U2 footage: An Cat Dubh is an outtake from the documentary Looking On and part of The Loopline Collection Volume 1. To see more of the collection click here.
Mick Rafferty Introduces U2 is an outtake from the documentary Looking On and part of The Loopline Collection Volume 1. To see more of the collection click here.
Joe Duffy On Education is an outtake from the documentary Looking On and part of The Loopline Collection Volume 1. To see more of the collection click here.
U2 footage: Let’s Twist Again is an outtake from the documentary Looking On and part of The Loopline Collection Volume 1. To see more of the collection click here.
Irish novelist, short story writer and journalist Colm Tóibín talks to Theo Dorgan about his early childhood in Enniscorthy, his early poetry writing and studying at University College Dublin. Tóibín lived in Barcelona between 1975 and 1978 and explains how this experience of Spanish life, gothic architecture, and the death of Franco shaped his work. […]
In this episode, Theo Dorgan meets English novelist, short story writer and essayist J.G. Ballard to delve into his oeuvre of science fiction and post-apocalyptic novels, such as The Drowned World and Crash. Empire of the Sun is explored as an autobiographical account of a young British boy’s experience in Shanghai during Japanese occupation. Dorgan […]
In this episode, cultural critic Edward Said describes himself as ‘a writer for occasion’ – caught between journalism and being a ‘long distance runner’. Said discusses his upbringing; his status as a Palestinian intellectual; his de-mystification of (particularly American) imperialism; and his positive response to criticism. Theo Dorgan questions him about his memoir Out of […]
John Montague was an Irish poet who was born in Brooklyn, New York, but grew up in Tyrone, Ireland. At the time this programme was made, Montague was Ireland Professor of Poetry at Trinity College, Dublin. In this generous interview, Montague reflects on studying in college where he discovered that ‘there were such things called […]
Irish poet Michael Longley was born in Belfast in 1939. In this episode, Longley discusses growing up in Northern Ireland where he wrote his first poems at sixteen to impress a girl he fancied. He then leads us to life in Trinity College, Dublin, his friendships with Derek Mahon and Brendan Kennelly and the effects […]
In this episode award-winning Irish author Joseph O’Connor explores his many forms of storytelling from fiction to scriptwriting, and journalism with Theo Dorgan. O’Connor expresses a belief in the political responsibility of the writer to impact society and the revival he believes is happening in contemporary Irish fiction. The pair talk about his collection of […]
Canadian writer Margaret Atwood is perhaps best known for The Handmaid’s Tale, a novel that was recently adapted into a gripping TV series. This episode was filmed in 2001 and delves into, what Atwood describes as, her ‘precocious’ childhood, her early writer’s block and her desire to be a painter. She discusses how she wrote […]
American novelist and short story writer Richard Ford opens up about his childhood dyslexia, the slowness of his writing and his beginnings in poetry. He talks to Theo Dorgan about earning a reputation as a ‘dirty realist’ after his novels The Sportswriter and Independence Day. Ford originally wanted to join the police force and had […]