The Women's Podcast

In the last decade, the Irish author Tana French has become known for her brilliant crime thrillers narrated by various police in Dublin’s fictional Murder Squad, who tended to be outsiders in some way. In her latest book, the Wych Elm, she has done something a little bit different. Regular book clubbers on the Women's Podcast Bernice Harrison, Niamh Towey and Ann Ingle join Róisín to discuss the book that Stephen King called 'extraordinary' in his review in the New York Times.Plus: Ciara Kenny, acting editor of the Irish Times Magazine talks to Róisín about her first few weeks in the role and makes some reading and listening recommendations.Next time on the Women's Podcast Book Club, How to Fail, but Elizabeth Day. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This weekend (3rd-6th of May) the All Woman’s long boat team from St Michael’s rowing club in Dun Laoghaire will be one of two teams from the club competing in the Celtic Challenge race from the coast of Ireland to the coast of Wales.The race is a biennial event covering the 155 kilometre distance from Arklow in Wexford to Aberystwyth in Wales and the St Michael's All Woman’s team will be hoping to retain their title from the last race in 2017.On today's show four women from the crew, Liz O’Toole, Martina Doyle, Simone Sav and Liz Doyle, talk to Róisín about the grueling 26-hour Celtic Challenge and what possessed them to sign up to it.Follow the St Michael's rowers progress online:Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/dunlaoghairerowing/ Twitter - @RowDunLaoghaire See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jan Carson is a writer and community arts officer based in Belfast. Her first novel, Malcolm Orange Disappears, was published in 2014 followed by a short story collection, Children’s Children, in 2016. Her latest novel, The Fire Starters, is a dark, propulsive and original tale of fierce familial love and sacrifice, fizzing with magic and wonder. On today’s show she talks to Róisín about magic realism in her writing, her love of Belfast and the complexities of identity in Northern Ireland, her community work and more. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Mary Pat Kelly, named one of the Top 100 Irish Americans, is an author and a documentary filmmaker. She has also worked in TV on the show Good Morning America and once trained as a nun. Born and raised in Chicago, she lives on New York's Upper West Side with her husband the app developer Martin Sheerin, originally from County Tyrone. Mary was in Ireland recently to speak about her latest book – a novel called Irish Above All – and she came in to speak to Róisín Ingle while she was here. They talk about Mary's Irish roots, Trump and her friendship with the Italian American film director Martin Scorsese, who encouraged her to write about her heritage. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Young And Trans In Rural Ireland is a new resource that has just been launched by Youth Work Ireland to be used by those who work with young people and in schools, in order to make them the best trans allies they can be and to make Ireland more trans-inclusive. Julie James has personal experience of life as a young trans woman in rural Kildare and in this podcast she talks to Róisín about her life and how this Youth Work Ireland resource can help to make things better for trans people in Ireland.Plus: Irish Times journalists Bernice Harrison and Amy O'Connor tell us what's on their culture radar this week. Amy had the difficult job of getting up early to watch the Beyoncé documentary, Homecoming, and reports that it's everything she dreamed of and more. Bernice has some film and podcast recommendations and considers a move to Copenhagen for their progressive bike culture. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Award-winning Irish Times reporter Rosita Boland traveled to India recently with her colleague, this paper's photo editor Brenda Fitzsimons, to investigate waste pickers and innovative recycling projects taking place in Bangalore.One part of what they discovered during their time there was the shocking story of a multi-billion euro industry in the city’s slums, where human hair is a valuable commodity that fetches a high price in beauty salons in the west.Rosita spoke to Kathy about the trip, which was financed by the Simon Cumbers Media Fund. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In 2009, at the height of the recession, Geraldine Swarbrigg and her daughter Jane decided to start a new business. Together they brought the cosmetics brand Inglot to Ireland and ten years on - with Jane's brother Peter also part of the family business - the company employs 300 people, is expanding at breakneck speed and has just announced an exciting new partnership with Next in the UK.On today's show, Geraldine and Jane speak to Kathy about all of this, they also explain what the “lipstick factor” means in economic terms, Jane recalls her attempt at upstaging Jennifer Lopez in Las Vegas and they talk about Geraldine's husband Tommy Swarbrigg, the former Eurovision star.Plus: Róisín reports on her first week using a standy-uppy desk at work. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Mairead Buicke reckons she has been lucky in her career as a singer, from stepping in at the last minute for her first every professional performance at the National Concert Hall, to the teachers she has had the privilege of studying under. Ahead of her one-night-only performance in the Puccini Scandal at the NCH on April 24th, she talks to Kathy about her trad music roots, her big break and why it's all about the core for opera singers these days. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On today’s show, Róisín speaks to Éanna Ni Lamhna, renowned environmentalist, broadcaster and author – who many of you will recognise as a long-standing member of the panel of experts on RTÉ’s wildlife programme ‘Mooney goes Wild’. Éanna is the author of several books including: Talking Wild, Wild and Wonderful and Straight Talking Wild – and she was in the middle of promoting National Tree week when she came into studio to talk to Róisín about her life and career.Plus: Kathy and Róisín discuss controversial comments by a UK judge about marital sex, and they don't quite see eye to eye on the important debate over leggings. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Aimée Johnston has swapped Ireland for the white sands and sunshine of the Maldives, after beating thousands of applicants to become the Barefoot Bookseller. The 'Best Job in the World' is in the luxury eco resort of Soneva Fushi in the exotic Indian Ocean destination and was advertised online last year by hotel library curator company Ultimate Library. Aimée has been shoeless on the island for a month now and she speaks to Jennifer Ryan on today's podcast about how it’s all going.Later: Róisín Ingle talks to psychologist and mindfulness meditationteacher Susannah Healy about her book The Seven-Day Soul, which aims to provide a clear path to finding deeper meaning and joy in life through a blend of science and spirituality. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Máirín de Búrca has been a tireless social justice activist for women's rights, housing, prisoner rights, anti-apartheid, and many other issues throughout her life. She has, at times, been a committed member of Sinn Féin and, as a founder of the Women’s Liberation Movement, played a key role in that organisation's infamous Contraceptive Train. Máirín was also a prime mover in a legal case which secured for women the right to sit on juries, has been jailed for her anti-Vietnam War activities and fined for attacking Richard Nixon’s car during his 1970 Irish visit.Now, the octogenarian is the subject of a new documentary by filmmaker Cathal Black. A Loner's Instinct traces Máirín's life, taking us from her childhood in Chicago, to her membership of Sinn Féin, to her role as a founder of the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement.On today's podcast she talks to Kathy Sheridan about her extraordinary life.A Loner's Instinct will screen at the Irish Film Institute in Dublin April 8th 2019 at 18:30, followed by a Q&A

The gap between what it's really like to be a woman and what people expect women to be is the primary cause of burnout. Why? Because we exhaust ourselves trying to close the space. On today's show we speak to identical twin sisters Emily and Amelia Nagoski, authors of a groundbreaking new book about women and stress. It is called Burnout: The Secret to Solving the Stress Cycle and it is a science-based book also drawing on the writers' personal experiences and those of the hundreds of women the spoke to for this eye-opening and entertaining account of burnout. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On today's show Kathy meets Maria Ní Fhlartharta and Róisín Ní Hacéid – two disabled women under the age of 30 and members of Disabled Women Ireland. The organisation was founded in May 2018, partly out of a frustration with the voices of disabled people not being heard in the debate around the referendum to repeal the 8th amendment. Maria and Róisín tell Kathy what Disable Women Ireland are about, what they hope to achieve and getting down to the "nitty gritty", one year into their campaignLater: Irish Times tech journalist Ciara O’Brien speaks to feminist activist and author Caroline Criado Perez about her book Invisible Women. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On today’s show Kathy talks to theatre legends Ger Ryan and Marie Mullen about their play at the Gate Theatre, The Children, directed by Oonagh Murphy. Written by Lucy Kirkwood and also starring Seán McGinley, the play is about three retired nuclear scientists staying at a crumbling cottage by the sea, as the world grapples with the aftermath of a catastrophe at a nuclear power station.Marie and Ger talk to Kathy about the production, about Waking the Feminists, about the reality of life as a jobbing actor. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On today’s show Róisín meets one of fashion’s original supermodels Yasmin Le Bon to talk about beauty icons, menopause, ageing and her 30+ year marriage to Duran Duran star Simon Le Bon. In a frank and funny interview, Yasmin speaks about the difficulties of parenting, hot flushes and why #MeToo wasn’t an issue for her and her fellow 90s ‘supers’ including Kate Moss.Plus: Kathy and Róisín talk about period poverty and positive moves by the Oireachtas Women’s Causcus in putting the cause on the government agenda.And, Róisín waxes lyrical about the perfect pair of tights. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On International Women's Day, we joined the 15th annual #IWD Accenture Ireland breakfast at the Convention Centre in Dublin. In front of a crowd of 1,700 (gulp!) in the main auditorium, Kathy hosted a panel on technology, Changing the Game in Tomorrow’s World, examining the future for inclusion and equality, and how the technologies we live and work with can set us up for success in tomorrow’s world.Joining her on stage were Brenda Romero, Bafta award-winning game designer; Zahra Bahrololoumi, Accenture’s UKI technology lead; and Gavin Kelly, chief executive, Retail Ireland, Bank of Ireland. The panel spoke about inclusivity, the historical absence of the female lens in design, machine learning, the importance of ensuring there’s a lack of bias in data, and lots more. Plus: Brenda Romero gave an entertaining and inspiring speech on the importance of getting more women into the tech industry at all levels.Thanks to Accenture Ireland for a great event. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Lynn Enright is on a mission to empower women with vital knowledge about their own bodies. Chances are, if you've got one, you've been incorrectly referring to your vulva as a vagina for most of your life. In her book, Vagina: A re-education, Lynn provides girls and women with information they need about their own bodies - about the vagina, the hymen, the clitoris, the orgasm; about conditions like endometriosis and vulvodynia. It confronts taboos, such as abortion, miscarriage and masturbation, and it tackles vital social issues like period poverty and female genital mutilation. On today's show, Róisín talks to the journalist and author about the book and why she wrote it.Also today: Kathy and Róisín discuss Vodafone's new domestic violence policy and the new Women on Walls exhibit at the Royal College of Surgeons. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Liza Pulman of the satirical songwriters Fascinating Aida talks to Kathy in advance of her concert Liza Pulman Sings Streisand in the National Concert Hall on the 20th of April. She speaks about her long career in music and about being caught on the London Underground Train which was bombed on the 7th of July 2005. (Her mobile phone footage of the experience was broadcast on television news stations across the world.) Also on this episode Róisín talks to Irish Times tech journalist Karlin Lillington and Ann Mulvihill, the sister of the late science journalist Mary Mulvihill, about the science award created in Mary’s name. For more on The Mary Mulvihill Science Award see: https://marymulvihillaward.ie See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In 2014 Maria Walsh became the first openly gay woman to win the Rose of Tralee. That was one year before Ireland voted for same-sex marriage and since then the Mayo woman has remained in the spotlight with a broadcasting career and commitment to mental health advocacy. Now the 31 year old is standing as a Fine Gael candidate in the upcoming European elections. She talks to Women’s Podcast host Kathy Sheridan about her vision for Ireland and the strong commitment she has to her Catholic faith despite the attitude of that organisation to the LGBTQ community. In this episode, Kathy also speaks to Grace Tallon, the woman behind And Still I Rise, an event being held on International Women’s Day, Friday March 8th, in the Pillar Room of the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin. Grace is one of the members of Sounding The Feminists and her event features only music composed by women including sets from DJ Mona Lisa and spoken word from Grace Dyas and others. For more see https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/co-presents-and-still-i-rise-

Journalist and author Anna Carey talks to Kathy about the joy of needlework and explains why she felt a greater sense of achievement when she finished sewing a 1920s-style dressing gown than when she finished writing most of her six novels.They talk about the emotional benefits of making things by hand, the historical lack of recognition of needlework as an art form, its place in the history of female expression and two books on craftwork that Anna read recently – Threads of Life by Clare Hunter and Craftfulness by Rosemary Davidson and Arzu Tahsin.Plus: Róisín tells Kathy about her new penfriend, Bunny. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.