The Women's Podcast

In today’s episode, Chelsey Goodan aka the “teenage whisperer” joins Róisín Ingle to talk about her new book Underestimated: The Power and Wisdom of Teenage Girls. It’s an empowering guide to better understand our teen daughters, stemming from Goodan's 16 years spent mentoring young people from all different backgrounds. Goodan talks about the challenges that teenage girls face today, and discusses how mothers can deepen their relationships with their daughters by listening and giving them the tools to find their own solutions. We also hear from Ingle’s 15-year-old twin daughters, Joya and Priya, who shed light on what it’s really like to be a teenage girl in 2024 and what they think their mum is doing right and what she’s doing wrong. But first, Irish Times journalist Ella Sloane joins Ingle to talk about her essay which won Ireland's Sarah Cecilia Harrison Essay Prize this week.

Yesterday, in what for many of us is an utterly depressing turn of events, the American people voted for Donald Trump to become the next President of the United States. It’s an historic development, as he becomes the first-ever convicted felon to be elected to office. He is also the first president-elect to have a civil conviction for sexual assault, and the first to have been impeached twice. The Trump campaign has been rife with misogyny, hatred, and racist rhetoric, yet despite it all, he was elected. So, how did this happen, and what does it mean for women in America and around the world? Kathy Sheridan joins Róisín Ingle for a post-election debrief.Later in the podcast, poet Donna Ashworth joins us to talk about her upcoming trip to Dublin. The Scottish poet will be flying over to appear as a special guest at Jan Brierton’s Wild Words, an evening of poetry and spoken word at the Ambassador Theatre on November 28th. In this conversation, Ashworth also reacts to yesterday’s election result and reads a poem from her latest collection, Growing Brave: Words to Soothe Fear and Let in More Light.

With the US election just days away, Irish Times columnist and co-presenter of The Women’s Podcast Kathy Sheridan joins Róisín Ingle to talk about how the election has become a battle of the sexes, with Donald Trump pulling strong support from male voters and Kamala Harris enjoying a comparable edge with female voters. Later on, broadcasters and podcasters Jenny Kelly and Mairéad Ronan join the podcast to talk about their brand new book What We Know Now: Lessons on Life, Loss, Love and Friendship. Inspired by their own life experiences, the book explores failures, successes and mess-ups and offers advice on how to navigate life's ups and downs. In this conversation, the pair share the secrets to their 20-year friendship, explain how their relationship with alcohol has evolved through the years and they go through their top ten list for living a happier life.

This month on The Women’s Podcast Book Club, Bernice Harrison, Niamh Towey, Róisín Ingle, and Ann Ingle discuss Sally Rooney's long-awaited fourth novel, Intermezzo.The novel centres on the lives of two brothers: Peter, a lawyer, and Ivan, a chess prodigy, as they come to terms with the recent death of their father and navigate the complex relationships in their lives.Some of our book clubbers adored the book, devouring it in “just a couple of days,” while others found it to be a rather “unsatisfactory read.”

Last week, Trinity College announced that the main library in its city centre campus has been renamed after Irish poet Eavan Boland. It will be the first building on Trinity's grounds to be named after a woman. This week, in more good news for Irish female writers, the Mary Lavin Place will also be publicly unveiled in Wilton Park, in Dublin’s south side. It’s a public plaza to commemorate the famous writer who lived nearby on Lad Lane with her three daughters. In today’s episode, Róisín Ingle is joined by Lavin’s granddaughter Kathleen MacMahon to talk about the writer's extraordinary life and what this commemoration means to the family. We’re also joined by historian, lecturer, and Director of Gender Studies at UCD Mary McAuliffe who campaigned in 2013 for the Rosie Hackett bridge to be named after the Irish revolutionary activist. McAuliffe explains why so few Irish streets or spaces are named after women and what can be done to change this.

Bella Mackie’s debut novel, How to Kill Your Family, sold over one million copies, and now she’s back with her second book, What a Way to Go. It’s a hilariously dark ‘whodunnit’ that centres on the death of an extremely rich yet extremely unpleasant man, Anthony Wistern. In this conversation with Róisín Ingle, Mackie talks about the online sleuths and armchair detectives who inspired one of her main characters and how her relationship with true crime has evolved over the years.We also hear about her 2018 memoir, Jog On, which focuses on running and mental health and she reflects on how that book marked "the beginning of the rest of her life". Later on, Mackie also talks about her quick proposal to her “current husband”, BBC’s Greg James, about the upcoming Netflix adaptation of her first novel and about her experience of being stalked by a man she’d never met.

Today, Róisín Ingle is joined by author, content creator and veteran fashion model Ruth Crilly. In her new memoir, How Not to be a Supermodel, Crilly lifts the lid on her days spent working as a model in one of the biggest talent agencies in the world. Told with Crilly’s undeniable wit, it’s a humorous and touching reflection on the highs and lows of the early noughties fashion scene.In this wide-ranging conversation, Crilly talks about her Irish roots, the influence of her safety-conscious father and what prompted her to enter her name into a national model search while studying law at Birmingham University. She reflects on her days as a fledgling model, selling car insurance on the weekends to keep herself afloat and all the hilarious situations she found herself in along the way. With her life-long love of writing, Crilly explains how a move into blogging and content creation came as a natural progression, after an eventful twelve years mastering how not to be a supermodel.

After a short hiatus, the book club is back with Bernice Harrison, Niamh Towey, Róisín and Ann Ingle discussing The Amendments by Niamh Mulvey. The book explores the complexities of family dynamics, religious beliefs, women's rights, and Ireland's history, told through the experiences of three distinct women. So what did our book clubbers make of this debut novel and would they recommend it to others? Our next book club pick is Intermezzo by Sally Rooney and we’ll be discussing it in October.