Living alone during lockdown and cut off from her wide circle of friends, Irish Times journalist and author Rosita Boland, wrote a beautiful book of essays called Comrades: A Lifetime of Friendships. The book is an exploration of camaraderie, from the imaginary, the unrequited, to the ones lost along the way. In today’s episode, Boland joins Róisin Ingle to speak about the different friendships which have shaped her life and the pair reminisce about their own journey. But first, Irish Times colu...
Nov 18, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 530
When Lara Marlowe met Robert Fisk in 1983 in Damascus, he was already a famous war correspondent. She was a young American reporter who would become a renowned journalist in her own right. For the next twenty years, they were lovers, husband and wife and friends, occasionally angry and estranged from one another, but ultimately reconciled. In today’s podcast, Marlowe, who is The Irish Times Paris correspondent, talks to her colleague and friend Kathy Sheridan about the memoir she has written tel...
Nov 11, 2021•56 min
The death of a 30-year-old woman in Poland, likened to the Savita Halappanavar case, has sparked protests and candlelit vigils in an outpouring of opposition to restrictive abortion laws which campaigners claim played a role in her death. Irish Times Europe correspondent Naomi O’Leary has the details of this story and explains why the case will resonate in Ireland. Later, Róisín talks to prize-winning Irish author Sarah Gilmartin about her brilliant novel, Dinner Party: A tragedy, which tells th...
Nov 04, 2021•43 min
Harry Potter star Evanna Lynch was just 11 when her eating disorder began to manifest. She struggled for several years with anorexia, with spells in and out of hospital including a three month stay in a facility in England. In her memoir, The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting, she explores with breathtaking clarity, her path to recovery and her struggle to deal with the complexities and contradictions within herself. Now 30 and living in London, she talked to Roisin Ingle about navigating all of thi...
Oct 28, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 527
In this episode, we’re bringing you a conversation from our Big Night In series of events which took place earlier this year. Back in May, comedian, author and journalist Maeve Higgins joined Róisín Ingle on zoom for a very fun evening in front of a live virtual audience. Higgins spoke about her move to New York, podcasting with former president Mary Robinson and why she returned to her hometown of Cobh during the pandemic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Oct 21, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 526
In her memoir, Openhearted, Ann Ingle tells the story of her life with her late husband Peter, the “wild Irishman” she fell in love with while on holiday in Cornwall at the age of 20. Presented as a series of essays, Ann writes about everything from love, sex and heartbreak, to money, rearing children, writing, ageing, and so much more. In today’s episode, she talks to Kathy Sheridan about what she has learned and continues to learn into her ninth decade. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy f...
Oct 14, 2021•1 hr 10 min
Last month Irish writer Sally Rooney launched her highly anticipated third novel Beautiful World, Where Are You. Since its release, the book has topped bestseller lists across the world and continues to fly off the shelves. We here at the Women’s Podcast devoured the book in just a few days and we’re still not ready to stop talking about it. That’s why in today’s episode, Róisín Ingle is joined by Irish Times columnists Emer McLysaght and Fintan O’Toole to get their thoughts on the book and to d...
Oct 07, 2021•52 min
In her new book, Women vs Capitalism, economist Vicky Pryce presents readers with an uncomfortable truth: we will not achieve equality for women without radical changes to contemporary capitalism. In today’s episode she speaks to Kathy Sheridan about all the ways in which our economic structure is built to put women at a disadvantage, from the gendered threat of robot labour to the lack of women in economics itself. Pryce also shares her personal journey of moving from Greece to the UK in her te...
Sep 30, 2021•55 min
Last year, when most of us were busy baking banana bread or learning how to crochet, Irish actress Jade Jordan spent her time in lockdown delving back into the pasts of her mother Dominique and grandmother Kathleen. Spurred on by the death of George Floyd, Jade was eager to explore and add to the discussion surrounding race and discrimination in Ireland. The result of these conversations between Jade and the women closest to her, is the book, Nanny, Ma and Me: An Irish story of family, race and ...
Sep 23, 2021•1 hr 5 min
We cannot resolve the climate emergency without fighting for gender equality. Women, especially poor women of colour, are suffering most as a result of the climate crisis, our highest-profile climate activists are women and girls and yet, at the top table it is men who are deciding the earth’s future. In her latest book, How Women Can Save the Planet, award-winning journalist Anne Karpf argues that when it comes to fighting climate change we are not all in it together, but we could be. In today’...
Sep 16, 2021•1 hr 3 min
In today’s podcast Róisín talks to the journalist, author and presenter of the brilliant How To Fail podcast Elizabeth Day. She has just published her latest novel, Magpie, a thrilling, stylish and psychologically astute story of jealousy, motherhood and power. In this funny, moving and revealing conversation, Day explains how some of the book’s themes relate to her own life, why it was important to her to write about mental illness with sensitivity and why she is a Derry girl at heart. She also...
Sep 09, 2021•58 min
Taste of Dublin returns to the Inveagh Gardens this week. A celebration of eating, drinking and entertainment, the festival runs for five days from the 1st- 5th September and features live cooking demonstrations, wine tastings and food stalls from all over the world. This year, Our Table will be joining the festival line up, selling a selection of products and showcasing start up businesses from the migrant background. Our Table was founded by activist Ellie Kisyombe and food writer Michelle Dar...
Sep 02, 2021•36 min
It’s that time of year again. The back-to-school sun is shining as thousands of children around the country return to the classroom. Parents, children and teachers alike will be hoping for some normality as the new school year begins, but will it be all plain sailing? In this episode Róisín Ingle is joined by journalist and parenting expert Jen Hogan and by Maria Rushe, a secondary school teacher based in Donegal. They discuss the worries and concerns facing parents and students, the current rul...
Aug 26, 2021•39 min
In her new book The Breakup Monologues, comedian Rosie Wilby takes you on a journey back through her romantic history, celebrating the ups and downs and the many lessons learned along the way. The book serves as a love letter to those breakups and includes anecdotes from friends and interviews with relationship therapists, scientists and sociologists. In this conversation, the “breakup queen” tells Róisín Ingle about her obsession with heartache, the new language around dating and why lesbians a...
Aug 19, 2021•47 min
The Bright Side, by Irish director Ruth Meehan opens in Irish cinemas on August 20th. The film was inspired by Anne Gildea’s best-selling memoir ‘I’ve got cancer, what’s your excuse’ and tells the story of Kate (Gemma-Leah Devereux), a world-weary comedian who is diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of thirty-five. Already suicidal, Kate sees this as a guilt-free way out, but the prospect of death soon becomes the best reason to choose life. In this episode, Gildea and Meehan tell Roisin Ingl...
Aug 12, 2021•40 min
The first week of August marks World Breastfeeding Week, which aims to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world. Globally, Ireland has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates, with just over one third of mothers breastfeeding their newborn when they leave hospital and fewer than 6% of babies still breastfed exclusively at 6 months old. In this episode, broadcaster and "accidental" breastfeeding spokesperson Aoibhinn Ní Shúillebháin speaks to Róisín Ingle about the ...
Aug 05, 2021•1 hr
In 1998, a fresh-faced 16-year-old Britney Spears became an overnight global superstar with the release of her debut single Baby One More Time. She went on to sell over 150 million records, win multiple awards and gain a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. But for nearly half of Spears’ impressive career, the singer hasn’t had full control over her life. For the last thirteen years, she has been under a conservatorship controlled by her father, which gives him the legal right to make decisions o...
Jul 29, 2021•43 min
In this episode, we are bringing you a conversation from our Big Night In series of events, which took place in late 2020. On a cold Winter's evening, Róisín Ingle was joined on Zoom by former state pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy in front of a live virtual audience. Cassidy spoke about her very unconventional career choice, the unexpected fame that came with it and the Irish obsession with death. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jul 22, 2021•1 hr 6 min
In this episode Róisín talks to author Ethel Rohan, who describes herself as “a kind of a queen of uncomfortable stories”. Rohan has written a number of short story collections and a novel. Her latest book, In the Event of Contact, is a collection of 14 stories set in Ireland, England, and America about abuse survivors who turn their trauma into power. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 15, 2021•41 min
Art historian Catherine McCormack recently published her book, ’Women in the Picture: Women Art and the Power of Looking’. In it, she argues that women's identity has long been stifled by woeful narratives and a limited set of archetypes. In this episode, Catherine speaks to Róisín Ingle about how studying art has shaped her feminism, why history fooled us into thinking there were no female artists in the past, the idea of the monstrosity of the female body in art and lots more. Hosted on Acast....
Jul 08, 2021•47 min
After more than a year working remotely, socialising on zoom and staring at the four walls of our own houses, the thought of getting back out into the world can seem a little daunting. While the reopening of society brings with it the chance to meet friends, eat out and reunite with loved ones, it can also bring a sense of uncertainty and social anxiety. For some of us, FOMO - the fear of missing out - has been replaced with FOJI - the fear of joining in. To discuss the difficulties, logistics a...
Jul 01, 2021•38 min
Last week, author Marian Keyes joined Roisin Ingle live on Zoom, for a post-pandemic beauty chat in association with Clarins. In front of a virtual audience, the pair spoke about online cosmetic discoveries during the last very strange year, products they relied on to keep their spirits up, new post-pandemic beauty trends and the joy of letting yourself go. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 25, 2021•52 min
With her book ‘Shy: How being quiet can lead to success’, author and journalist Annie Ridout has written a practical guide which teaches us to recognise shyness as a gift and something to be embraced, rather than fixed. Róisín talks to Ridout and our co-producer Suzanne Brennan, who is a shy person, about this often misunderstood attribute. Also in this episode: My Expert Midwife founder and One Born Every Minute star, Lesley Gilchrist, talks to our co-producer Jennifer Ryan about the importance...
Jun 17, 2021•59 min
On today’s show Róisín chats to one of Ireland’s leading trans activists, Sara R Phillips, chair of the Transgender Equality Network Ireland and a board member of the National Women’s Council of Ireland, about what it means to be transgender in Ireland today. In a wide-ranging conversation, Sara addresses some of the common questions people may have, she dispels a few trans myths, shares stories from her own life, and lots more.https://www.teni.ie/https://www.belongto.org/ Hosted on Acast. See a...
Jun 10, 2021•1 hr 27 min
Yesterday, survivors of Ireland’s mother and baby homes heard from one of the members of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, when professor Mary Daly spoke publicly about the Commission’s work at an online event organised by Oxford University. To date, none of the Commission members have gone before the Oireachtas or given a press conference following the publication of its lengthy report in January. On today’s episode, Tuam mother and baby home survivor Teresa O’Sullivan...
Jun 03, 2021•52 min
Why Women are Poorer than Men is the debut book from Annabelle Williams, a journalist and editor who specialises in investing, economics and consumer affairs. The book explores injustices from old-age poverty to the gendered housing crisis and illustrates how society conspires to limit women's wealth. In today’s episode, Williams joins Róisín Ingle to discuss the many reasons why women are poorer than men and what we can do about it. Also joining the discussion and sharing their personal experie...
May 31, 2021•1 hr 3 min
In this specially extended podcast, Sinead O'Connor invites us into her home to talk about her extraordinary new memoir Rememberings. Over coffee and cigarettes she talks Róisín Ingle through her traumatic childhood, her singular musical career and the liberation she found in tearing up that photo of the pope. And there's more: Prince, family bonds, nuns, shame, writing, singing, head shaving, truth-talking, touring and swearing. Rememberings by Sinead O'Connor is published by Sandycove, an impr...
May 27, 2021•1 hr 47 min
It’s three years since the referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment was passed by a landslide on May 25th 2018. Now, film directors Aideen Kane, Lucy Kennedy and Maeve O’Boyle are releasing their documentary, The 8th, about that defining moment in Irish history. With footage gathered over a three-year period, The 8th brings us voices from both sides of the referendum campaign. It takes us behind the scenes of the Together for Yes campaign with co-leader, Ailbhe Smyth, and follows self-described...
May 24, 2021•49 min
The inspiration for Fíona Scarlett’s debut novel came to her just over three years ago while scrolling through Twitter. The schoolteacher turned author happened across a tweet by a paediatric palliative care doctor, in which he had listed what his young patients said they would miss the most when they died. Using their answers as a springboard, Scarlett immediately opened up her laptop and wrote what is now the first chapter of Boys Don’t Cry. In today’s episode, she tells Róisín Ingle why, havi...
May 20, 2021•39 min
When the trailer for Wild Mountain Thyme was released late last year, it was immediately met with widespread criticism, not only for its delusional depictions of modern Irish life, but for its dodgy Irish accents and over the top Paddywhackery. Written and directed by John Patrick Shanley, the film is based on his play Outside Mullingar, which ran on Broadway in 2014. It stars Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan as Rosemary and Anthony, two lonely souls who have grown up beside each other on neighbouri...
May 17, 2021•30 min
