Catherine Hickey is joined by Georgia Lee Flynn, Eorann Kavanagh and Patrick Murtagh to discuss the powerful, playful poet Seamus Heaney. Seamus Heaney is a beloved Irish poet, winner of the Noble Prize for Literature, and former resident of the Garden of Ireland. In this pod, the crew discuss their love of Heaney, his use of allusion, aural imagery and a unique, playful tone that manages to discuss personal events in such a way that they are given magical, mythical and eternal qualities. Great art is capable of turning our ordinary existence into something extraordinary, and in Heaney, we have a diamond.

Our first foray into the Junior Cycle shows us deliberating a challenging question; was William Shakespeare anti-Semitic? Georgia-Lee Flynn, Sean O'Brien, and your host, Catherine Hickey give the question some thought, while Second Year student Oliver O'Neill delivers Shylock's iconic monologue from 'The Merchant Of Venice'.

When a man cannot even decide if he wishes to be or not, it is unlikely he is going to be very productive. Is Hamlet's procrastination understandable, or unbelievably frustrating? Let's take a deep dive with Georgia-Lee Flynn, Sean O'Brien, and your host, Catherine Hickey.

'A Door Into The Dark' makes a return, just in time for our 3rd and 6th Years getting ready to take their exams. In this episode, Georgia-Lee Flynn and Sean O'Brien join Catherine Hickey to discuss the central theme of corruption in 'Hamlet'.

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.”

-George R.R. Martin

This week, our host Catherine Hickey is joined by Eorann Kavanagh, Georgia Lee Flynn, and Sean O'Brien, to discuss the pleasure of reading during the summer holidays. It is, without doubt, one of the finest pleasures in life, to be sitting somewhere comfortable, in the sun, with nothing much to do, engrossed in a novel. We take a trip down memory lane to discuss some of the books that left a mark on us when we were teenagers, and planted a love of reading in us all. E-mail us at [email protected] if you have a particularly fond memory of falling in love with a book, and be in with a chance to win a book voucher.

The picks below are not an exhaustive list, if you want to try to get into reading and you would like to be pointed in a particular direction, talk to your teacher!

Georgia Lee's picks

The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes - Suzanne Collins

Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

Webtune - free app for listening to audio books (including the popular show Heart Stopper)

Graphic Novels & Manga...they're free, easy to read, and entertaining!

Catherine's picks

Romeo & Juliet - William Shakespeare

Harry Potter (series) - J.K. Rowling

Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry - Mildred D. Taylor

To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee

The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

The Testaments - Margaret Atwood

The Hawthorne Legacy - Jennifer Lynne Barnes

The Shardlake Series - C.J. Sansom

The Thursday Murder Book Club - Richard Osman

The Giver - Lois Lowry

Eorann's picks

The Hunger Games (series) - Suzanne Collins

The Red Queen - Phillipa Gregory

Agatha Christie (any book!)

1984 - George Orwell

Animal Farm - George Orwell

The Hitch-hiker's Guide To The Galaxy (series) - Douglas Adams

Sean's picks

The Belgariad (series) - David Eddings

The Discworld (series) - Terry Pratchett

The Plot Against America - Philip Roth

The Stepford Wives - Ira Levin

This Perfect Day - Ira Levin

The Boys From Brazil - Ira Levin

The Pearl - John Steinbeck

The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling - Podcast (on Spotify)

This week, without regular host Catherine Hickey, Patrick Murtagh and Sean O’Brien go wildly off topic as they discuss Dickinson. Taking detours through Delgany, Darwin’s ‘Origin Of The Species’, shifty lawyers, Elvis Presley and Coca Cola advertising campaigns, the gruesome twosome get cosy with The Lady in White.

This week, Catherine is joined by Sean O’Brien and former St. Columba’s College English teacher John Fanagan. John’s experience as an English teacher of 35 years is touched upon, as well as his unbridled passion for Shakespeare’s works. To any and all young people listening, it is important to find these things you are passionate about, it will keep you young! Please do enjoy! We have had a couple of busy weeks but we have a flurry of episodes to come in the final few weeks.

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This week, our host Catherine Hickey is joined by Sean O’Brien and history teacher extraordinaire John Simpson. John provides the inside track on all things Monaghan, as he grew up near ‘Billy Brennan’s Barn’, just off the Iniskeen Road. We discuss the difficult character that he was, and the moments of beauty that he found in this turbulent life.

This week, our host Catherine Hickey is joined by Patrick Murtagh and Sean O’Brien to discuss one of their favourite poets: Elizabeth Bishop. Bishop’s discerning eye for detail, her emotional depth and knack for writing from unique perspectives mean that she can be one of the more challenging poets to study at Senior Cycle. Here, we put on the hard sell, and let you know that if you take your time with Bishop, it can all be ‘rainbow, rainbow, rainbow’ for you too.

Credit goes to Harry Dagg and Johnny Lumley for their renditions of ‘Sestina’ and ‘Filling Station’.

This week our host Catherine Hickey is joined by Georgia-Lee Flynn, Eorann Kavanagh, and 6th Year students Lily McCann and Amy Kennedy to discuss Shakespeare’s ode to young love, Romeo & Juliet. Did Shakespeare nail it? Is this the perfect depiction of romantic love? Still? After all these years? Join the gang as they bring the Bard’s most beloved story within their bending sickle’s compass, and take a short flight on love’s light wings.