Books for Breakfast
A podcast focussing on fiction and poetry hosted by poets and writers Peter Sirr and Enda Wyley. Also features the Toaster Challenge where guest writers are given the time it takes to make toast to talk about a book that has resonated with them.
- Update frequency
- every 14 days
- Average duration
- 43 minutes
- Episodes
- 83
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2025
82: Henrietta McKervey on new fiction titles
On this morning's show novelist Henrietta McKervey talks to us about four recent novels: Fair Play by Louise Hegarty, Air by John Boyne, Murder takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman and Lon…
81: Mary O'Donnell, Walking Ghosts
This episode sees us visiting Dublin's historic United Arts Club where Enda interviews Mary O'Donnell about her latest collection of short stories, Walking Ghosts.
Praise for Walking Gh…
80: Sarah Moss on Ripeness
On this episode we drop in to the Carlow University Pittsburgh MFA summer programme in Trinity College, Dublin to interview Sarah Moss about her latest novel, Ripeness.
'Tender and ruef…
79: Mall Life: Karin-Lin Greenberg
On this episode we talk about this year's International Literature Festival Dublin which runs from 16-25 May, and where Enda will be interviewing novelists Gethan Dick and Patrick Hollo…
78: Richard Blanco; Poetry at Strokestown
In this episode, on Poetry Day, we cross the Atlantic and. breakfast in Miami, where we talk to Cuban American poet Richard Blanco about his Homeland of my Body: New and Selected Poems,…
77: Mary O’Donnell on new fiction and poetry
On this episode we talk to poet novelist and critic Mary O’Donnell about Mary O’Malley’s The Shark Nursery, Patrick Holloway’s The Language of Remembering, ! All’ ARME /? by Eilish Mar…
76: Pat Boran on Hedge School
Finding inspiration in the local and near at had, attentive to climate concern and global unrest, to home and homeless, belonging and welcome, concern and global and welcome – on today’…
75: Mary Morrissy's Twenty-Twenty Vision
‘A beautiful tapestry of late middle age reckoning’ – today we interview the writer Mary Morrissy about her new collection of short stories, Twenty-Twenty Vision, published by Lilliput …
74: John Banville and Doris Kareva
Was 1950s Dublin really a place of murder and intrigue? On today’s show we travel to the Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation in Dublin’s Fenian Street to talk to novel…
73: John Montague: A Poet's Life
How much do we need to know about a writer's life? How does the life impinge on the work? What is the human price of art? In this episode we talk to biographer Adrian Frazier about John…
72: Andrew Miller, The Land in Winter
In the darkness of an old asylum, a young man unscrews the lid from a bottle of sleeping pills. In the nearby village, two couples begin their day. Local doctor, Eric Parry, mulling sec…
71: Keith Payne builds a boat and translates Luisa Castro; 2024 highlights
On today’s show, the last of 2024, we talk to Keith Payne about his recent boat building and poem writing project. Currachs and naomhógs are among the only sea craft built upside down,…
70: Books of the Year with Adam Wyeth and Henrietta McKervey
Join us for a lively discussion of some of the best books published this year. At the breakfast table to discuss their poetry and fiction choices are poet Adam Wyeth and novelist Henrie…
69: The Amergin Step, An Exploration in the Imagination of Iveragh
This episode sees us back in Books Upstairs in Dublin’s D’Olier Street again. This time we’ve come for a conversation between Paddy Bushe and poet and academic Ben Keatinge on the occas…
68: Oksana Makysmchuk, Still City: Diary of an Invasion
As we write it is 1002 days since the fullscale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, but over ten years since Putin first seized Crimea and sponsored insurrection in the Donbas. And even long…
67: IMRAM festival, Kelly Michels' American Anthem
First up on today's show, I chat with Liam Carson, who is back again with another episode of the Irish language Festival, IMRAM.
And we hear from Kelly Michels, whose Forward Prize shor…
66: Mícheál McCann and Katie Donovan
Today's show features conversation and poems from two poets with new collections: Katie Donovan, whose collection May Swim, is published by Bloodaxe Books, and Micheál McCann, whose deb…
65: Christine Dwyer Hickey, Alba de Cespedes, Catullus
We're back from the summer break and in conversation with Christine Dwyer Hickey, who was the subject of our very first Books for Breakfast podcast. This time around we're talking to he…
64: Summer journals, Tessa Hadley, Noel Monahan
On today's edition, the last before our summer break, we look at new editions of Poetry Ireland Review and The Stinging Fly. We feature recordings of three poets published in Poetry Ir…
63: Neil Astley on Soul Feast and more
On today's show we interview poet, novelist and publisher of Bloodaxe Books Neil Astley. We talk to Neil about the latest Bloodaxe Books poetry anthology, Soul Feast, poems to stir the …