Show Notes
In the first episode of ‘My Identity’ Professor Colin Graham (Maynooth University) is in conversation with Dr Gail McConnell (QUB). Gail discusses her identity, and her uneasiness around discussing identity. The conversation explores themes including queerness, parenting, religion and the murder of Gail’s father and its resultant influence on her work. Gail is the author of The Sun is Open (Penned in the Margins, 2021), Northern Irish Poetry and Theology (Palgrave, 2014), and two pamphlets of poetry: Fothermather (Ink Sweat & Tears, 2019) and Fourteen (Green Bottle Press, 2018). Colin Graham is Professor English and formerly Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Maynooth University. - This is episode 1 in the ‘My Identity’ podcast series, hosted by Colin Graham and published by ARINS. ARINS: Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South brings together experts to provide evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. The project publishes, facilitates and disseminates research on the challenges and opportunities presented to the island in a post-Brexit context, with the intention of contributing to an informed public discourse. More information about the research, resources and upcoming events can be found at www.arinsproject.com. The ARINS project is a partnership between the University of Notre Dame’s Keough-Naughton Institute and the Royal Irish Academy. Audio design and editing for this podcast are by Conor Patterson and Morgan Blain-Crehan; The Spinners Mill Studio, Belfast.
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Poem by Shirley O’Shea a writer from Carrick-on-Suir and a Teacher of English and German at St. Declan’s Community College, Kilmacthomas since 1999. She is an active participant of Poetry Plus in Brewery Lane Theatre. Her poem ‘With Grace and with Gratitude’ about Dr. Mary Strangman was published for SETU Blue Plaque unveiling at Carriganore House in Waterford in 2023. This poem and another ‘PJ 07’, was shortlisted for the Sean Dunne Literary award in June 2024.