The Women's Podcast

Following on from the success of her 2020 novel Actress, Anne Enright is back with her latest book The Wren, The Wren. It’s a multi-generational story, exploring family trauma and the love between mother and daughter, told through three members of the same family: Nell, Carmel and Phil. In this episode, Enright speaks to Róisín Ingle about the inspiration behind the story, her foray into poetry and the novel’s omission from this year’s Booker long list. They also reflect on Enright's time as the inaugural Laureate for Irish Fiction, her childhood growing up the youngest of five and her “stormy” teenage years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Dublin Fringe Festival kicks off next month on Saturday, the 9th of September. Once again, the festival features a stellar line up of women-led productions, ranging from comedy, theatre and performance art. Making their debut at this year’s Fringe, is Philomena P, a new female-led theatre company with their play ‘in heat’. Philomena P is made up of best friends Sadhbh Malin and Sinéad Gallagher who both come from Dublin. The play, written by Malin and produced by Gallagher, tells the story of Conor and Helen, a couple in their 20s, living together and navigating a rocky relationship. In this episode, they tell Róisín Ingle about the inspiration behind the story, how their friendship has evolved into a creative working relationship and what it’s like being a young woman living and working in Ireland today.For the full line up of events at the Fringe, check out https://www.fringefest.com/festival/whats-on Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month our booker clubbers have been reading Old Babes in the Wood, a collection of short stories from award-winning author Margaret Atwood. The book explores themes like love and relationships, what it means to be human, the ageing process and dealing with loss. Seven stories within the book follow the lives of married couple Nell and Tig and the moments big and small that encapsulate their life together. Listen in to find out what Bernice Harrison, Niamh Towey, Ann and Róisín Ingle thought of this new collection from the 83 year-old author. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rosemary Murphy, a dynamic 40-year-old woman from Dolphin’s Barn in Dublin, had two major goals from childhood. The first was to have a large family. The second was to study medicine and become a doctor. As a mother of 12 children, ranging from 20 to 19 months, the first goal has been well and truly achieved. This September, she will start the journey to achieving her second, when she begins a six year medical degree at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). In this conversation with Róisín Ingle, Murphy speaks about the joy of being accepted into the RCSI, the long road to get there and why "there’s no such thing as being too old, you can do anything at any age”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Irish author Elaine Feeney is nominated for the 2023 Booker Prize for her novel How to Build a Boat. The writer from Galway is one of four Irish authors and the only Irish woman to make the long list this year. Ahead of the shortlist announcement next month, Feeney joined Róisín Ingle to discuss her nomination, the inspiration behind the book and how a severe illness in 2014 spurred her on to writing fiction. The pair also discuss Feeney’s life growing up in the west of Ireland, falling in love with poetry in her teens and her new poetry collection due out next year. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we have two experts on hand to share their extensive knowledge of the clitoris, a much ignored and often overlooked part of the female body. Urologist Dr Rachel Rubin and author of ‘Vagina Obscura’ Rachel E Gross join Róisín Ingle to explain history’s complicated understanding of the clitoris, how it’s treated in medical study and why popular culture instead zoned in on the ‘G Spot’ as the holy grail of orgasms. They also discuss the rise in cosmetic procedures like labiaplasty and why we need a better word for masturbation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

American blogger and author Gabrielle Stanley Blair is on a mission to change the conversation around abortion. Rather than centering the debate around women and their bodies, Stanley Blair suggests a crucial refocus: MEN. In her new book ‘Ejaculate Responsibly’, the author argues that men are responsible for 100% of unwanted pregnancies and therefore should be more cautious of where they leave their sperm. In this episode, she talks to Róisín Ingle about the main arguments in her ‘thesis’, the reaction she’s been met with by both men and women and why if the attention was put on preventing unwanted pregnancies, there would be no need to argue about abortion at all. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor died this week at the age of 56. A trailblazer, feminist and advocate for social change, O’Connor will be remembered for her outstanding contribution to music and her courage in speaking out against the status quo. A fond friend of The Women’s Podcast, O’Connor last joined podcast presenter Róisín Ingle for an extended interview in 2021, while promoting her memoir Rememberings. Today, to celebrate her life and her achievements, we bring you that conversation again, recorded in the conservatory of her home in the Wicklow countryside. Rest easy, Sinead. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A regular on The Women's Podcast, journalist and author Caitlin Moran was in Dublin recently as part of her latest book tour. As someone who regularly discusses the problems of girls and women in public, Moran has often been confronted with the question: “But what about men?”. Indeed, the statistics on male misery are grim: boys are falling behind in school, are at greater risk of addiction, depression, suicide, and increasingly at risk from online misogynist radicalisation thanks to the likes of Andrew Tate and Jordan B Peterson. Moran explains what led her to write her new book What About Men? and discusses the issues affecting men and boys that she says if tackled will also help women and girls. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, writer and journalist Dina Kraft tells the story of Holocaust survivor Hannah Pick-Goslar and her childhood best friend, Anne Frank. Hannah and Anne met in Amsterdam as young girls and spent many happy years playing together, before the ravages of war tore their lives apart. ‘My Friend Anne Frank’ is the memoir by Pick-Goslar, detailing the special bond shared by the pair, their final meeting on opposite sides of a barbed-wire fence in a Nazi concentration camp in 1945 and her own incredible story of survival. The book was co-written by Kraft, who spent hours interviewing the 93 year-old at her home in Jerusalem, before her death in October last year. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.