Irish Books
Claim This Podcastby Christopher Murray
Podcast Overview
<p>Each episode focuses on a single book to offer in-depth exploration of contemporary Irish writing, one of the the dominant presences in book shops, book groups, and writers’ festivals around the world. Guest experts on Irish culture join author and critic Chris Murray to explore the techniques, cultural resonances, and deeper meanings of the nation’s recent literature. Irish Books tackles prize winners and some of the biggest names in Irish writing today while also calling attention to emerging voices that deserve notice. Listeners will learn more about the books they loved and find out what they should read next.</p> <p>Host <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/drchrismurray.bsky.social">@drchrismurray.bsky.social </a>(Bluesky)</p> <p>Read the blog at <a href="https://irishbookspodcast.blogspot.com">https://irishbookspodcast.blogspot.com</a></p> <p>The Irish Books Podcast is produced by <a href="https://eastcoaststudio.com.au/">East Coast Studio</a> with support from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Monash University</p>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
11/14/2025
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Recent Episodes
June 17, 2026
Connections Severed and Retied: Twist
<p><a href="https://www.acu.edu.au/research-and-enterprise/our-research-institutes/institute-for-humanities-and-social-sciences/our-people/killian-quigley">Killian Quigley</a>, an expert in oceanic humanities, is Chris's guest to discuss McCann's deep-sea adventure. Writer Anthony Fennell joins a vessel that repairs the information cables that run deep under the ocean, hoping for material for an article. Yet Fennell finds himself especially drawn to his fellow-Irishman, the expedition leader John Conway, both in thrall to and resentful of his corporate employers. Through Conway, Fennell understands the complexities of the undersea network: the cables are imperilled by climate change, yet also strike the alienated Fennell as symbolic of human connections, from family bonds to larger questions of social cohesion prompted by racial tensions. As Chris and Killian discuss, McCann is drawn to both literal and representative meanings of the data cables and the task of mending them. While the novel draws on such literary influences as Samuel Beckett, Joseph Conrad, and Jules Verne, the enigmatic Conway is a Gatsby figure who mystifies our narrator.</p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>
June 3, 2026
Tragic Balladry in the Wild West: Kevin Barry's The Heart in Winter
<p><a href="https://www.otago.ac.nz/ciss/people/maebh-long">Maebh Long</a> - Kevin Barry fan and Eamon Cleary Chair of Irish Studies at the University of Otago - joins Chris to discuss The Heart in Winter. Barry's tale of lovers on the run is set in the American midwest in 1891 but looks back to Irish folkloric figures like Deirdre of the Sorrows. As Chris and Maebh discuss, Barry gives us a more agentive figure than the folkloric models in Polly Gillespie, the more streetwise character. If this makes Polly more modern, and even feminist, than the old Irish stories, the novel also looks to our own time in its language: Barry puts twenty-first century speech in his characters' mouths rather than the language of 1891. The Heart in Winter is a deceptive novel: it has a straightforward plot but a rich texture, and an exploration of melancholic desire that is also playful in the tradition of Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, and Flann O’Brien.</p> <p>Read the accompanying blog post at https://irishbookspodcast.blogspot.com/2026/06/dark-balladry-in-wild-west-kevin-barrys.html</p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>
May 20, 2026
Is the Sky Blue? Anna Burns's Milkman
<p>This remarkable novel presents us with a speaker who is reluctant to tell her story. Our young narrator's crisis begins when a republican paramilitary known as the Milkman begins to pay her unwanted attention. Milkman's courtship resembles guerrilla warfare, and his unexplained attraction to Middle Sister befits the directionlessness of the IRA campaign in the late 1970s. Chris and guest <a href="https://english.uchicago.edu/people/james-chandler">Professor James Chandler</a> (University of Chicago) navigate a book made complex by the narrator's reluctance to share: Middle Sister has been traumatised, and she reveals information in oblique ways. We piece together the story from the words of an evasive and digressive speaker who is mindful not only of direct recrimination from paramilitaries for any wrong decisions, but the danger of local gossip. If the scenario is terrifying, nonetheless Burns achieves a quirky humour in the unconventional storytelling mode and, in a subtle way, she poses probing questions about ideology. For various reasons, Milkman is a difficult book, on which many readers give up: Chris and Jim urge them to stick with it.</p> <p> </p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>
11 total episodes available
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Frequently asked questions
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- What is Irish Books?
<p>Each episode focuses on a single book to offer in-depth exploration of contemporary Irish writing, one of the the dominant presences in book shops, book groups, and writers’ festivals around the world. Guest experts on Irish culture join author and critic Chris Murray to explore the techniques, cultural resonances, and deeper meanings of the nation’s recent literature. Irish Books tackles prize winners and some of the biggest names in Irish writing today while also calling attention to emerging voices that deserve notice. Listeners will learn more about the books they loved and find out what they should read next.</p> <p>Host <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/drchrismurray.bsky.social">@drchrismurray.bsky.social </a>(Bluesky)</p> <p>Read the blog at <a href="https://irishbookspodcast.blogspot.com">https://irishbookspodcast.blogspot.com</a></p> <p>The Irish Books Podcast is produced by <a href="https://eastcoaststudio.com.au/">East Coast Studio</a> with support from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Monash University</p> - How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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