The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast

Jen Bray’s first novel, The Lies Between Us, is set in the seaside village of Dunmore East in Co. Waterford, where a disappearance and a murder cause old wounds to be reopened and family secrets to be unveiled. This first novel has shot to the top of bestseller lists in Ireland and has now been sold to publishers in Germany, Poland and the United States. However, Jen also holds down a full-time job as Political Editor of The Sunday Times and was formerly a political journalist with The Irish Times. In this episode of the podcast, she chats about juggling these roles, the joy that writing gives her and how she processed her own brush with violence through her novel.

This episode of the podcast celebrates the launch of the new student-led literary magazine Glór. The first of its kind at SETU, the magazine features work by students from across disciplines and departments and spans art, poetry, fiction, reviews and interviews. The editorial team behind the magazine comprises a group of dedicated second year English students who have big plans for future issues and talk about the realities of balancing college work, part-time jobs and editing responsibilities as well as the pride and motivation they’ve enjoyed through developing and launching the magazine. If you are a student at SETU and want to submit to the magazine, you can find them @glormagsetu on Instagram or glormagazine@gmail.comThe first issue of the magazine was funded by The Growth Hub and the second issue will be funded by the Department of Arts. 

Natasha Everitt is a former student of Theatre Studies and English at SETU and since graduating, she has worked as a drama instructor, writer, actress and voiceover artist. Her upcoming show, Time Passes, will take place at Garter Lane Arts Centre in Waterford on 6th and 7th March. Directed by Deirdre Dwyer, the production focuses on a young woman whose mind starts to unravel to the point where she dreams of becoming a lawnmower. In studio, they discuss the process of developing and producing a one-woman show, the responsibility of representing mental health challenges in the theatre, and the hopes that they have for the future of the production.

In her collection of personal essays, This Interim Time, Oona Frawley details the ways in which we try to make sense of the world as our loved ones pass on. Her mother’s descent into dementia and the death of her beloved friend after a battle with cancer cause her to meditate on the loss of her father decades earlier in New York, where she grew up. Now a lecturer in Maynooth University, Dr Frawley’s research interests span late-19th and 20th century Irish Studies, Memory and Trauma Studies, ecocriticism, and writing from New Zealand and Australia, and she teaches on the Creative Writing programme alongside Paul Lynch (Prophet Song) and Belinda McKeon (Tender). Her novel, Flight, was published in 2014 and was nominated for an Irish Book Award. In this first episode of the podcast for 2026, Oona talks about her connection with America and with Ireland, the impact of having actor parents and what it’s like to be vulnerable in your writing when you are also a lecturer standing in front of 400 students.

Our most popular podcast episode of the year is back! On this year’s Christmas recommendations episode, Jenny is joined by Edward Hayden, course leader and lecturer in Culinary Arts (and well-known TV chef!), Dr Sinead O’Halloran, Head of the Department of Science and Dr Katherine Cagney, lecturer in Psychology on the BA Arts programme. They highlight a wonderful selection of books, events and films for you to enjoy over the festive season. We wish our listeners a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year, and thanks for listening in 2025!Featured books/films:All my sons by Arthur MillerThrough her eyes: A new history of Ireland in 21 women by Clodagh FinnMornings in Jenin by Susan AbulhawaThe Raptures and The Fire Starters by Jan CarsonDeaf, directed by Eva Libertad (Spanish, 2025)

In this episode of the podcast, Jenny catches up with Waterford actor Keith Dunphy to talk about his show Word against the word which explores his experience as a dyslexic actor at RADA and the ways in which he navigated the complex world of stage and screen auditions. He talks about the role of Shakespeare in igniting his love of language and how important it was for him to find his own (Waterford) voice within a world of received pronunciation! Also in studio are Dr Christa de Brún, who added Keith’s production to the syllabus for the second year module Literature and Society, and student Katy Fitzgerald, who discusses how important it is to have texts like this on the curriculum, and promotes the new student literary magazine Glór, of which she is an editorial board member.

This episode of the podcast tackles the issue of how we, as educators, might engage with GenAI in our classrooms and features Dr Michelle Kassorla, an Associate Professor of English at Georgia State University, Perimeter College. Michelle has served as a Chair and Expert Panel member for Educause, a non-profit association dedicated to transforming Higher Education through technology. She has co-written the AI Literacy in Teaching and Learning framework for Educause and has published elsewhere on the value of teaching with GenAI. She also writes the substack “The Academic Platypus,” where she advocates strongly for educators to embrace AI in the classroom. In the episode, she outlines practical approaches to teaching with AI, ways of rethinking Bloom’s taxonomy and assessment, the value of human empathy and creativity, and the huge impact that AI agents are likely to have in the coming months.Further Reading:Understanding Inverted Bloom's Taxonomy - https://michellekassorla.substack.com/p/understanding-inverted-bloomsThe Academic Platypus - https://michellekassorla.substack.comBoodle Box AI - https://boodlebox.ai

This episode of the podcast features the writer Patrick Holloway, whose debut novel, “The Language of Remembering” was released earlier this year. The book tells two parallel stories: the first is set “Now” and details Oisín’s return from Brazil with his wife and daughter and his reconnection with his mother Brigid, who is suffering with early onset Alzheimer’s. The second, “Then” details Brigid’s early life in the same small town, as she deals with an unexpected pregnancy.  Patrick himself lived in Brazil and pursued a Masters and PhD in Creative Writing and he has produced poems and short stories that have also explored themes of language, belonging and grief.