Author: POTW

Declan Cahill,  Near FM stalwart, joined mA classic song by a classc voice, but too few Irish people know its roots. The poem was originally written by Paddy Kavangh in 1946 about his then girlfriend, Kerrywoman, Hilda Moriarty. The story goes, to…

Maram Al Masri is an award winning Syrian poet whose work has shot to prominence in recent years as she documented the ongoing tragedy in her home country of Syria.  The task of translating her work from French to English fell to…

International’s Men’s Day can be a bit of a contentious holiday but behind what might be perceived as patriarchal self-aggrandising, but for me, the actual objectives of the day lean more towards building a broader and more inclusive definition of what it means…

Reading his own work, poet, journalist, broadcaster and Near FM veteran Tomasz Wybranowski joined me in studio to celebrate Polish independence day. Celebrated alongside armistice day, for the Polish people, November 11th was the restoration of Poland’s sovereignty as the Second Polish Republic…

The rise of Mary Robinson to Ireland’s highest political office had an enormously transformative effect on Irish society, as did the manner of her victory, defeating the presumed shoo-in and Fianna Fáil stalwart Brian Lenihan Snr. It was as if Ireland was…

Poem of the Week S01 E14: Samhain by Rachel Hegarty, read by Jane O Sullivan It’s that time of year again; the pumpkins are being carved, the pallets are being stockpiled and mischief is being planned. Halloween is the highlight of the…

Written against the backdrop of an opressve regime under General Franco, Txoriak Txori (in English, A bird is a bird) stands in as a fierce expression of the pride the Basque people have for their culture. Originally written as a poem  by…

What can you say about Phil Lynch and the Lingo crew? Trailblazer extraordinaires?  The spark that set Dublin town alight? The crest of a poetic wave? In just 3 short years the Lingo festival cemented its place as the foremost proponent of the…