UCC Library Podcasts

In this episode, we spotlight our Transition Year programme, where students from local schools spend a week gaining hands-on experience at UCC Library.Michelle Rumley, Transition Year Course Coordinator at UCC Library, speaks with three Transition Year students from Coláiste Muire Crosshaven, Christ King Girls’ School, and Carrigaline Community School about their experiences, insights, and reflections on what it’s like to work with us.If you’d like to learn more about the Transition Year programme at UCC Library, please get in touch at library@ucc.ie.We hope you enjoy the conversation.Intro music: Bog Jazz - Bad Ducks

In this episode, Trevor Joyce, poet and founder of the SoundEye Festival of the Arts of the Word, talks with fellow poets and festival organisers, Ellen Dillon and Fergal Gaynor, about twenty-one years of poetry and the avant-garde in Cork and beyond. The conversation takes place in the same building, UCC Library, where the SoundEye Collection, of books, memorabilia, recordings and archival material, will be housed. Trevor Joyce, born in Dublin in 1947, is the author of numerous poetry collections, the first being Sole Glum Trek (1967), and the most recent Possession (2026). He is a member of Aosdána. Ellen Dillon is the author of, among other poetry collections, Sonnets to Malkmus (2019) and Fare Thee Well, Miss Carousel (2023). She was UCC writer-in-residence in 2025 and her most recent work, of essay, prose poetry and fiction − A Whale Called Milieu − was shortlisted for the Prototype Prize. Fergal Gaynor is a poet and critic based in Cork. 2025 saw the publication of his Clio’s Ground: New and Selected Poems and Geoffrey Squires in Conversation with Fergal Gaynor. He is a member of the Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art.Additional music and performance: Margaret Barry – She Moves Through the Fair; Niña de los Peines – Alegrias; Los Langeros – Killing Frogs; Jaap Blonk – from 8 Mechanical Statements; Maurice Scully – Bread.   

In this episode, Eimear Ryan, lecturer in English and Digital Humanities at UCC, interviews novelists Clara Kumagai and John Patrick McHugh in UCC Library’s Creative Zone on March 26th, 2026. They discuss their writing careers and recent acclaimed publications.Clara Kumagai is from Canada, Japan and Ireland. Her debut novel, Catfish Rolling, received the 2024 KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year Award. Her second novel, Songs for Ghosts, was named one of the Best Irish Books of 2025 by Children’s Books Ireland, and has been longlisted for the 2026 YOTO Carnegie Medal for Writing.John Patrick McHugh is from Galway. His work has appeared in the Stinging Fly, Winter Papers, Banshee, Tolka, and Granta and been broadcast on BBC Radio 3. He is the author of the short story collection Pure Gold and the novel Fun and Games. We hope you enjoy the conversation.Intro music: Bog Jazz - Bad Ducks

This is the inaugural episode of UCC Library’s Community Matters discussion forum. It was recorded live in front of an audience in our Creative Zone as part of the Cork Podcast Festival on March 24th, 2026.The first Community Matters forum focused on the topic of housing and features contributions from the following representatives:Lucas Van Bilderbeek - CATU Cllr. Honore Kamengi - Green Party AJ Nagle - Cork Student Housing Co-op Jason O'Shaughnessy - Cork Centre For Architectural Education Frank O'Connor & Jude Sherry - Derelict IrelandCommunity Matters is a library‑led initiative that creates a shared forum for diverse voices to come together for an in‑depth panel discussion, recorded live as a podcast.It is also designed to encourage meaningful conversations on local issues through multiple perspectives.This episode was produced and moderated by Dave Hackett, UCC Library Public Engagement Coordinator.All proceeds from this event were donated to Cork Simon Community.We hope you enjoy the conversation.Intro music: Bog Jazz - Bad Ducks

In this episode Elaine Harrington, Special Collections Librarian, and John Hough, Senior Technical Officer in UCC’s Department of Music speak with Dr Abigail Wincott, Falmouth University about The Sonic Histories of Cork City (SHOCC) Project.For full show notes: https://abigailwincott.wordpress.com/2023/09/14/episode-1-sonic-histories-of-cork-city/The SHOCC Project (2018-2021) was a public arts initiative exploring the connections between sound, space, and history in Cork City. Co-founded by Elaine Harrington (UCC Library), John Hough, and Dr. Jillian Rogers (Dept. of Music, UCC), the project used archival and historical sources to recreate historically informed soundscapes. Students contributed through a university module, and the team developed Sound Catcher, an online tool for collecting contemporary sounds from the public. Through public events, the project encouraged critical engagement with Cork’s sonic history. It exemplified successful collaboration between UCC’s Library and Music Department, aligning with the university’s connected curriculum.Connect with Elaine Harrington, https://linktr.ee/walkerabroad 

In this episode, Sarah Kernan speaks to Elaine Harrington, Special Collections Librarian at University College Cork about Historical Recipes in the Digital Age. This project was created by a partnership between UCC Special Collections and Digital Learning and relied on the contributions of staff and students to shape and analyze the project.”For full show notes and a transcript: https://recipes.hypotheses.org/21761.”Connect with UCC Library Special Collections & Archives: linktr.ee/theriversideUCC Connect with UCC Library: linktre.ee/UCCLibraryConnect with The Recipes Project on Facebook and Instagram.