Some of the latest audio recordings from the Royal Irish Academy.

Latest Academy Audio Recordings

Shelfmarks is a podcast by our podcaster-in-residence Zoë Comyns. Zoë has spent time looking through the collections and library holdings in the Academy to explore how people have written about and observed our natural world over the centuries.

Each week Zoë will sift through the Academy collection for Shelfmarks (biographies, manuscripts, books and reference from the collection) and invite a weekly guest writer to discuss their own relationship with the natural world. Writers include Amanda Bell, Kerri Ní Dhochartaigh, Manchán Magan, Siobhán Mannion, Jane Clarke and Neil Hegarty.  Each writer has been specially commissioned to write pieces exploring their own relationship with nature.

From the walks and works of R.L. Praeger to the dragonflies collected by Cynthia Longfield or birds by ornithologist RM Barrington, each week will give listeners a sense of the people who have passed through the academy and how their work and the natural world still inspires writers today.

About the podcaster
Zoë Comyns is a multi award-winning independent radio producer and works across drama, essay, fiction and factual features. Her programmes have broadcast on RTÉ (Radio 1, Lyric Fm & R1 Extra), Newstalk, BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service. She presents and produces Keywords, the short writing programme for RTÉ Radio. She won the John McGahern Award for Literature 2019 for emerging writers and radio awards including the New York Festivals, AIB, IMRO, PPI and Åke Blomstrom.

Shelfmarks

In this episode, Deirdre Heenan and Anne Matthews delve into how cross-border cooperation relating to health between Ireland and Northern Ireland really works. What collaborations are working? How did health co-operation really work during the COVID-19 pandemic? What are the best parts of each system? Does politics stand in the way of citizens' health? How could  health outcomes for everyone on the island be improved?
You can read Deirdre Heenan's paper at https://doi.org/10.3318/isia.2021.32b.10 Anne Matthew's response is available at https://doi.org/10.3318/isia.2021.32b.11. These were both published by ARINS in Irish Studies in International Affairs.
Deirdre Heenan is Professor of Social Policy in the School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences at Ulster University.
Anne Matthews is a Professor in the School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health at Dublin City University.
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This is episode 1 of a podcast series that provides evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south.
Host Rory Montgomery, MRIA, talks to authors of articles on topics such as cross border health co-operation; the need to regulate social media in referendums, education, cultural affairs and constitutional questions and the imperative for good data and the need to carry out impartial research.
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 can be found at www.arinsproject.com.
ARINS is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs.

ARINS: Cross-Border Cooperation Health in Ireland

In this episode Adele Bergin and Seamus McGuinness reflect on cross-border differences in living standards, opportunities and quality of life on the island of Ireland. So, who is better off?
You can read their paper, as it appeared in Irish Studies in International Affairs, at https://doi.org/10.3318/isia.2021.32b.12
Adele Bergin is Associate Research Professor at the Economic & Social Research Institute, Dublin. 
Seamus McGuinness is Research Professor at the Economic & Social Research Institute, Dublin. He is also a research fellow in the Institute of Labour Studies (IZA) in the University of Bonn and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the National Institute for Labour Studies in Flinders University Australia. 
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This is episode 2 of a podcast series that provides evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south.
Host Rory Montgomery, MRIA, talks to authors of articles on topics such as cross border health co-operation; the need to regulate social media in referendums, education, cultural affairs and constitutional questions and the imperative for good data and the need to carry out impartial research.
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 can be found at www.arinsproject.com.
ARINS is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs.

ARINS: Measuring Cross-Border Differences on the Island of Ireland

In this episode, Christopher McCrudden and Oran Doyle explore the legal constraints or soft-law guidelines that are relevant to the franchise in the north and in the south, potential issues that arise from tensions between the two franchises, and possible resolutions.
You can read their paper, co-authored with David Kenny, as it appeared in Irish Studies in International Affairs, at https://doi.org/10.3318/isia.2021.32b.18
Christopher McCrudden is Professor of Human Rights and Equality Law at Queen’s University Belfast and William W. Cook Global Law Professor at the University of Michigan Law School.
Oran Doyle is Professor in law at Trinity College Dublin.
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This is episode 3 of a podcast series that provides evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south.
Host Rory Montgomery, MRIA, talks to authors of articles on topics such as cross border health co-operation; the need to regulate social media in referendums, education, cultural affairs and constitutional questions and the imperative for good data and the need to carry out impartial research.
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 can be found at www.arinsproject.com.
ARINS is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs.

ARINS: The Franchise in Irish Unification Referendums

Shelfmarks is a podcast by our podcaster-in-residence Zoë Comyns. Zoë has spent time looking through the collections and library holdings in the Academy to explore how people have written about and observed our natural world over the centuries.

In this Culture Night special to start the series Zoë explores nature writing as it was when the Royal Irish Academy opened in 1785 to now, and how its focus has changed over the centuries.

We’re going to hear a little history about some of the texts in the RIA, about some of the naturalists and members who have been part of the Academy but also get a sense of the arc of writing about the natural world. We’ll also hear how the landscape and wildlife of Ireland itself has changed over the centuries. 

Guests:  
Lucy Collins (co-ed The Irish Poet and the Natural World)
Conor W. O'Brien  (Ireland Through Birds, Life in Ireland) 
and Booker longlisted writer Niall Williams (Four Letters of Love, A History of Rain, This is Happiness) and Christine Breen (Her Name Is Rose) who have co-authored a memoir about their garden, illness and the natural world - In Kiltumper. 
Readings by Derbhle Crotty and Declan Brennan.

This project is funded by the Arts Council Literature Project Award.

Shelfmarks: Culture Night Special

In this first episode of Shelfmarks Zoë Comyns looks at an expedition to Rockall off the north-east coast of Donegal funded by the Royal Irish Academy in 1896.   

The island is extremely remote and poor weather conditions meant it was impossible to land on Rockall. The crew of geologists, naturalists and biologists did collect dredge samples and bird specimens. This programme evokes his journey and the sense of discovery. 

One of those on board was RIA member R.M. Barrington, whose interest in birds led to him to publish The Migration of Birds as Observed at Irish Lighthouses and Lightships (1900). Barrington asked lighthouse keepers all around the country to record information on all birds that died by striking the light stations. He asked that they:  “cut off and label the wing and leg of every common bird which is killed at their station…All species can then be identified with certainty.’ He also requested that ‘Rare birds should be sent entire”. 

He gathered more than 2000 specimens, legs and wings and whole birds arrive by post every week, from all over Ireland to his home in Wicklow allowing him to identify patterns and compile his book. 

Zoe’s guest on Shelfmarks is Kerri ní Dochartaigh, author of Thin Places. Kerri brings Zoë to Baltray beach in Co. Louth where they discuss Kerri’s relationship with the natural world and she reads new pieces specially commissioned for the Shelfmarks. 

Kerri chats about how being prompted by the notion of discovery and expedition she observes her baby son taking in the world for the first time. 

She also writes about a dream that she often returns to in which she is observing a bird in a forest and has to choose between experiencing this moment and rushing home to document it. 

Kerri has been writing for a number of years and she explores in her final piece one of her very first pieces of writing about a bird strike. Barrington’s studies resonant with her as she has come across numerous dead birds during her walks. 

Kerri ní Dochartaigh is the author of Thin Places which was highly commended by the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing 2021. She has written for the Guardian, the Irish Times, the BBC, Winter Papers, and others. She lives in an old railway cottage in the heart of Ireland with her family.

Shelfmarks: Ep 1 | Kerri ní Dochartaigh

In this week's episode, podcaster-in-residence Zoë Comyns delves into the life of Cynthia Longfield and spends time with writer Amanda Bell in her Mayo garden. 

Cynthia Longfield (1896–1991) was an entomologist, specialising in dragonflies (Odonata). She was part of the St George Expedition that sailed to the Pacific in 1924.  Her collection of memorabilia from the 1924 St George expedition is held by the Academy Library, and includes personal diaries, news-cuttings, albums of photographs and her killing jar used for collecting insect samples. She subsequently went on a variety of other research expeditions in Asia, Africa, Canada and South America. Cynthia Longfield worked in the British Museum as an unpaid associate for over 30 years. She was the Museum’s Odonata expert. She retired to her family’s Cloyne in 1956. In 1979 she donated her library (books, notes and ephemera) to the Royal Irish Academy. The collection is known as the ‘Longfield-Roberts’ collection.

In this episode Zoë invites poet and writer Amanda Bell to explore some themes around Cynthia Longfield’s life and research – Amanda has written for the podcast about collecting, iridescence and poison – Zoë visits her in her Mayo garden to chat about tending the site and her understanding of nature and how it influences her writing life.

Amanda Bell’s most recent collection is Riptide (Doire Press). Riptide explores the zeitgeist using the art of Edvard Munch as a counterpoint, delving into the ecological and spiritual anguish informing his paintings, finding parallels in the world we live in today.

Amanda's awards include: Arts Council of Ireland Literature Bursary 2020; Harold’s Cross inaugural Writer in Residence; Poetry Ireland Introductions Series 2016; Winner of Allingham Prize and Merit Book Award; shortlisted for Irish Poem of the Year, Shine Strong Award, Touchstone Distinguished Books Award

The readings in this episode are by Jennifer O’Dea.
Additional Music Credits: Through the Tunnel by DoKashiteru (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Truth and Fact (with Piano) by Siobhan Dakay (c) copyright 2021 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial  (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/SiobhanD/63942 Ft: Kara Square

Shelfmarks: Ep 2 | Amanda Bell

In this Podcast, Megan Brien, historian of design and interior architecture, explores the history of the turret clock in the Clocktower building at Grangegorman on the northside of Dublin’s city centre. With horologists Julian Cosby and David Boles, Megan reveals the unique features of this extraordinary timepiece: the oldest known flat-bed clock in the world.

Grangegorman Histories is a public history project of Dublin City Council, Grangegorman Development Agency, HSE, Local Communities, National Archives, Royal Irish Academy and TU Dublin. To learn more see www.grangegormanhistories.ie

Grangegorman Histories: 'Timepiece'

In this bonus episode of Shelfmarks, Zoë Comyns chats to guest writers Niall and Christine about their own relationship with their garden and nature. 

Shelfmarks is a podcast by the Royal Irish Academy podcaster-in-residence Zoë Comyns. Every other week Zoë will sift through the Academy collection for Shelfmarks (biographies, manuscripts, books and reference from the collection) and invite a guest writer to discuss their own relationship with the natural world. Each writer has been specially commissioned to write pieces exploring their own relationship with nature. Shelfmarks goes live every other Sunday.

In this bonus episode of Shelfmarks, Zoë meets with Niall Williams and Christine Breen. Niall and Christine are the authors of numerous books. Niall has been longlisted for the Man Booker for History of the Rain and his most recent novel is This is Happiness. Chrstine Breen’s first novel is Her Name is Rose. Together, their most recent book is In Kiltumper: A Year in an Irish Garden (Bloomsbury, 2021).

Niall and Christine joined us for our Culture Night special episode of Shelfmarks to talk about writing and the natural world. One of the aims of this series is to commission new writing about the natural world and both Niall and Chrstine have a short piece for this episode in the same style as their entries for In Kiltumper - they explore their own relationship with their garden and nature.

A full episode of Shelfmarks will be back next week with poet Jane Clarke and an exploration of the uplands and walking through the work of Robert Lloyd Praeger. 

This series is funded by the Arts Council Literature Project Award. Special thanks to Matt Purcelll for the recording.

Shelfmarks: bonus episode | Niall Williams and Christine Breen

This week on Shelfmarks Zoë Comyns tries to get a sense of the immense work done by Robert Lloyd Praeger. From his early days in Co. Down, tramping through the Mourne Mountains to the thousands of miles he walked across Ireland studying botanics, to his contribution to 800 publications and his 24 books RL Praeger is probably considered Ireland’s most influential naturalist. 

Zoë’s guest this week on Shelfmarks is poet Jane Clarke. Jane grew up in Co Roscommon and came to writing after a career in psychotherapy. She moved to Wicklow almost 25 years ago and Zoë visited her there in her home and took a walk up a lane known as Fairy Lane or Lousy Land and listeners will hear two specially commissioned poems about her neighbour and quarrymen. 

You can read more about Jane Clarke on her website: http://www.janeclarkepoetry.ie/

To write this episode Zoë read The Way that I Went and A Populous Solitude by Robet Lloyd Praeger, Irish Topographical Botany and the Clare Island Survey, as well as the invaluable biography of Praeger The Life of a Naturalist by Sean Lysaght published by Four Courts Press. She also read A Farrington's obituary of Praeger in the Irish Naturalist Journal, Vol 11 (1954).  

The readings in this episode are by  Declan Brennan.

Shelfmarks: Ep 3 | Jane Clarke

In this special episode of Shelfmarks for St  Brigid’s Day, in association with the Department of Foreign Affairs, podcaster-in Residence Zoë Comyns explores the figure of Brigid. She imagines her origins in Irish folktale and story and delves into the Royal Irish Academy collection for traces of Brigid in the recordings of the Doegen archive. 

In 1926 the Irish government asked Dr Wilheim Doegen (Director of the Sound Department at the Prussian State Library in Berlin) to make recordings of Irish speech in the Gaeltacht. The Department of Education asked the RIA to organise the project. Dr Doegen came to Ireland with his assistant, Karl Tempel in 1928. Speakers were asked to sing a song, tell a story, recite a version of the Parable of the Prodigal Son (based on a copy supplied to them in advance), count numbers or recite a prayer. The recordings were made on wax matrices which were then transported to Berlin where they were converted to shellac.

In this piece Zoë has interweaved recordings from:

Máire McDaid: Máire counts in Irish. 

Anna Feely: this doesn’t directly mention Brigid but instead refers to a girl gathering rushes, often associated with Brigid and her distinctive cross. 
A chailín deas na luachra 
‘A young man meets a beautiful young woman gathering rushes, which were traditionally used for making bedding. He tries to seduce her with various promises, and in the final verses the young woman reproaches him for the trouble he has caused her.’

Mícheál Mac Gearailt from Co. Kerry who recites a prayer to Brigid for her protection:
Coigilt na tine
'The practice of banking the fire for the night was one of daily necessity in former times, whereby glowing coals would be smothered with ash to keep them smouldering until the next day, when they could be rekindled. It was usually one of the last things to be done at night, and was often accompanied by protective prayers.' 

Also included is: 
Brat agus teagasc Bhríde - by Seán Ó Colláin
‘This account of St Brigid appears to combine legends from a number of sources. The motif of Brigid's cloak is found in early hagiographies concerning the saint.’ This recording points to Brigid’s charity and her magical cloak that spread out over the lands of Kildare. 

Elaine Feeney joins Zoë for a walk in Renville Park in Galway to chat about Elaine’s early life on a farm, superstition, women’s safety in nature and what Brigid means to her. Elaine has written two specially commissioned pieces for the episode of Shelfmarks. 
Elaine is a poet and writer whose most recent book is As You Were.  In the past year she has won the Kate O’Brien and the Dalkey 'emerging writer' awards. Elaine’s writing examines how history and national identity structure the everyday lives of Irish women.  For this episode of Shelfmarks Elaine has written an essay and a short story prompted by the figure of Brigit, the coming of Spring and the lives of women. She also takes inspiration from the Tom Murphy Mommo trilogy - the plays, Bailegangaire and A Thief of a Christmas and of course Brigit. 

Her essay A Fine Roll of Cloud from the west brings us back to her early years growing up on a farm in Athenry. She describes the work she and her siblings did to keep the farm going and the brutality of working with animals. In spite of this, Elaine founds moments of beauty and escape that lay the foundations for her writing life. 
In The Stranger, Elaine writes an origin story for the inspiration for Seamus’ statue of Brigit in Tom Murphy’s play Brigit. Seamus carves a statue of Brigit from bog oak and in Elaine’s account, he takes inspiration from a woman in a cafe. 

Elaine Feeney’s book As You Were is published by Harvill Secker. 

Thanks to the Department of Foreign Affairs for their support of this specially commissioned episode.

Shelfmarks: St Brigid's Day Special

The Royal Irish Academy/Acadamh Ríoga na hEireann is an all-Ireland, independent, academic body that promotes study and excellence in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is the principal learned society in Ireland and has over 420 members who are elected in recognition of their academic achievements.

The Royal Irish Academy, the academy for the sciences and humanities for the whole of Ireland will vigorously promote excellence in scholarship, recognise achievements in learning, direct research programmes and undertake its own research projects, particularly in areas relating to Ireland and its heritage.