The Arts Council Podcast

Dec 24 2024 66 ep. 39 mins
The Arts Council Podcast artwork

The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon is the national agency for funding, developing and promoting the arts in Ireland.

  Arts
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The Art of Reading Book Club with Colm Tóibín | Episode 35: ‘How to Build a Boat’ by Elaine Feeney

Dec 24 2024 50 mins  
The December Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Elaine Feeney about his book 'How to Build a Boat'. “Elaine Feeney’s second novel, set in a small, fictional Irish town on the west coast, tells the story of Jamie, a boy who seeks to connect with his dead mother. ‘Feeney’s prose,’ The New York Times has wr

The Art of Reading Book Club with Colm Tóibín | Episode 34: ‘Close to Home’ by Michael Magee

Nov 27 2024 41 mins  
The November Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Michael Magee about his book 'Close to Home'. “Michael Magee’s first novel deals with the Troubles as both legacy and aftermath. At its centre is Sean who has returned to Belfast. The book has been described by The Guardian as ‘a staggeringly humane and tender

The Art of Reading Book Club with Colm Tóibín | Episode 33: 'The Alternatives' by Caoilinn Hughes

Oct 30 2024 46 mins  
The October Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Caoilinn Hughes about her novel ‘The Alternatives’. “Caoilinn Hughes’s novel deals with the lives of four brilliant sisters, lives that have been deeply scarred by the death of their parents. As Hernan Diaz has written, this is ‘a tale about sisterhood, a n

The Art of Reading Book Club with Colm Tóibín | Episode 32: ‘Prophet Song’ by Paul Lynch

Sep 25 2024 47 mins  
“Paul Lynch’s novel, winner of the 2023 Booker Prize, is set in the near future in a real Dublin in which a totalitarian regime has come to power. ‘If there was ever a crucial book for our current times,’ The Guardian has written, ‘it’s Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song.’” Learn more about the Art of Reading Book Club and the Laureate for Irish Fiction programme: https:/

The Art of Reading Book Club with Colm Tóibín | Episode 31 'The Lonely Sea and Sky' by Dermot Bolger

Aug 28 2024 45 mins  
The August Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Dermot Bolger about his novel 'The Lonely Sea and Sky' “The novel tells the story of the rescue by a small Irish boat of 168 German sailors during World War II. The narrator is Jack Roche, a 14-year-old Wexford lad whose father has been killed at sea. Part historical

The Art of Reading Book Club with Colm Tóibín | Episode 30: 'The Coast Road' by Alan Murrin

Jul 23 2024 38 mins  
“Set in 1994, The Coast Road tells the story of two women— Izzy and Colette. Colette has left her husband and sons for a married man in Dublin. When she returns to her home in County Donegal, her husband, Shaun, a successful businessman, denies her access to her children. ‘The last great book I read,’ the actress Gillian Anderson has said. ‘It will no doubt be a bestselle

The Art of Reading Book Club with Colm Tóibín | Episode 29: ‘Solace’ by Belinda McKeon -

Jun 26 2024 39 mins  
The June Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Belind McKeon about her novel 'Solace' "In her compelling debut novel, Solace,’ Anna Fogarty wrote in The Irish Times in 2011, ‘Belinda McKeon succeeds in subtly reconfiguring and updating the archetypal story of a son’s quarrel with his father. In her hands, it be

The Art of Reading Book Club with Colm Tóibín | Episode 28: ‘Ordinary Human Failings’ by Megan Nolan

May 29 2024 37 mins  
The May Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Megan Nolan about her novel 'Ordinary Human Failings'. "Megan Nolan’s novel tells the story of the Green family who move from Ireland to London in the early 1990s. 'Where Nolan really excels is in the delineation of complex, sometimes contradictory interior states, the

The Art of Reading Book Club with Colm Tóibín | Episode 27: ‘Molly Fox’s Birthday’ by Deirdre Madden

Apr 24 2024 37 mins  
The April Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Deirdre Madden about her novel ‘Molly Fox’s Birthday’. “It is the height of summer, and celebrated actor Molly Fox has loaned her house in Dublin to a friend while she is away performing in New York. Set over a single midsummer’s day, Molly Fox’s Birthday is

The Art of Reading Book Club with Colm Tóibín | Episode 26 'The Bee Sting' by Paul Murray

Mar 27 2024 40 mins  
The March Art of Reading book club features Laureate for Irish Fiction Colm Tóibín in conversation with writer Paul Murray about his novel ‘The Bee Sting’ “Paul Murray’s novel is narrated by four members of the Barnes family, Dickie who runs a car showroom, his wife Imelda, and their children Cassie and PJ. The Guardian has written that Murray ‘is brilliant on fathers