WriteStuff

‘When I sit down to write, I’m pursuing an ideal of total freedom.’

Rob Doyle talks here about his novel 'Here Are the Young Men', his story collection 'This is the Ritual', his forthcoming novel and an anthology of experimental Irish writing that he edited called 'The Other Irish Tradition'. He also talks about his introversion, a soon to be released movie of his novel and his passion for Nick Cave.

‘Sometimes I think this person can’t write a letter, so I don’t have the confidence that they can write a book.’ 

Jo Unwin went from working in a bookshop to establishing a very prestigious literary agency. We speak here about how she went from acting to setting up her agency. Jo talks about the importance of agents to writers, what she looks for in a writer and what influence technology is having on the literary world.

Kit de Waal’s latest novel; The Trick to Time tells two love stories, both involving Mona, a woman who has suffered a lot and who comes up with a way of using dolls to provide healing to women who have suffered the loss of a child. We talk about this in this interview as well as her great first novel; My Name is Leon, in which she drew a lot from her professional life in describing the experience of a child in a foster care system. Kit is also an advocate for protest, which comes up in thisdiscussion in the context of the housing protests taking place in Ireland.

This episode is a chat, a laugh and a song from Cork national treasure John Spillane. John tells us about his recent goings on, how his songwriting has changed through the years and he plays us a lovely version of Shanagolden as a tribute to Seán McCarthy.

The always engaging Michael Harding reads from his latest book ‘On Tuesdays I’m a Buddhist’ and goes on to talk to Chris about the importance of storytelling and his experiences of therapy, both of which are central themes of the book. He details his journey through various religions and philosophies and his connection to ritual as a means of ‘embracing the cosmos.’

Stephen James Smith is a poet with a voice that is unique yet distinctly Irish. He has written poems that epitomise being from Dublin, being from Ireland and being a son. He speaks about these poems in this conversation as well as the responsibility he feels when writing about his home, the financial struggles he faces as an artist living in Dublin and the many projects he is involved in at the moment.

In this episode, Chris talks to Emilie Pine who has just released her collection of essays called Notes To Self. In Notes to Self, Emilie beautifully articulates some of her most difficult experiences, in doing so, she gives the reader the opportunity to confront those experiences and emotions that we might tend to suppress. The collection is understandably getting a positive reaction from both critics and readers. Here she talks about some of this reaction and the difficulties that are inherent in writing about topics that are very personal.

In this episode, Chris talks to the brilliant Eimear McBride. Eimear talks here about her two novels, A Girl is a Half-formed Thing and The Lesser Bohemians as well as other projects she has been working on, including her work as the Inaugural Creative Fellow at The Samuel Beckett Research Centre. Eimear discusses adaptations of her work, in particular, the performance of Aoife Duffin in the stage adaptation of A Girl is a Half-formed Thing. She discusses how she edited The Lesser Bohemians from an eight-hundred page first draft to the final novel and tells us about a novella that she recently wrote while taking a break from a larger project.

Colm Tóibín is one of Ireland’s most prominent writers. A prolific writer of plays, essays, articles, poetry and many much-loved novels. In this wide-reaching discussion, Colm talks to us about change in Ireland, writing his recent novels compared to his earlier work, common themes in his writing and his process. The idea of flow in writing and sport is discussed as well as well as how he feels about his writing being analysed by others. He finishes by telling us about a book of essays that is due in November.

This podcast features interviews with President Michael D. Higgins and Professor Geraldine Higgins at the opening of Seamus Heaney: Listen Now Again, a new exhibition featuring Heaney’s archives at the new Bank of Ireland Cultural and Heritage Centre. President Higgins opened the exhibition and we feature excerpts from his speech at the event here in addition to an interview with the President as well as the curator of the exhibition. Listen Now Again opens on Friday, 6th July, and members of the public will be able to visit Monday to Saturday, from 10am to 4pm. In addition, the exhibition will open on a number of Sundays and other key dates, such as Culture Night. ‘Listen Now Again’ will run in the Bank of Ireland Cultural and Heritage Centre until December 2021 and is free to enter. More information can be found at [www.nli.ie/seamusheaney](www.nli.ie/seamusheaney).