Irish Studies

Irish Studies

episodes

Interviews with scholars of Ireland about their new books.

Andrew W. M. Smith, "Make Cheese Not War: Transnational Resistance and the Larzac in Modern France" (Manchester UP, 2026)

April 16, 2026

Make Cheese Not War

Andrew W. M. Smith
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In 1971, the French government announced a massive extension of its military base on the Larzac plateau in southern France. Land was to be expropriate…

Paul Robichaud, "Stories of the Stones: Imagining Prehistory in Britain, Ireland and Brittany" (Reaktion, 2026)

April 13, 2026

Stories of the Stones

Paul Robichaud
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Stories of the Stones: Imagining Prehistory in Britain, Ireland and Brittany (Reaktion, 2026) by Dr. Paul Robichaud explores how ancient monuments – s…

Deirdre Flynn and Mary McGill eds., "Irish Digital Cultures: Identity, Contexts, Space" (Routledge, 2025)

March 22, 2026

Irish Digital Cultures

Deirdre Flynn and Mary McGill eds.
Hosted by Helen Penet

Irish Digital Cultures: Identity, Contexts, Space (Routledge, 2025) explores how questions of Ireland and Irishness are represented in online environm…

Lorraine Grimes, "Single Mothers in Twentieth-century Ireland and Britain: Pregnancy, Migration and Institutionalization" (Bloomsbury, 2025)

March 4, 2026

Single Mothers in Twentieth-century Ireland and Britain

Lorraine Grimes
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Throughout the twentieth century, many women in Ireland and Britain endured shame and institutionalisation for becoming pregnant outside of marriage. …

Ailbhe Kenny, "Music Refuge: Living Asylum through Music" (Oxford UP, Press 2025)

March 3, 2026

Music Refuge

Ailbhe Kenny
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

How can music change people’s lives? In Music Refuge: Living Asylum Through Music (Oxford UP, Press 2025) Ailbhe Kenny, an Associate Professor in Musi…

Jane Ohlmeyer, "Making Empire: Ireland, Imperialism, and the Early Modern World" (Oxford UP, 2023)

February 22, 2026

Making Empire

Jane Ohlmeyer
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Empire and imperial frameworks, policies, practices, and cultures have shaped the history of the world for the last two millennia. It is nation states…

Iria Seijas-Pérez, "Sapphic Adolescent Girls in Irish Young Adult Fiction: Queering Girlhood"(Routledge, 2025)

February 14, 2026

Sapphic Adolescent Girls in Irish Young Adult Fiction

Iria Seijas-Pérez
Hosted by Helen Penet

Sapphic Adolescent Girls in Irish Young Adult Fiction: Queering Girlhood (Routledge, 2025) is the first sustained critical analysis of the representat…

Manchán Magan, "Thirty-Two Words for Field: Lost Words of the Irish Landscape" (Chelsea Green, 2026)

February 11, 2026

Thirty-Two Words for Field

Manchán Magan
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Most people associate Britain and Ireland with the English language, a vast, sprawling linguistic tree with roots in Latin, French, and German, and br…

Linda Connolly and Tina O’Toole, "Documenting Irish Feminisms: The Second Wave" (Arlen House, 2022)

February 8, 2026

Documenting Irish Feminisms

Linda Connolly and Tina O’Toole
Hosted by Aidan Beatty

Linda Connolly is a professor of sociology at Maynooth University, with research focusing on gender, Irish society, family studies, migration, and Iri…

Mary M. Burke, "Race, Politics, and Irish America: A Gothic History" (Oxford UP, 2023)

January 3, 2026

Race, Politics, and Irish America

Mary M. Burke
Hosted by Aidan Beatty

In this interview, she discusses her book, Race, Politics, and Irish America: A Gothic History (Oxford UP, 2023), which inserts successive Irish-Ameri…

Molly-Claire Gillett, "Irish Lacemaking: Art, Industry and Cultural Practice" (Bloomsbury, 2025)

December 21, 2025

Irish Lacemaking

Molly-Claire Gillett
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Following the career of the Irish lace designer and inspector Emily Anderson (1856-1948), Irish Lacemaking: Art, Industry and Cultural Practice (Bloom…

Páraic Kerrigan, "LGBTQ Visibility, Media and Sexuality in Ireland" (Routledge, 2020)

November 16, 2025

LGBTQ Visibility, Media and Sexuality in Ireland

Páraic Kerrigan
Hosted by Averill Earls

“We know what we want, and one day, our prince will come,” says Toby, the bicycle-shorts-wearing, double ententre-making, unacknowledgely-gay neighbor…

Glenn Patterson: You Can Choose Who You Are (JP, DC)

October 30, 2025

Glenn Patterson

Glenn Patterson

In Belfast, good fences can make for bad neighbors. David Cunningham ( Wash U. sociologist, author of There’s Something Happening Here and Klansville…

Bradley Morgan, "U2: Until the End of the World" (Weldon Owen, 2025)

October 19, 2025

U2

Bradley Morgan
Hosted by Latoya Johnson

Bradley Morgan’s U2: Until the End of the World (Gemini Books, 2025) celebrates fifty years of U2 with a career-spanning retrospective featuring more…

Cassandra S. Tully de Lope, "Masculinity and Identity in Irish Literature: Heroes, Lads, and Fathers" (Routledge, 2024)

October 14, 2025

Masculinity and Identity in Irish Literature

Cassandra S. Tully de Lope
Hosted by Helen Penet

Masculinity and Identity in Irish Literature: Heroes, Lads, and Fathers (Routledge, 2024) addresses Irish identity in Irish literature, especially mas…

Eibhear Walshe and Eleanor Fitzsimons, "Speranza: Poems by Jane Wilde" (Liverpool UP, 2025)

October 1, 2025

Speranza

Eibhear Walshe and Eleanor Fitzsimons
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Speranza: Poems by Jane Wilde (Liverpool UP, 2025) by Dr. Eibhear Walshe and Dr. Eleanor Fitzsimons is the first contemporary edition of the poetry of…

Deirdre F. Brady, "Literary Coteries and the Irish Women Writers' Club (1933-1958)" (Liverpool UP, 2021)

September 11, 2025

Literary Coteries and the Irish Women Writers' Club

Deirdre F. Brady
Hosted by Colleen English

In this interview, Dr. Deirdre Brady discusses her recent book, Literary Coteries and the Irish Women Writers’ Club (1933-1958) (Liverpool UP, 2021).…

Averill Earls, "Love in the Lav: A Social Biography of Same-Sex Desire in Ireland, 1922-1972" (Temple UP, 2025)

September 10, 2025

Love in the Lav

Averill Earls
Hosted by Aidan Beatty

Averill Earls is an associate professor in history at St. Olaf’s College and her research focuses on sexuality and modern Ireland. Her writing has app…

José Vergara, "All Future Plunges to the Past: James Joyce in Russian Literature" (Cornell UP, 2021)

August 17, 2025

All Future Plunges to the Past

José Vergara
Hosted by Steven Seegel

All Future Plunges to the Past: James Joyce in Russian Literature (Cornell UP, 2021) explores how Russian writers from the mid-1920s on have read and …

Terri Diane Halperin, "The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798: Testing the Constitution" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2016)

August 9, 2025

The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798

Terri Diane Halperin
Hosted by Ian Drake

In The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798: Testing the Constitution(Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016), Terri Diane Halperin has provided a political …