This Saturday 16 January, two of RTÉ Radio 1’s arts programmes return to the national radio station.
The Book Show will air for half an hour at 7pm with Sinead Gleeson, followed by Rick O’Shea with The Poetry Programme at 7.30pm.
Now in its third season, episode one of The Book Show will feature a show length profile interview with writer, Julian Barnes from The Sense of an Ending, Metroland, Arthur & George.
Sinead Gleeson gets an insight into the writer’s life during a visit to Julian Barnes’ London home where they discuss his new novel on the composer Dmitiri Shostakovich, The Noise of Time.
And in the first programme of a new series of The Poetry Programme, Sarah Clancy tells Rick O’Shea about powerful poems which have become popular through being shared on social media as poets have responded to issues such as the migrant crisis, racism and terrorism.
Also in episode one, Donegal-born poet Matthew Sweeney talks about his new collection, Inquisition Lane.
His poems have been described by Ruth Padel as “existential Kafkaesque parables, tragi-comic, compassionate, surreal, dryly wistful, irrepressibly curious, lonely as Giacometti sculptures, full of sinister images.”
The Poetry Programme is a Rockfinch production for RTÉ Radio 1. Season 2, Episode 1 of The Poetry Programme is on RTÉ Radio 1 this Saturday at 7.30pm.