this case ruthless upper classes, and it’s in the voice of the seriously shattered son of a South Dublin banker desperately trying to piece his life together. 

Praise for The Written World
'Kevin Power’s glorious collection reveals a writer to depend upon.'
Declan Hughes in The Irish Independent

The elegant and intelligent essays in The Written World will appeal to anyone with an interest in literary criticism.

– Nicole Flattery, author of Show Them A Good Time

'The Written World is a testament to Power’s well-deserved status as one of Ireland’s most reliably engaging writers. Oh, and did I mention he’s often hilarious, too?'
– Totally Dublin

'...his book is metropolitan and cosmopolitan in word and spirit, enlightening and amusing, and across its pages art is happening too.;
– drb.ie

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Three poetry collections on the breakfast table today ... We begin with Stars Burn Regardless by Jean O'Brien and Moonlight: A Full Moon by  Louise C. Callaghan, both published by Salmon Poetry.  Of Jean's book Mark Roper has said 'These poems rise to their occasion, they are tough, tender, generous, passionate and deeply engaged — I cannot recommend Stars Burn Regardless highly enough.' Thomas McCarthy has written of Louise's book: 'Here is this marvellous poet of elegies and celebrations, seasons and servants, of boarding school and trundling foreign journeys. Louise C. Callaghan has a keen eye for detail and a poet’s gifted ear.'

And where is satire when you need it? Chris Agee's Trump Rant is a visceral response to Donald Trump,  'a combination of long-form radicalism and eclectic satire, startingly unique in its blend of aphorism, acuity and epic cultural imagining.' Brew up a big pot of tea or coffee, get the toast on and listen to what these poets have to say ....

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.

Artwork by Freya Sirr

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Today's show is a bit special. We're very happy to feature My Name Suspended in Air: Leland Bardwell at 100, published by Lepus Print, to coincide with Poetry Day Ireland 2022.  Leland was a remarkable poet, and indeed fiction writer, and this book is a selection of her poems chosen by Irish women poets and writers:  Eva Bourke, Jackie Bardwell, Mary Branley, Siobhan Campbell, Jane Clarke, Evelyn Conlon, Monica Corish, Enda Coyle-Greene, Martina Devlin, Katie Donovan, Anna Dunn, Fionnuala Gallagher, Peggie Gallagher, Tess Gallagher, Olivia Goodwillie, Eithne Hand, Libby Hart, Rita Ann Riggings, Alannah Hopkin, Ann Joyce, Alice Lyons, Una Mannion, Joan McBreen, Molly McCloskey, Paula Meehan, Patsy J. Murphy, Kate Newmann, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Annemarie Ni Churreain, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Mary O’Donnell, Mary O’Malley, Enda Wyley.

We'll be in conversation with Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and Brian Leyden, and poems will be read by Libby Hart, Molly McCloskey, Mary O'Donnell and Anna Dunn.

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.

Artwork by Freya Sirr

To subscribe to Books for Breakfast go to your podcast provider of choice (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google etc) and search for the podcast then hit subscribe or follow, or simply click the appropriate button above. 

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This morning we talk to Colm Tóibín in New York about his debut poetry collection, Vinegar Hill.

From the best-selling author of Brooklyn, Nora Webster, The Master, and the recent The Magician Colm Tóibín’s first collection of poetry explores sexuality, religion, and belonging through a modern lens.

‘Fans of Colm Tóibín’s novels will relish the opportunity to re-encounter Tóibín in verse. Vinegar Hill explores the liminal space between private experiences and public events as Tóibín examines a wide range of subjects—politics, queer love, reflections on literary and artistic greats, living through COVID, and facing mortality. The poems reflect a life well-traveled and well-lived; from growing up in the town of Enniscorthy, wandering the streets of Dublin, and crossing the bridges of Venice to visiting the White House, readers will travel through familiar locations and new destinations through Tóibín’s unique lens.
Within this rich collection of poems written over the course of several decades, shot through with keen observation, emotion, and humor, Tóibín offers us lines and verses to provoke, ponder, and cherish.’ (Penguin Random House)

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.

Artwork by Freya Sirr

To subscribe to Books for Breakfast go to your podcast provider of choice (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google etc) and search for the podcast then hit subscribe or follow, or simply click the appropriate button above. 

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We begin this weeks's show with In Trust. In Gratitude. In Hope. 10 Years at the Laois Arthouse, an exhibition featuring the work of over 60 artists who have been part of the Laois Arthouse programme since its establishment in 2011 by Laois County Council Arts Service. Enda talks about a book that has impressed her recently, The Black Snow by Paul Lynch.
Our guest this morning is John McAuliffe, whose Selected Poems, was published last year by Gallery Press. John talks about his work and his Toaster Challenge Choice, In the Same Light: 200 Tang Poems for Today by Wong May, which is a Poetry Books  Society Translation Choice for Spring 2022.

McAuliffe’s gift is to be mindful of elsewheres. He swerves to effect: his shrewd sideways and backwards glances count, pouring light on a subject from several directions simultaneously. Any given moment is likely to be underpinned by what went on before or what is to come. He knows the power of parallel universes.

 — Kate Kellaway, The Observer

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.

Artwork by Freya Sirr

To subscribe to Books for Breakfast go to your podcast provider of choice (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google etc) and search for the podcast then hit subscribe or follow, or simply click the appropriate button above. 

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This morning actor and writer Gabriel Byrne talks to Books for Breakfast about his newly published memoir Walking with Ghosts. In a lively and wide ranging conversation with hosts Enda Wyley and Peter Sirr Gabriel talks about his love of reading, his favourite writers, and the importance of memory for both acting and writing,

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.

Artwork by Freya Sirr

To subscribe to Books for Breakfast go to your podcast provider of choice (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google etc) and search for the podcast then hit subscribe or follow, or simply click the appropriate button above. 

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Today's show is devoted to an in-depth interview with poet Thomas McCarthy, whose Poetry, Memory and the Party: Journals 1974-2014 has recently been published by Gallery Press. The journals span forty years of Thomas McCarthy’s life lived between a modest background and the ‘Big House’ of West Waterford and his immersion in the literary life of Cork against the troubles of a changing Ireland. It's an intimate portrait of a poet's life with all its attendant excitements and frustrations, as well an engrossing account of the literary and social milieu of  Cork, the Anglo-Irish world of the Brigadier whose Victorian garden he replanted, and his travels farther afield.

‘For those interested in literature, this is addictive reading material, offering unparalleled insight into the many joys and sundry frustrations of someone who determined early to devote himself to the pursuit of his literary vocation.’ — Clíona Ní Ríordáin, The Irish Times

Thomas's Toaster Challenge choice is Ethel Mannin's Young in the Twenties.

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.

Artwork by Freya Sirr

To subscribe to Books for Breakfast go to your podcast provider of choice (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google etc) and search for the podcast then hit subscribe or follow, or simply click the appropriate button above. 

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A special Christmas Eve edition of Books for Breakfast. In the last episode of the year we pay  tribute to the work of Thomas Kinsella 1928-2021. We also feature some highlights from this year’s podcast. So take a break from turkey basting and join us for a listen!

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.

Artwork by Freya Sirr

To subscribe to Books for Breakfast go to your podcast provider of choice (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google etc) and search for the podcast then hit subscribe or follow, or simply click the appropriate button above. 

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'A single one of Keegan's grounded, powerful sentences can contain volumes of social history. Every word is the right word in the right place, and the effect is resonant and deeply moving.'
– Hilary Mantel

'A haunting, hopeful  masterpiece'.
– Sinéad Gleeson

'Astonishing ... Claire Keegan makes her moments real – and then makes them matter.'
– Colm Tóibín

'A moral tale that is unsentimental and deeply affecting, because true and right.'
– Andrew O'Hagan

Some of the responses to Claire Keegan's new book. Today on Books for Breakfast, in an extended and wide-ranging interview,  Claire talks to us about and reads from  Small Things Like These.

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.

Artwork by Freya Sirr

To subscribe to Books for Breakfast go to your podcast provider of choice (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google etc) and search for the podcast then hit subscribe or follow, or simply click the appropriate button above. 

Support the show