The Irish Pages Podcast

Manus Charleton and Nora McGillen talk to Irish Pages editor Chris Agee about Old Istanbul & Other Essays, the first collection of essays by Gerard McCarthy, who died shortly before their publication in 2022. McCarthy’s dazzling philosophical writing occupies the region where philosophy merges into literature, drawing deeply on the influence of Nietzsche, Marcus Aurelius and Montaigne. Manus and Nora discuss their memories of Gerard and his life and work as a social worker and writer, and some of his philosophical preoccupations, including his quest for silence, the world beyond language and the human search for meaning.

Croatian novelists Luka Bekavac and Igor Štiks discuss their latest novels, August After Midnight and W, published in English by Irish Pages Press, with Jacob Agee, Managing Editor at Irish Pages. Bekavac explains the complex, experimental form of August After Midnight, and why transcommunication and the region of Slavonia in northeast Croatia play a central role in his work. Štiks talks about the detailed account of recent revolutionary history in W, the division in left-wing politics that runs through it, and how he fed that material into a dramatic mystery thriller.Irish Pages: https://irishpages.org/

Maddy Tongue and Michael Longley talk to Irish Pages Editor Chris Agee about Tongue's recent book, Helen Lewis: Shadows Behind the Dance, a heartfelt portrait of the Czech dancer and teacher, which also features poems by Michael Longley, who knew Lewis. Tongue and Longley discuss their memories of Lewis and her extraordinary life, from her devastating experiences under a Nazi persecution to her subsequent career in Belfast as a choreographer and teacher, and her own brilliant memoir, A Time to Speak.Irish Pages: https://irishpages.org/

Sorcha Ní Lochlainn and Roisin Costello talk to Irish Pages Managing Editor Milena Williamson about their recent pieces in the journal, which both look at the use and traditions of the Irish language in different periods and settings. They discuss how the language has changed through various process, such as the law, family and community; the tradition of song in providing a public voice for women; the experience of hearing the corncrake its cultural resonance; the value and challenges of preserving dialects; and the advantages (or not) or being bilingual.The episode also features two renditions of traditional song by Sorcha.Irish Pages: https://irishpages.org/

Irish Pages editor Chris Agee talks to John F. Deane and James Harper, poets from different faith traditions, about their combined collection of poetry, Darkness Between Stars, and how their lifetime of work has explored the mysteries of existence and the divine. In a broad and searching conversation, John and James discuss the decline of traditional religious activity in the modern world, the difference between belief and faith, what makes good (and bad) religious poetry, the nature of Jesus, and why we are all agnostics.Irish Pages: https://irishpages.org/

Slavenka Drakulić talks to Jacob Agee about her new collection of stories, Invisible Woman and Other Stories, published in English by Irish Pages Press, which takes the reader on an intimate journey of ageing. They discuss how the collection developed from a novel into short stories, why the female body remains at the centre of her work, why women’s fiction writing is more likely to be treated as autobiographical than men’s, the recent history of nationalism in Croatia and her experience of being described as one of the ‘five witches of Croatia’ in the early 1990s; and the various and surprising translations of her writing that have appeared.Jacob Agee is a managing editor at Irish Pages and the co-translator of Invisible Woman.

Brian Holton talks to Irish Pages Managing Editor Jacob Agee about his latest work of translation for the Irish Pages Press, Aa Cled Wi Clouds She Camm, which consists of translations into Scots and English of the first sixty poems of the standard anthology Song Ci Sanbaishou, a foundational work of Chinese lyric verse. They discuss the history of translation from Chinese to English, the world of the Tang and Song dynasties in which the cí were written, and the particular technical challenges of Chinese as a source language, such as its lack of articles and pronouns, where the first task for the translator is to work out who is doing what to whom.

Irish Pages editor Chris Agee talks to poet Ciarán O’Rourke, whose latest collection, Phantom Gang, published by Irish Pages Press, was longlisted for the 2023 Dylan Thomas prize. Ciarán discusses his poetic influences, from John Clare to Derek Mahon, the importance of political engagement in his work, why his latest collection plays homage to figures including Bertolt Brecht and Gerda Taro, and what role poetry has to play in the crises facing humanity.Find out more about Irish Pages Press: https://irishpages.org/