Southword Poetry Podcast

(00:00) – Clíona Ní Ríordáin and Patrick Cotter discussion (11:01) – Eilean Ni Chuilleanáin interview (01:02:57) – Southword poem, Roadkill in Offaly by Simon Costello Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin was born in Cork City in 1942. She was a founder member of Cyphers, the literary journal (1975). Her first collection, Acts and Monuments, won the Patrick Kavanagh Award. The Gallery Press has published her nine collections of poems including The Sun-fish which won the Griffin International Poetry Prize and The Mother House (2019) winner of the Irish Times Poetry Now Award. Her Collected Poems (2020) won the Pigott Poetry Prize. Her 2023 collection The Map of the World won the Farmgate Café National Poetry Award. Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin is a Fellow and Professor of English (Emeritus) at Trinity College Dublin. She served as Ireland Professor of Poetry from 2016-2019 and, in 2025, was elected a Saoi, the highest honour of Aosdána. This week's Southword poem is 'Roadkill in Offaly' by Simon Costello, which was one of the poems in the selection which won the inaugural Southword Editors' Poetry Award and appears in issue 46. You can buy single issues, subscribe, or find out how to submit to Southword here.

(00:00) – Clíona Ní Ríordáin and Patrick Cotter discussion (04:21) – Mary O'Malley interview (52:30) – Southword poem, The Burial of Ten-to Two Blue by Paul McMahon Mary O’Malley was born in Connemara, and educated at University College Galway. She lived in Lisbon for eight years and taught at the Universidade Nova there. She served several years on the council of Poetry Ireland and was on the Committee of the Cúirt International Poetry Festival for eight years. She was the author of its educational programme. She has published nine books of poetry, including Valparaiso arising out of her Residency on the national marine research ship. Her latest Collection, The Shark Nursery, is published by Carcanet. This week's Southword poem is 'The Burial of Ten-to Two Blue' by Paul McMahon, which appears in issue 46. You can buy single issues, subscribe, or find out how to submit to Southword here.

(00:00) – Clíona Ní Ríordáin and Patrick Cotter discussion (03:04) – Aifric Mac Aodha interview (42:06) – Southword poem, Mermaid Archipelago by Patrick Chapman Aifric Mac Aodha was born in 1979. Her first collection, Gabháil Syrinx, was published in 2010. She has taught in St Petersburg, New York and Canada and has lectured in old and modern Irish at UCD. She lives in Dublin where she works for the Irish-language publisher, An Gúm. She was the winner of the Oireachtas Prize for Poetry (2017) and was Irish-Language Writer-in-Residence at Dublin City University (DCU) in 2023. She has published two bilingual collections with The Gallery Press and Aifric’s Irish-language poems are translated into English by David Wheatley. Foreign News was published in 2017 and her new collection Old Friends in 2024. This week's Southword poem is 'Mermaid Archipelago' by Patrick Chapman, which appears in issue 46. You can buy single issues, subscribe, or find out how to submit to Southword here.

(00:00) – Clíona Ní Ríordáin and Patrick Cotter discussion (06:39) – Isabelle Baafi interview (40:41) – Southword poem, Aching Embouchure by Ellen Zhang Isabelle Baafi is the author of Chaotic Good (Faber & Faber / Wesleyan University Press, 2025), which is a Poetry Book Society (PBS) Recommendation, and Ripe (ignitionpress, 2020), which won a Somerset Maugham Award and was a PBS Pamphlet Choice. Her writing has been published in Granta, the TLS, The Poetry Review, Callaloo, The London Magazine, and elsewhere. She is a Ledbury Poetry Critic and an Obsidian Foundation Fellow. She edits at Poetry London and Magma. This week's Southword poem is 'Aching Embouchure' by Ellen Zhang, which appears in issue 45. You can buy single issues, subscribe, or find out how to submit to Southword here.

(00:00) – Clíona Ní Ríordáin and Patrick Cotter discussion (08:38) – Gerry Murphy interview (47:21) – Southword poem, Mrs. Violet Club by Polina Cosgrove Gerry Murphy is an Irish poet, born in Cork in 1952. His first poetry collection was A Small Fat Boy Walking Backwards (1985, 1992). He has since published many collections with The Dedalus Press including Rio de la Plata and All That (1993), The Empty Quarter (1995), Extracts from the Lost Log-Book of Christopher Columbus (1999), Torso of an Ex-Girlfriend (2002), My Flirtation with International Socialism (2010), Muse (2015) and The Humours of Nothingness (2020). He has published two chapbooks with Southword Editions, Kissing Maura O’Keeffe (2019) and My Life as a Stalinist (2018). Murphy’s poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Poetry Ireland Review, The Well Review and The Future (Arlen House, 2018). Pocket Apocalypse, his translations of the Polish poet Katarzyna Borun-Jagodzinska, appeared in 2005 from Southword Editions. Murphy’s own poems form the basis for a live poetry-and-music show by Crazy Dog Audio Theatre, entitled The People’s Republic of Gerry Murphy, which ran at the Cork Guinness Jazz Festival in 2010 to considerable critical success. This week's Southword poem is 'Mrs. Violet Club' by Polina Cosgrove, which appears in issue 45. You can buy single issues, subscribe, or find out how to submit to Southword here.

(00:00) – Clíona Ní Ríordáin and Patrick Cotter discussion (03:20) – Joyelle McSweeney interview (54:50) – Southword poem, Another Beginning by Triin Paja Guggenheim Fellow Joyelle McSweeney is the author of ten books of poetry, drama and prose, a well-known critic, and a vital publisher of international literature in translation. McSweeney's recent book, Toxicon and Arachne (Nightboat Books, 2020), was called "frightening and brilliant" by Dan Chiasson in the New Yorker and earned her the Shelley Memorial Prize from the Poetry Society of America. Her 2014 essay collection, The Necropastoral: Poetry, Media, Occults, is widely regarded as a visionary work of eco-criticism. She lives in South Bend, Indiana and teaches at Notre Dame. This week's Southword poem is 'Another Beginning' by Triin Paja, which appears in issue 45. You can buy single issues, subscribe, or find out how to submit to Southword here.

(00:00) – Clíona Ní Ríordáin and Patrick Cotter discussion (11:24) – Michael O’Loughlin interview (57:24) – Southword poem, The Orange by Vivianna Fiorentino Traci Brimhall is a professor of creative writing and narrative medicine at Kansas State University. She is the author of five collections of poetry, including Love Prodigal (published November 2024 by Copper Canyon). Her poems have appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, The Nation, The New Republic, Poetry, The New York Times Magazine, and Best American Poetry. She’s received fellowships from National Endowment for the Arts, the National Parks Service, the Academy of American Poets, and Purdue Archives and Special Collections to study the lost poem drafts of Amelia Earhart. She’s the current poet laureate for the State of Kansas. This week's Southword poem is 'The Orange' by Vivianna Fiorentino, shortlisted for the Gregory O'Donoghue International Poetry Competition, which appears in issue 46. You can buy single issues, subscribe, or find out how to submit to Southword here.

(00:00) – Clíona Ní Ríordáin and Patrick Cotter discussion (07:47) – Michael O’Loughlin interview (01:02:15) – Southword poem, Before I stillbirthed the birch by Katie Griffiths Michael O’Loughlin was born in Dublin in 1958 and studied at Trinity College Dublin. He has published six collections of poetry, including Another Nation: New and Selected Poems (1996), In This Life (2011) and Poems: 1980–2015, published by New Island Books (2017). O'Loughlin is a regular contributor to The Irish Times and has published numerous translations, critical essays, reviews and screenplays. He has been Writer in Residence in Galway City and County, Writer Fellow at Trinity College Dublin, and is a member of Aosdána. His most recent project, Liberty Hall, was released in 2021. This week's Southword poem is 'Before I stillbirthed the birch' by Katie Griffiths, winner of the Gregory O'Donoghue International Poetry Competition, which appears in issue 46. You can buy single issues, subscribe, or find out how to submit to Southword here.

(00:00) – Clíona Ní Ríordáin and James O’Leary Discussion (03:30) – Matthew Dickman interview (56:35) – Southword poem, Missing by Daragh Byrne Matthew Dickman grew up in Lents, a working-class area of Portland, Oregon. He earned a BA at the University of Oregon and an MFA at the University of Texas-Austin’s Michener Center. He is the author of the poetry collections Husbandry (2022), Wonderland (2018), Mayakovsky's Revolver (2014), 50 American Poems (cowritten with Michael Dickman, 2012), and All American Poem (2008). This week's Southword poem is 'Missing' by Daragh Byrne, which appears in issue 43. You can buy single issues, subscribe, or find out how to submit to Southword here.

(00:00) – Clíona Ní Ríordáin and James O’Leary Discussion (02:46) - John W. Sexton interview (01:00:32) - Southword poem, Doors Opening, Doors Closing by Aidan Matthews John W. Sexton was born in 1958 and identifies with the Aisling poetic tradition. His work spans vision poetry, contemporary fabulism and tangential surrealism. He is the author of seven poetry collections including The Offspring of the Moon (Salmon Poetry 2013), Futures Pass (Salmon Poetry 2018), Visions at Templeglantine (Revival Press 2020) and The Nothingness Kit (Beir Bua Press 2022). A chapbook of his surrealist poetry, Inverted Night, came out from SurVision in April 2019. His next collection, The World Under the World, is forthcoming from Salmon Poetry. This week's Southword poem is ‘Doors Opening, Doors Closing' by Aidan Matthews, which appears in issue 44. You can buy single issues, subscribe, or find out how to submit to Southword here.

(00:00) – Clíona Ní Ríordáin and James O’Leary Discussion (03:32) - Gail McConnell interview (01:01:50) - Southword poem, 13.58, January 28th 2022 by James McDermott Gail McConnell is from Belfast. She is the author of of The Sun is Open (Penned in the Margins, 2021) and two poetry pamphlets: Fothermather (Ink Sweat & Tears, 2019) and Fourteen (Green Bottle Press, 2018). Fothermather was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Poetry Award. Gail’s poems have appeared in The Poetry Review, PN Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, Blackbox Manifold and Stand, and she is the recipient of two awards from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. She has made two programmes based on her poetry for BBC Radio 4: Fothermather and The Open Box. She is Reader in English at Queen’s University Belfast and the author of Northern Irish Poetry and Theology (Palgrave, 2014). Gail’s writing interests include violence, creatureliness, queerness and the possibilities and politics of language and form. This week's Southword poem is ‘13.58, January 28th 2022' by James McDermott, which appears in issue 43. You can buy single issues, subscribe, or find out how to submit to Southword here.

(00:00) - Paisley Rekdal interview (53:00) - Clíona Ní Ríordáin and Patrick Cotter Discussion (01:03:15) - Southword poem, Waiting for the baby by Afric McGlinchey Rekdal grew up in Seattle, Washington, the daughter of a Chinese American mother and a Norwegian father. She earned a BA from the University of Washington, an MA from the University of Toronto Centre for Medieval Studies, and an MFA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is the author of the poetry collections West: A Translation (2023), winner of the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award; A Crash of Rhinos (2000); Six Girls Without Pants (2002); The Invention of the Kaleidoscope (2007); and Imaginary Vessels (2016), as well as the book of essays The Night My Mother Met Bruce Lee: Observations on Not Fitting In (2000). This week's Southword poem is ‘Waiting for the baby' by Afric McGlinchey, which appears in issue 43. You can buy single issues, subscribe, or find out how to submit to Southword here.

(00:00) - Clíona Ní Ríordáin and James O'Leary Discussion (04:55) - Deborah Paredez interview (58:00) - Southword poem, Mother Tongue by Grace H. Zhou Deborah Paredez is a poet and cultural critic. She is the author of the poetry volumes This Side of Skin (Wings Press 2002) and Year of the Dog (BOA Editions 2020), and the critical study Selenidad: Selena, Latinos, and the Performance of Memory (Duke UP, 2009). Her poetry and essays have appeared in Poetry magazine, the New York Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, Boston Review, Poet Lore, and elsewhere. She is the cofounder and for a decade served as codirector (2009-2019) of CantoMundo, a national organization for Latinx poets. She lives in New York City where she teaches creative writing and ethnic studies at Columbia University. This week's Southword poem is ‘Mother Tongue' by Grace H. Zhou, which appears in issue 44. You can buy single issues, subscribe, or find out how to submit to Southword here.

(00:00) - Clíona Ní Ríordáin and Patrick Cotter Discussion (08:35) - Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh interview (55:48) - Southword poem, A South Ulster Homestead by Mary O'Donnell Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh was born in Kerry. She has read at festivals in New York, Paris, Montréal, Berlin and Ballyferriter. In 2012 her poem ‘Deireadh na Feide’ won the O’Neill Poetry Prize. ‘Filleadh ar an gCathair’ was chosen as Ireland’s EU Presidency poem in 2013 and was shortlisted in 2015 for RTE’s ‘A Poem for Ireland’. Coiscéim published her first book Péacadh (2008) and Tost agus Allagar (2016). The latter won the Michael Hartnett Award in 2019. A bilingual collection, The Coast Road, was published by Gallery Press, and includes English translations by thirteen poets. Dánta Andrée Chedid, translations from the French, was published in 2019 by Cois Life as part of their ‘File ar Fhile’ series. She is the 2020 recipient of the Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Award. A new collection, Tonn Teaspaigh agus Dánta Eile, was published by Éabhlóid in November 2022. This week's Southword poem is ‘A South Ulster Homestead' by Mary O'Donnell, which appears in issue 44. You can buy single issues, subscribe, or find out how to submit to Southword here.

(00:00) - Clíona Ní Ríordáin and Patrick Cotter Discussion (08:43) - Martín Espada interview (01:14:46) - Southword poem, When Our Mother Dies by Jenny Mitchell Martín Espada has published more than twenty books as a poet, editor, essayist and translator. His latest book of poems is called Floaters, winner of the 2021 National Book Award and the Massachusetts Book Award, and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. He has received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Shelley Memorial Award, the Robert Creeley Award, an Academy of American Poets Fellowship, the PEN/Revson Fellowship, a Letras Boricuas Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship. A former tenant lawyer in Greater Boston, Espada is a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. This week's Southword poem is ‘When Our Mother Dies' by Jenny Mitchell, which won the 2023 Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition and appears in issue 44. You can buy single issues, subscribe, or find out how to submit to Southword here.

(0:00) - Clíona Ní Ríordáin and Patrick Cotter Discussion (24:23) - Thomas McCarthy interview (1:06:53) - Southword poem, The Woman Who Used To Bleed by Lorraine McArdle Thomas McCarthy was born in Co. Waterford and educated at UCC. His many collections of poetry include Pandemonium (2016) and Prophecy (2019). A former Editor of Poetry Ireland Review, he is a member of Aosdána. His diaries, Poetry, Memory and the Party, were published in 2022 by The Gallery Press. His essays will be published by The Gallery later this year and his new collection, Plenitude, will be published by Carcanet Press UK in Spring 2025. This week's Southword poem is ‘The Woman Who Used To Bleed' by Lorraine McArdle, which appears in issue 43. You can buy single issues, subscribe, or find out how to submit to Southword here.

(0:00) - Clíona Ní Ríordáin and James O'Leary Discussion (4:00) - Abigail Parry interview (47:23) - Southword poem, My Poetry Isn’t Art Enough by Pragya Gogoi I Think We’re Alone Now was supposed to be a book about intimacy: what it might look like in solitude, in partnership, and in terms of collective responsibility. Instead, the poems are preoccupied with pop music, etymology, surveillance equipment and cervical examination, church architecture and beetles. Just about anything, in fact, except what intimacy is or looks like. So this is a book that runs on failure, and also a book about failures: of language to do what we want, of connection to be meaningful or mutual, and of the analytic approach to say anything useful about what we are to one another. Here are abrupt estrangements and errors of translation, frustrations and ellipses, failed investigations. And beetles.I Think We’re Alone Now is Abigail Parry's second collection. Her first collection, Jinx (Bloodaxe Books, 2018), was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection 2018 and the Seamus Heaney Centre First Collection Poetry Prize 2019. This week's Southword poem is ‘My Poetry Isn’t Art Enough' by Pragya Gogoi, which appears in issue 43. You can buy single issues, subscribe, or find out how to submit to Southword here.

(0:00) - Clíona Ní Ríordáin and Patrick Cotter Discussion (7:34) - Paddy Bushe interview (51:48) - Southword poem, Perault's Wolf by Tracy Gaughan Paddy Bushe was born in Dublin in 1948 and now lives in Waterville, Co. Kerry. He writes in Irish and in English and he is a member of Aosdána. He received the 2006 Oireachtas prize for poetry, the 2006 Michael Hartnett Poetry Award and the 2017 Irish Times Poetry Now Award. In 2020, Dedalus Press published Double Vision, a two-volume publication comprising Second Sight, the author's own selection of his Irish language poems, accompanied by the author's own translations, as well as Peripheral Vision, his latest collection in English. This week's Southword poem is ‘Perault's Wolf’ by Tracy Gaughan, which appears in issue 43. You can buy single issues, subscribe, or find out how to submit to Southword here.

Paul Muldoon is the author of fourteen collections of poetry, including Moy Sand and Gravel, for which he received the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and the most recent, Howdie-Skelp (2021). His other awards include the 1994 T. S. Eliot Prize, the 2003 Griffin Prize, the 2015 Pigott Prize, and the 2017 Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry. Born in County Armagh in 1951, he has lived sine 1987 in the United States, where he is the Howard G. B. Clark Professor in the Humanities at Princeton University. This week's Southword poem is ‘Last’ by Amy Woolard, which appears in issue 43. You can buy single issues, subscribe, or find out how to submit to Southword here.