Voices Of The Rising

In this episode Zoë has delved into the NLI collection to find a book that brings together a number of interests for writer Adrian Duncan: engineering, Victorian tables, the natural world and a link to Germany where Adrian lives. The Natural History of Cage Birds is a book by JM Bechstein - it explores 'Their Management, Habits, Food, Diseased, Treatment, Breeding, And The Methods Of Catching Them'. It gives details, and to modern sensibilities, shocking advice for keeping birds in captivity. Adrian was interested in the engineering and design of these cages and how they tell us as much about Victorian society and ambitions as they do about birds. Adrian has written a specially commissioned short story for this episode that shows some of the overlapping absurdity of the Victorian era and the Celtic Tiger. In it the narrator comes across a slip of paper tucked into Bechstein's book, but who wrote it and why? Adrian Duncan is an artist and award-winning writer based between Ireland and Berlin. He is the

In this episode Zoë Comyns’ guest is writer Nuala O’Connor – they discuss writing historical fiction and specifically the case of An Cailín Bán – Ellen Hanley. An Cailín Bán/The Colleen Bawn was 15-year-old Ellen Hanley from Limerick who, in 1819, married John Scanlan a 28-year-old squire’s son. He convinced her to elope with him; he took her dowry and after six weeks of marriage he ordered his servant Steven Sullivan to kill her and dispose of the body in the Shannon estuary. Zoë speaks to historian Pat Fitzgerald about stories related to Ellen Hanley, he refers to some of the literary and stage adaptations of An Cailín Bán and the primary source National Library of Ireland documents that exist from the inquest and trial of Ellen Hanley’s murderers. Zoë has commissioned a short story by Nuala O’Connor which imagines the reader of these NLI documents. In White Ellen a descendent of one of the murderers comes to Ireland to find out more about the murder and explore the shame she feels being related to a mur

In this episode Zoë Comyns and Niamh O’Brien discuss an article by EM Lindsay in a 1968 edition of the Irish Astronomical Journal which describes The Limerick Meteorites that fell in 1813 in the county. Niamh uses her experience in deep mapping, harp playing and audio making to write and compose a new story set to harp inspired by this collection item. (call no: Ir 5204 i 4) Niamh O’Brien is a harp player, singer, composer and sound artist. She has performed solo in Ireland and abroad, and with traditional groups such as The Chieftains, AnTara and Hoodman Blind. Since 2017 she has been active in audio and radio, working as a recordist, editor and producer on podcast and documentary projects. She was awarded a PhD by University of Limerick in 2024 for her research in the field of sonic arts and deep mapping. Her current compositional practice combines traditional, folk and electronic music, with voices, interview materials and field recordings. This year she is a Fulbright-Creative Ireland Professiona

Jan Carson joins Podcaster in Residence Zoë Comyns to talk about photography and how images can open the door to fiction . Jan discusses her multitasking approach to reading, her grandmother’s photographs including candid and amusing photographs taken around the North of Ireland. Jan has written a specially commissioned short story for this podcast, imagining a fictional reader, inspired by the collection item: CLON1989 from the National Photographic Archive - a glass plate negative of [Augusta Caroline Dillon and Luke Gerald Dillon with camera on tripod reflected in a large mirror, Clonbrock, Ahascragh, Co. Galway, circa 1865] Jan says “ I think in terms of composition, I really like that kind of stripped backness. It's reflected in the room, but it's also feels reflected in the art. I spent some time in the Clonbrock collection looking at other photographs, and this one feels slightly different from a lot of the others because there are beautiful landscapes. There are arrangements of, you know, groups of

Unearthing Bram Stoker's lost short story Gibbet Hill at The National Library In this episode of The Reader Podcaster in Residence Zoë Comyns speaks to Brian Cleary. Cleary, who had taken time off from his job as a pharmacist after suffering sudden hearing loss, was looking through the Stoker archives at the National Library when he came across a reference to a lost Bram Stoker short story. In a Dublin Daily Express advert from 17th December 1890 promoting a supplement, which contained a short story “Gibbett Hill, by Bram Stoker”. This is the story of that find and includes an excerpt of the short story read by actor Ciaran Reilly. Gibbet Hill is narrated by a man who meets three strange children standing in front of a memorial to a murdered sailor by Gibbet Hill. The man invites them to see where the murderer would be put and, together, they walk to the top of the hill. All proceeds from this book go to the newly created Charlotte Stoker Fund. Charlotte was Bram’s mother - she was a campaigner for de

To launch her residency, Zoë Comyns hosts a pop-up collection inspired by the Library’s archives. Enjoy a live recording featuring readings, talks, and stories, drawing from a rich selection of materials including books, manuscripts, and photographs, bringing the past to life.  Guests include Alice Lyons, Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan, Ian Maleney, Brian Cleary, Nora Thornton and Laura Ryan with an introduction by Liz Coffey Communications & Development, National Library of Ireland.

A Woman in the Water - NLI - Podcaster in Residence Intro by The National Library of Ireland

Episode 4 is the finale of the Radical!: Women and the Irish Revolution series. In this last episode I reflect on my work as Poet-in-Residence and read from source materials from the archives at the National Library of Ireland. The episode includes excerpts from Dorothy Macardle’s account of Easter Week, published in the Irish Press in 1933, two newspaper articles by Lily O’Brennan on the surrenders, and a short excerpt from Elizabeth O’Farrell’s account of the surrenders. I also share from my forthcoming pamphlet Radical!: Women and the Irish Revolution, which are based on these archival materials. The music for the Radical!: Women and the Irish Revolution is “Saharakungoh” by Fehdah. Radical!: Women and the Irish Revolution is created by Dr Julie Morrissy as part of the Poet-in-Residence programme at the National Library of Ireland, supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries Programme 2012-2023. Sound and production are by the Museum

In Episode 3 of Radical!: Women and the Irish Revolution I am joined by Seán Hewitt for a conversation about his work as Poet-in-Residence at the Irish Queer Archive. In this episode we discuss some of the difficult things about working with archive, including violence against LGBTQ+ people and the murder of Declan Flynn in 1982. Seán Hewitt’s debut collection of poetry, Tongues of Fire, was published by Jonathan Cape in 2020. It won The Laurel Prize in 2021, and was shortlisted for The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize, and a Dalkey Literary Award. In 2020, he was chosen by The Sunday Times as one of their "30 under 30" artists in Ireland. His memoir, All Down Darkness Wide, is forthcoming from Jonathan Cape in the UK and Penguin Press in the USA in July this year. He is a book critic for The Irish Times and teaches Modern British & Irish Literature at Trinity College Dublin. The music for the Radical!: Women and the Irish Revolution is “Sa

In Episode 2 of Radical!: Women and the Irish Revolution we are joined by Dr Alice Rekab for a conversation about flags and song in the context of their artistic practice and Julie’s research at the National Library. Dr. Alice Rekab is an artist, researcher and educator based in Dublin. Their practice is concerned with expressions and iterations of complex cultural and personal narratives. Alice takes their own mixed-race Irish identity as a starting point from which to explore experiences of race, place and belonging. Over the last ten years Alice's practice has centred around collaboration and interdisciplinary work from which they produce film, performance, text, image and sculpture, creating new intersectional narratives and objects for gallery based exhibition and large scale public commission. Their projects include Family Lines, a solo exhibition and multi-platform project with Douglas Hyde Gallery Dublin (2022), Ricochet #14, a solo presentation at Museum Villa Stuck, Munich (2023), Concealed in the H

This is an audio tour of the exhibition, 'Yeats: The Life & Works of WB Yeats'. This tour can enjoyed in own right or in conjunction with a visit to the exhibition at the National Library of Ireland, 7-8 Kildare St., Dublin 2, Ireland.

This is an audio tour of the exhibition, 'Yeats: The Life & Works of WB Yeats'. This tour can enjoyed in own right or in conjunction with a visit to the exhibition at the National Library of Ireland, 7-8 Kildare St., Dublin 2, Ireland.

This is an audio tour of the exhibition, 'Yeats: The Life & Works of WB Yeats'. This tour can enjoyed in own right or in conjunction with a visit to the exhibition at the National Library of Ireland, 7-8 Kildare St., Dublin 2, Ireland.

This is an audio tour of the exhibition, 'Yeats: The Life & Works of WB Yeats'. This tour can enjoyed in own right or in conjunction with a visit to the exhibition at the National Library of Ireland, 7-8 Kildare St., Dublin 2, Ireland.

This is an audio tour of the exhibition, 'Yeats: The Life & Works of WB Yeats'. This tour can enjoyed in own right or in conjunction with a visit to the exhibition at the National Library of Ireland, 7-8 Kildare St., Dublin 2, Ireland.

This is an audio tour of the exhibition, 'Yeats: The Life & Works of WB Yeats'. This tour can enjoyed in own right or in conjunction with a visit to the exhibition at the National Library of Ireland, 7-8 Kildare St., Dublin 2, Ireland.

This is an audio tour of the exhibition, 'Yeats: The Life & Works of WB Yeats'. This tour can enjoyed in own right or in conjunction with a visit to the exhibition at the National Library of Ireland, 7-8 Kildare St., Dublin 2, Ireland.

This is an audio tour of the exhibition, 'Yeats: The Life & Works of WB Yeats'. This tour can enjoyed in own right or in conjunction with a visit to the exhibition at the National Library of Ireland, 7-8 Kildare St., Dublin 2, Ireland.

This is an audio tour of the exhibition, 'Yeats: The Life & Works of WB Yeats'. This tour can enjoyed in own right or in conjunction with a visit to the exhibition at the National Library of Ireland, 7-8 Kildare St., Dublin 2, Ireland.

This is an audio tour of the exhibition, 'Yeats: The Life & Works of WB Yeats'. This tour can enjoyed in own right or in conjunction with a visit to the exhibition at the National Library of Ireland, 7-8 Kildare St., Dublin 2, Ireland.