Books for Breakfast

Send us a textFirst up on today's show, I chat with Liam Carson, who is back again with another episode of the Irish language Festival, IMRAM. And we hear from Kelly Michels, whose Forward Prize shortlisted debut collection, American Anthem, published by Gallery Press this year, focuses on the tragedies both personal and national, of the opioid epidemic and its devastating effects of addiction and of gun violence in America, where the poet grew up. We talk to Kelly about growing up in t...

Send us a textToday's show features conversation and poems from two poets with new collections: Katie Donovan, whose collection May Swim, is published by Bloodaxe Books, and Micheál McCann, whose debut collection Devotion, is published by Gallery Press.Both poets take on the Toaster Challenge, this time a Toaster Poem Challenge. Micheál' choce is Louise Glück's 'Sunset' from her collection The Wild Iris, while Katie chooses Pascale Petit's ‘Jaguar Girl.’ from Mama Amazonica.Intro/outro music:...

Send us a textWe're back from the summer break and in conversation with Christine Dwyer Hickey, who was the subject of our very first Books for Breakfast podcast. This time around we're talking to her about her latest novel Our London Lives, just published this week. We also give ourselves a double Toaster Challenge. Enda talks about Alba de Cespedes' Roman novel Forbidden Notebook, while Peter stays in Rome but goes back 2000 years to the last years of the Republic and the poet Catullus, tw...

Send us a textOn today's edition, the last before our summer break, we look at new editions of Poetry Ireland Review and The Stinging Fly. We feature recordings of three poets published in Poetry Ireland Review: Valentine Jones, Patrick Chapman and Shakeema Edwards, and we also feature a poem by Gormfhlaith Ní Shíocháin Ní Bheoláin from The Stinging Fly. Enda discusses the novels of Tessa Hadley, who also has an. essay in The Stinging Fly, and we travel to Cavan for the launc...

Send us a textOn today's show we interview poet, novelist and publisher of Bloodaxe Books Neil Astley. We talk to Neil about the latest Bloodaxe Books poetry anthology, Soul Feast, poems to stir the mind and feed the spirit, companion volume to 2007's Soul Food. We also talk about how he got into publishing, what poetry means to him and some of the discoveries he's made along the way. Two Irish poets in the anthology, Enda Coyle Greene and Mary O'Donnell , read their co...

Send us a textToday’s show marks 25 years since the foundation of the Strokestown International Poetry Festival in Co. Roscommon. This year’s festival takes place over the May Bank weekend, May 3 - 5. We spoke to the Director, Joseph Woods about the festival and his new book, Veld Fires. We also feature poems by Eva Bourke whose Tattoos was published this year, and Patrick Deeley, who reads from his new collection, Keepsake.We also interview the Welsh poet Tony Curtis , whose new collec...

Send us a textToday’s show marks Poetry Day Ireland with readings by the five poets shortlisted for the Strokestown International Poetry Competion, the winner of which will be announced at the Festival over the May Bank Holiday Weekend. And we go the Trinity College Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation to talk to poet Paul Muldoon about his role as Ireland Professor of Poetry and his new collection of poems Joy in Service on Rue Tagore.Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, ‘Thou Sh...

Send us a textWe’re joined on this morning’s show by Mary Costello, whose new collection of short stories, Barcelona, has just been published by Canongate."Barcelona is full of devastating lines … Costello is working in the tradition of her literary heroes [Kafka, Musil, Coetzee]: delivering insights which are painful but also energising because of the beauty with which they're captured … The most impressive collection I've read in some time" JOHN SELF The Times"Clear-eyed and pro...

Send us a textOn this mornings's show we talk to Victoria Kennefrick about her new collection Egg/Shell, just published by Carcanet, a double album, as she describes it, which explores early motherhood and miscarriage, and the impact of a spouse's gender transition and the dissolution of a marriage. The book is a follow-up to her widely acclaimed first collection Eat or We Both Starve. Hers had been described as one of the boldest poetic voices to emerge in recent years and Egg/Shell is...

Send us a textOn today's show we discuss Fleur Adcock's Collected Poems, newly published by Bloodaxe Books, and we go to the launch of two more Bloodaxe books in Hodges Figgis, Kerry Hardie's We Go On and Aoife Lyall's The Day Before. We talk to both poets about their work and listen to them reading their poems. So put the kettle on and join us!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. Incidental...

Send us a textWe're back with a show dedicated to a book commemorating the life and achievement of a fondly remembered writer: Distant Summers: Remembering Philip Casey, Writer, Fabulist, Friend, edited by Eamonn Wall, Katie Donovan and Michael Considine, Arlen House, 2024. We feature contributions by Katie Donovan, Dermot Bolger and Michael O'Loughlin, and Michael Agustin reading his poem from the book.We also cover the recently announced winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize and readings of poems ...

Send us a textNot Books for Breakfast this time but a link to our poetry programme Stanza on RTE Radio 1. In conversation with fellow poets, Paula Meehan and Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Enda Wyley and Peter Sirr will discuss why poetry matters. We also visit Poetry Ireland to hear about their big plans for 2024, and hear from viral spoken word poet Mikey Cullen. Produced by Clockwork Productions, producer Fiona Kelly. Additional reporting by Taylor Mooney.Support the show

Send us a textWe're not back in full podcast mode quite yet but we will be back in the autumn, all going well, and in the meantime we visited poet James Harpur during his stint as Trinity College Writer Fellow and we thought it was time for a couple of summer poems. Have a listen and enjoy the summer!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. Incidental music "Timeless One" by Solas. Ar...

Send us a textEnda has been recovering from a recent injury so podcast productivity has taken a hit, but we're back with our first episode for a while, which features a conversation about Basho with Andrew Fitzsimons, whose Basho: The Complete Haiku of Matsuo Basho has recently been published by the University of California Press. And we've got the old toaster working again and revived the Toaster Challenge. Andrews's choice is Three Days by Thomas Bernhard.Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iom...

Send us a textSome of the highlights of this year's Books for Breakfast, featuring contributions by Gabriel Byrne, Thomas McCarthy, Wendy Erskine, Colm Tóibín, Brian Leyden, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Leland Bardwell, Kevin Power, John McAuliffe, Kelly Michels, Mark Granier, Judith Mok and Mark Roper.Enda and Peter also discuss some of the books on their desks at the moment: The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World by David...

Send us a textWelcome to a special Books for Breakfast edition this morning to celebrate Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin's 80th birthday. We wish her all the best on this very special day. This isan edited audio version of the interview we did in 2020 in MoLi to celebrate the publication of her Collected Poems. Listen and enjoy!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 Si...

Send us a textToday we talk to Liam Carson, Director of annual Irish language festival Imram, about this year's programme. And we interview Mark Roper about his latest collection of poems, Beyond Stillness, of which Martina Evans wrote in the Irish Times:Roper has an unerring sense of the gulfs between the miracle and damnation, life’s beginning and its end:As I dragged the dead harefrom the road, a crack of bone.Those marvellous feet, mishandled.Its shadow waits on the moonbut the hare is na...

Send us a textOn todays’s show we talk to Judith Mok, whose memoir The State of Dark has just been published by Lilliput. Judith Mok was born in the Netherlands, to Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. She trained as a classical singer and travelled the world performing as a soloist, and has also fiction and poetry. For the last twenty years she has been based in Ireland, where she works as a voice coach with classical singers and international pop stars. The State of Dark is a memo...

Send us a textDoes love poetry still pack a punch? Do new anthologies of love poetry have anything to say about the kind of world we live in? Join us on today’s show to hear some answers as we discuss Romance Options: Love Poems for Today, just out from Dedalus Press. We’ll be talking to editors Joseph Woods and Leanne Quinn, and we’ll be listening to poems read by contributors Mark Granier, Catherine Ann Cullen, Mark Roper, Kelly Michels, Martina Dalton, Philip Davison, Seán Lysaght, Grace W...

Send us a textWhat’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 ...

Send us a textThree 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 ele...

Send us a textToday'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, ...

Send us a textThis 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 Tóib...

Send us a textOn this morning's show we talk to Wendy Erskine, whose second collection of short stories, Dance Move, has just been published by The Stinging Fly. And we feature two Ukrainian poems: 'Crow, Wheels' by Lyuba Yakimchuk, with permission from Words without Borders where it first appeared, and Ilya Kaminsky's 'We Lived Happily During the War' from his acclaimed collection Deaf Republic. Praise for Wendy Erskine's work:‘I found Dance Move to be a profound, moving and bril...

Send us a textWe 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 ...

Send us a textThis 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...

Send us a textToday'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 frust...

Send us a textA 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 SirrTo subscribe to Books for Breakfast go to your podcas...

Send us a text'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'HaganSome of the responses to Cla...

Send us a textOn today's show we talk to two poets who have published new collections: Eleanor Hooker, whose Of Ochre and Ash is published by Dedalus Press, and Amanda Bell whose Riptide is available from Doire Press. Eleanor's Toaster Challenge choice is 'Snow Woman', a poem by Breda Wall Ryan while Amanda chooses 'I Worried', a poem by Mary Oliver.And we mark the passing of two fine Irish poets, Máire Mhac an tSaoi and Brendan Kennelly. Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, ‘...

Send us a textOn today's show we talk to Liam Carson, director of the Irish language literary festival IMRAM about this year's wide-ranging and adventurous hybrid programme, which starts today. And we talk to Alannah Hopkin about her honest and heartbreaking literary memoir of the lives of two Irish writers, A Very Strange Man : A Memoir of Aidan Higgins, published by New Island Books. Alannah's Toaster Challenge choice is Songs for the Flames, stories by International IMPAC Dublin Lite...

Send us a textToday's show is a short story special and double Toaster Challenge edition. We begin with John MacKenna whose We Seldom Talk About the Past, the first selection of short stories from one of Ireland's great masters of the form, has just been published by New Island. John's Toaster Challenge choice is Raymond Carver's All of Us: The Collected Poems.Next up is Madeleine D'Arcy, who talks about her follow up to her award-winning first collection Waiting for the Bullet with Liberty T...

Send us a textWhy have women been treated differently, and discriminated against, in the literary world? Why has gender been a ‘problem’ in the writing, publishing, funding and reviewing scene? And why does it matter? Éilis Ni Dhuibhne asked twenty one writers who were born in mid-twentieth-century Ireland, north and south, to write about their literary lives. The resulting essays, full of fascinating insights into the journeys of these writers, are published as Look! It’s a Woman Write...

Send us a textTo celebrate thirty years of the Irish Writers Centre, Enda talks to co-host Peter, who was the first director of the Centre, about the early years, and Peter talks to current director Valerie Bistany about current activities and plans for the future. And the toaster is back in action, with Valerie choosing Kent Haruf’s Plainsong for her Toaster Challenge.Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, ‘Thou Shalt Not Carry’ from The Hare’s Corner, 2008, with thanks to Colm for p...

Send us a textWe ease our way back into breakfast book chat after our summer intermission with an episode on what we read ourselves during the summer. Enda chooses Lucia Berlin's A Manual for Cleaning Women, while Peter selects Deer on the High Hills: Selected Poems by Iain Crichton Smith, edited by John Greening. We also give a shout out to this weekend's Fingal Poetry Festival and to forthcoming and recently published books such as Hugo Hamilton's The Pagesand Colm Tóibín's The Magician.No ...

Send us a textToday, in the last podcast in the current season, Enda Wyley talks to Aoife Lyall about her debut collection Mother Nature, published by Bloodaxe Books. Aoife's Toaster Challenge Choice is A Line Made by Walking by Sara Baume, published by Tramp Press in 2017.And Books for Breakfast co-host Peter Sirr talks about his Intimate City: Dublin Essays, just published by Gallery Press.Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, ‘Thou Shalt Not Carry’ from The Hare’s Corner, 2008, with tha...

Send us a textToday former RTE producer and writer Julian Vignoles, know for his biographies of Rory Gallagher and David Thomson of Woodbrook fame, reviews Sinéad O'Connor's memoir Rememberings, described as 'inspiring, liberating, hilarious and fascinating' by theIrish Times and 'beautifully observed ... lyrical, funny and anguished' by the Guardian.Our Toaster Challenge guest is Victoria Kennefick whose debut collection Eat Or We Both Starve, was published recently by Carcanet.&...

Send us a textThis morning's show features interviews with two outstanding writers. First up is Louise Kennedy whose collection of stories The End of the World is a Cul de Sac has been widely praised. 'A dazzling, heartbreaking debut collection' said the Guardian while the Sunday Times said that 'Kennedy's voice, and her unforgiving gaze, are electric'. Our Toaster Challenge guest is the fine poet Penelope Shuttle whose new collection, Lyonesse, is published this month by Bloodaxe....

Send us a textToday we talk to Evelyn Conlon whose new collection of stories, Moving About the Place, has recently been published by Blackstaff Press. Brilliantly written, witty, and full of the sharp observation for which Conlon is well known, Moving About the Place brings together some of the best of her recent work, along with brand-new stories, including a novella, to show how borders, movement and history change and transform people’s lives.Evelyn’s Toaster Challenge Choice is the classi...

Send us a textWhere did Dublin's uber-toffs live in the eighteenth century? Melanie Hayes drops in to talk about The Best Address in Town, Henrietta Street, Dublin and Its First Residents, 1720-1780, published by Four Courts Press. Our Toaster Challenge guest is Moya Cannon, whose Collected Poems was recently published by Carcanet, featuring more than three decades of fine work. Moya's Toaster Challenge choice is the classic The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd. Bring them with you on your mor...

Send us a textWe're looking eastward toward today, with Toaster Challenge guest poet Justin Quinn who joins us from Prague, and we review the latest collection of stories from Bucharest based Philip Ó Ceallaigh. Justin's latest collection Shallow Seas was published by Gallery Press late last year; Philip's collection, Trouble, will be published by The Stinging Fly in May but is available for pre-order. Today's Toaster Challenge choice is Edith Templeton's Living on Yesterday. Templeton was bo...

Send us a textThis waning moon is pitiless, as dawn swiftly follows and we must separate –such heartbreak!–Mibu No TadamineToday's show features James Hadley and Nell Regan talking about their translations of Japanese classical poetry for A Gap in the Clouds published by Dedalus Press. And we travel all the way to Melbourne for an interview with Australian poet Grant Caldwell whose Blue Balloon is a collection of his best haiku ...

Send us a textWelcome to the audio edition of the special Books for Breakfast video podcast for Mountains to Sea dlr Books Festival. We were delighted to be the opening event for the festival, with two writers and two Toaster Challenges. Our first guest was Laura McKenna, whose new, ambitious and epic novel Words to Shape My Name has just been published by New Island. Inspired by true events, this outstanding story of failure hope and resilience traverses c...

Send us a textWelcome to the 25th episode of Books for Breakfast! On today’s show we review Apocalypse: An Anthology, edited by James Keery, the first anthology of Apocalyptic or neoromantic poetry since the 1940s and including more than 200 poets. Our Toaster Challenge guest is Una Mannion whose novel A Crooked Tree has just been published by Faber to considerable acclaim. Una’s Toaster Challenge choice is Louise Kennedy’s short story collection The End of the World Is A Cul-de-Sac. So put t...

Send us a textToday we look at Shirley Hazzard's The Transit of Venus, often considered her most brilliant novel, and poet Peter Robinson's investigation of the relationships between poets, poetry and money from Chaucer to the the present in Poetry and Money. Our Toaster Challenge guest is Leeanne Quinn whose new poetry collection Some Lives has recently been published by Dedalus. Leeanne’s Toaster Challenge choice is Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Nobel Pr...

Send us a textThis week we begin by looking at Days of Clear Light, a festschrift in honour of Salmon Press founder Jessie Lendennie to celebrate 40 years of the poetry press. Peter reflects on a favourite book, Gaston Bachelard’s The Poetics of Space, and our Toaster Challenge guest is actor Cathy Belton, fresh from her performance in the Landmark Productions online version of Mark O’Rowe’s The Approach.Cathy’ s Toaster Challenge choice is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.Intro...

Send us a textIn this episode we look at new and recent poetry collections, which we list below. And our Toaster Challenge guest is Michael O’Loughlin whose new book of poetry and prose, Liberty Hall, will be published by New Island in April. Michael goes in search of lost gods with his Toaster Challenge choice, Roberto Calasso's Literature and the Gods. Here's a list of poetry books mentioned in the episode. Maurice Scully, Play BookJustin Quinn, Shallow SeasGrace Wilentz, The Li...

Send us a textWelcome to Books for Breakfast in 2021! We begin the year with a look at some noteworthy fiction from new and familiar writers. Books mentioned are:The Art of Falling by Danielle McLaughlin A Crooked Tree by Una Mannion Words to Shape My Name by Laura McKenna Pure Gold by John Patrick McHugh Snowflake by Louise NealonWe Are Not in the World by Conor O’Callaghan The Death of Francis Bacon by Max Porter The Dark Room by Sam Blake Lif...

Send us a textThis is our bumper Christmas episode, featuring two Toaster Challenges with Tara Bergin and Paula Meehan respectively. Paula also discusses her recently published As If By Magic: Selected Poems. Tara's Toaster Challenge Choice is Fernando Pesssoa's The Book of Disquiet,translated by Margaret Jull Costa, while Paula chooses More than concrete blocks: vol. II, 1940–72: Dublin city's twentieth-century buildings and their stories.Tara also reads a poem by Anne Cars...

Send us a textIMRAM is a longstanding festival that celebrates writing in Irish. This year sees it going digital with an enticing series of 'magical film' featuring translations of Ovid, Rilke's Duino Elegies, the Scottish performer and poet MacGillivray and much more. We spoke to festival director Liam Carson about the inspirations behind this year's programme. Today's Toaster Challenge guest is Henrietta McKervey whose A Talented Man was published this year. Henrietta's To...

Send us a textIt’s not quite winter yet but we thought we’d begin with some poems to get us in the mood for the approaching season. Thanks to John O’Donnell, Jean O’Brien, Jane Clarke and Mark Granier for reading some of their favourite winter poems.Today’s Toaster Challenge guest is Kathleen MacMahon, whose new novel Nothing But Blue Sky has recently been published. Kathleen’s choice is The Spare Room by Helen GarnerPoems read:‘Lines for Winter’ by Mark Strand, ...

Send us a textAre dictionaries still important? Who uses them? How does new words get into a dictionary? Are they ever kicked out? Today's show features a discussion of an important new addition to the Irish language, the Concise New English Irish Dictionary edited by Pádraig Ó Mianáin and also looks at the latest updates to the Oxford English Dictionary. This week's Toaster Challenge guest is poet and nature writer Seán Lysaght whose account of the North Mayo landscap...

Send us a textWho are the people who keep a love of books alive in our city and in our communities? Our Toaster Challenge guest is Bernadette Larkin who has extensive experience in literature and arts education for children and young adults. Bernadette chats to us about books for young adults and, among other things, her role as project manager and curator of Our City Our Books, an initiative of Dublin City Council Culture Company. What books matter to you? Bernadette is eager to...

Send us a textThis morning, to mark Irish Book Week, we go on a virtual tour of Dublin bookshops past and present. Our Toaster Challenge guest is Kerry Hardie, whose new poetry collection, Where Now Begins, is published in November by Bloodaxe Books. Kerry's Toaster Challenge choice is The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth, translated by Michael Hofmann.In Moving Light by Martijn de Boer (NiGiD) (c) copyright 2020 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. ht...

Send us a textThis morning's episode pays tribute to the late Derek Mahon, one of Ireland's finest poets, and also considers the work of Louise Glück who has just been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. We also review the Abbey Theatre's production of Patrick Kavanagh's The Great Hunger at the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham. This week's Toaster Challenge is author Neil Hegarty whose novel The Jewel was published last year. Neil's choice is Alison Lurie's The War Between The Tates. Thanks to ...

Send us a textToday we look at one of the most famous poems of the twentieth century as we consider Ian Sansom’s brilliantly entertaining book about the poem and the poet, September 1, 1939: W.H. Auden and the Afterlife of a Poem . We’ll also be looking at the latest novel by Elena Ferrante, The Lying Life of Adults. This week’s Toaster Challenge guest is Mary O’Donnell, whose poetry collection Massacre of the Birds has just been published by Salmon Books. The Toaster Challenge choice&nb...

Send us a textThis week we delve into the fiction, and particularly the short stories of the other Elizabeth Taylor. Our Toaster Challenge guest is novelist and Arts Council Head of Literature Sarah Bannan who talks about Weightless, writing and the plight of artists in Covid times. And we also explore Lee Harwood's collection The Orchid Boat.Toaster Challenge choice: Sarah Crossan, Here is the Beehive.Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, ‘Thou Shalt Not Carry’ from The Hare’s Corne...

Send us a textOn this morning's show we discuss Manchán Magan's newly published Thirty-Two Words for Field: Lost words of the Irish landscape, and our Toaster Challenge guest is the widely acclaimed Irish actor Owen Roe. The Whole Story, the 3 October event he mentions in The Pavilion Theatre has had to be cancelled because of the Level 3 restrictions in Dublin. Toaster Challenge choice: J.P. Priestley, Lost EmpiresIntro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, ‘Thou Shalt Not Carry’ from The Hare’...

Send us a textToday's show opens with a discussion of Zadie Smith's lockdown essays, Intimations; our Toaster Challenge guest is Caitriona Lally, author of the award-winning Eggshells, and we also feature the work of poet Michael Hartnett (1941-1999).Thanks to filmmaker Pat Collins for permission to use audio excerpts from his film about Michael Hartnett 'A Necklace of Wrens' (1999). Poems quoted are by kind permission of the Estate of Michael Hartnett and The Gallery Press.Toaster Challenge ...

Send us a textThis week features a celebration of the work of Eugene McCabe, who died in August, with particular focus on his timeless novel Death and Nightingales. Our Toaster Challenge guest is poet and former Director of Poetry Ireland Joe Woods and we also discuss Scottish poet Kathleen Jamie’s Selected Poems. Toaster Challenge choice: Raymond Carver, A New Path to the Waterfall.Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, ‘Thou Shalt Not Carry’ from The Hare’s Corner, 2008, with thanks to Co...

Send us a textToday's show features Helen Dunmore's final novel Birdcage Walk and her poetry collection Inside the Wave. Our Toaster Challenge guest is journalist and broadcaster Olivia O'Leary, and we also review Stanley Plumley's The Immortal Evening: A Legendary Dinner with Keats, Wordsworth and Lamb.Toaster Challenge choice: Eibhear Walshe, Kate O'Brien: A Writing LifeIntro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, ‘Thou Shalt Not Carry’ from The Hare’s Corner, 2008, with thanks to Colm fo...

Send us a textToday’s show features Deborah Levy’s Things I Don’t Want to Know, Flights by Olga Tocarczuk; the Toaster Challenge guest is poet and playwright Adam Wyeth. We also discuss Charles Simic’s latest collection of poems Come Closer and Listen and The Life of Images: Selected Prose.Toaster Challenge choice: Clarice Lispector,Hour of the StarIntro/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.Art wor...

Send us a textThis morning's show features an excursion into the country in the company of a favourite novel of Enda's, J.L Carr's A Month in the Country. Toaster Challenge guest debut novelist Marianne Lee talks about the inspiration behind A Quiet Tide, recently published by New Island, and we travel, at least in our heads, to Sweden to explore the poetry of Lars Gustafsson, whose Selected Poems, translated by John Irons, are published by Bloodaxe Books. Toaster Challenge choice: Olga Tokar...

Send us a textThis morning we consider two books concerned with the arts of looking and seeing:On Looking: a walker's guide to the art of observation by Alexandra Horowitz, and Ditch Vision: essays on poetry, nature and place by poet and critic Jeremy Hooker.Our Toaster Challenge guest is poet John O’Donnell whose first collection of short stories Almost the Same Blue has recently been published by Doire Press. John's choice is John Banville's The Book of Evidence and the episode also feature...

Send us a textThis week we console ourselves by looking at books about people and places, our Toaster Challenge guest is Philip Davison whose novel Quiet City has recently been published by Liberties Press, and we delve into Julie O'Callaghan's new book of poetry Magnum Mysterium.Other books mentioned:Jan Morris, Among the Cities,Alasdair Reid, Inside Out and Outside InJan Martel, The High Mountains of PortugalTove Jansson, The Summer BookGabriel Garcia Marques, Love in the Time of CholeraToa...

Send us a textToday's episode begins with a look at the sadly postponed Strokestown Poetry Festival and celebrates the publication of the Strokestown Anthology. Our Toaster Challenge guest is Alice Lyons, author of the recently published Oona, and Peter Sirr chooses a poem by Francis Ponge.Toaster Challenge Choice: Linda Norton, Wite OutIntro/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.Art work by Freya S...

Send us a textOn this morning's show a mix of poetry and espionage, and what it's like to qualify as a solicitor and give up law on the same day. Enda Wyley and Peter Sirr discuss collections of short poems such as Short and Sweet: 101 Very Short Poems, edited by Simon Armitage and the newly published The Word Ark, a pocket-sized anthology of poems responding to our fellow creatures, great and small, published at a time when not only the animal kingdom but the world at large is beset by dange...

Send us a textIn this opening episode of Books for Breakfast Enda Wyley and Peter Sirr discuss Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell; author of the multiple prize winning The Narrow Land Christine Dwyer Hickey takes on the Toaster Challenge (an uninterrupted 2 minutes to present a favourite book; today's choice is Apeirogon by Colum McCann) and Peter Sirr talks about the poetry of Pearse Hutchinson.Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, ‘Thou Shalt Not Carry’ from The Hare’s Corner, 2008,...