Southword Poetry Podcast
The Southword Poetry Podcast is produced by the Munster Literature Centre. Each episode, a guest poet talks in depth about their latest work and shares a few of their poems. We also hear a poem from a recent issue of the literary journal Southword. Sarah Byrne hosted the 2022 season. Clíona Ní Ríordáin hosted the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Poets were selected by the hosts, Patrick Cotter and James O’Leary. The Munster Literature Centre is a grateful recipient of funding from the Arts Council of Ireland and the Arts Office of Cork City Council.
Southword Poetry Podcast
Aifric Mac Aodha: Old Friends
(00:00) – Clíona Ní Ríordáin and Patrick Cotter discussion
(03:04) – Aifric Mac Aodha interview
(42:06) – Southword poem, Mermaid Archipelago by Patrick Chapman
Aifric Mac Aodha was born in 1979. Her first collection, Gabháil Syrinx, was published in 2010. She has taught in St Petersburg, New York and Canada and has lectured in old and modern Irish at UCD. She lives in Dublin where she works for the Irish-language publisher, An Gúm. She was the winner of the Oireachtas Prize for Poetry (2017) and was Irish-Language Writer-in-Residence at Dublin City University (DCU) in 2023. She has published two bilingual collections with The Gallery Press and Aifric’s Irish-language poems are translated into English by David Wheatley. Foreign News was published in 2017 and her new collection Old Friends in 2024.
This week's Southword poem is 'Mermaid Archipelago' by Patrick Chapman, which appears in issue 46. You can buy single issues, subscribe, or find out how to submit to Southword here.
