Irish Culture

Imprint: Writers in Profile

Dermot Bolger – Imprint: Writer in Profile

11th April 2019

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Novelist and poet Dermot Bolger sits down with Theo Dorgan to discuss his life and work. In particular, he explores the misperception of his writing as ‘realism’, his establishment of Raven Arts and his admiration of W.B. Yeats. Other topics are  discussed including dealing with death and loss, criticism and ‘coincidental writing’. Bolger compares the […]

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Imprint: Writers in Profile

Leland Bardwell – Imprint: Writer in Profile

5th April 2019

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The late Leland Bardwell discusses her early childhood spent in India with her Irish parents. The family returned to Ireland when she was 2 years old and it was here that she would later carve a career as a novelist and poet. Bardwell outlines her trajectory from first publication for Arena Magazine in the ‘60s, […]

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Colm Tóibín – Imprint: Writer in Profile

2nd April 2019

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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. […]

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Imprint: Writers in Profile

John Montague – Imprint: Writer in Profile

2nd April 2019

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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 […]

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Imprint: Writers in Profile

Michael Longley – Imprint: Writer in Profile

2nd April 2019

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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 […]

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Imprint: Writers in Profile

Joseph O’Connor – Imprint: Writer in Profile

2nd April 2019

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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 […]

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Imprint: Writers in Profile

Thomas Kilroy – Imprint: Writer in Profile

2nd April 2019

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Irish playwright Thomas Kilroy was born in Limerick and through a career spanning fifty years, he has resisted fixed categories and boundaries in both his stagecraft and themes of his plays. This episode begins with a discussion about what interviewer Theo Dorgan refers to as a ‘double life’ – Kilroy’s role as a playwright and […]

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Imprint: Writers in Profile

Eavan Boland – Imprint: Writer in Profile

2nd April 2019

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Irish poet Eavan Boland was born in Dublin, Ireland, but moved to London at the age of six. where she had her first experience of anti-Irish sentiment. She returned to Ireland to study at Trinity College, Dublin, and was also educated in New York. In this episode, Dorgan and Boland delve into her self-consciousness about […]

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Imprint: Writers in Profile

Bernard MacLaverty – Imprint: Writer in Profile

2nd April 2019

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Novelist Bernard MacLaverty recalls his beginnings as a Medical Lab Technician and compares writing to ‘a science of feelings’. This interview explores topics around his early poetry, moving to Scotland after the Ulster Worker’s Strike and  being inspired by Brian Moore and the short stories of Michael MacLaverty. He explores the political underpinning of his […]

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Imprint: Writers in Profile

Hugh Leonard – Imprint: Writer in Profile

2nd April 2019

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Hugh Leonard was a prolific Irish dramatist, television writer and essayist. In this episode, Leonard takes us through his childhood in Dalkey, Co. Dublin, writing his early plays and his influences from Lennox Robinson and Sean O’Casey, to ‘the greatest’ Samuel Beckett. He offers an in-depth look at his creative process, how ideas arise and […]

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Imprint: Writers in Profile

Nuala Ní Dhomnaill – Imprint: Writer in Profile

1st April 2019

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In this Writer in Profile interview, Irish-language poet Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill discusses her early childhood in England where she grew up speaking both English and Irish. At the age of five, she went to live with her aunt in Co Kerry and was spurred to write Irish-language poetry after her first visit to the Gaeltacht. […]

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Documentary

Essie’s Last Stand

22nd February 2019

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It’s Dublin, 1999, and 76 year old Essie Keeling, Georgie her dog and her neighbour Karl Byrne are fighting eviction by property developers and homelessness. This timely, inspiring story of determination and resistance offers a crucial lens through which to view Dublin’s current housing crisis. Despite her age and ill health, the lovable Essie is […]

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