As audiences we are not new to getting our media and cultural content from various podcasts. But in the last year when literature events have been moved online, the reading and discussion around Irish Literature has found another home on digital radio channels.  Many Irish publishers, literature organisations and festivals of literature have produced their own portals or podcasts. Here is a list of some of the podcasts which have been buzzing with discussion around new and older pieces of Irish literature- so tune in!

• Poetry Ireland – The Poetry Ireland podcast Words Lightly Spoken, is a weekly podcast of poetry from Ireland. In each episode there is a focus on a poem from an Irish writer with an introduction by another writer.

• The Stinging Fly – The Editor and publisher of The Stinging Fly, Danny Denton and Declan Meade, are joined by guest writers who might read their own lectures, or read pieces of literature from different Irish and International authors and discuss their work.

• Festival of Writing and Ideas – The Festival of Writing and Ideas is a yearly festival which takes place in Borris, Co. Carlow and presents a programme of speakers and performers from art, music, theatre, journalism, literature, film, politics, architecture and academics from all over the world. This podcast series provides recorded versions of the interviews and talks with many of the dynamic guests from the past 10 years of the festival.

• MoLI – The Museum of Literature Ireland presents its own digital radio station for Irish literature. This station is a resource of curated content featuring a host of authors and poets from Ireland reading and discussing Irish Literature and the inspirations behind some of the most renowned pieces of literature. This compilation contains content from different podcasts listed here and from other sources of recorded material about literature and language.

• Literature Ireland – Talking Translations - Stories from Ireland is a new podcast series which brings Irish writers and translators together to share their stories and voices. Each podcast features an Irish writer reading their own work aloud, followed by a translator reading their newly commissioned translation of the same story.

• Dublin Book Festival – The Dublin Book Festival’s website features a new podcast series called The New Novelists hosted by the journalist and co-host of the Irish Times Women’s Podcast  Róisín Ingle. Ingle is joined by authors Naoise Donal, Susannah Dickey and Hilary Fannin whose debut novels Exciting Times, Tennis Lessons and The Weight of Love were released in 2020 to rave reviews. With their distinctively Irish voices these authors discuss their new work and the subjects behind them such as the trials and tribulations of the awkward coming-of-age years and of the idea of love and ways of being loved.

• Cúirt International Festival of Literature – Ireland of the welcomes – New Communities Writing Home was an event hosted by Cuirt International Festival of Literature in 2020 and   is now available as a recorded podcast. The theme of the event was around emigration and the experience of being in Ireland as an emigrant and how that experience is not equal to all. The writers Melatu Uchenna Okerie and Owudunni Mustapha are featured in conversation with poet Jess Traynor.

• The Dublin Review Podcast – To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of The Dublin Review, its annual Conversations event took the form of a special live broadcast on RTÉ Radio One's flagship arts programme Arena on Tuesday 24 November, 2020. This podcast features this live broadcast in full.

• International Literature Festival Dublin – Portals is hosted by Irish writer Caelainn Hogan and is a special podcast series from the ILF Dublin that takes listeners across the world to hear conversations with writers who were scheduled to read at the festival in 2020. Episodes feature interviews and conversations with Jan Carson, David Keenan and Irish Times Books editor Martin Doyle discussing the Unseen Belfast. Other episodes in the series feature writers Elizabeth Gilbert, Emma Dabiri, Sarah Crossan, Géraldine Schwarz and Yiyun Li.

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