The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast

This final episode of the podcast for the academic year features BA Arts graduate Dr Caleb O’Connor. After his degree in English and Psychology at then-WIT, he went on to do an MA in Gender, Sexuality and Culture at UCD. He then won a UCD Ad Astra scholarship to complete a PhD in queer ecology and a Fulbright Award to pursue his studies at NYU. As well as lecturing at UCD, he has published in...

Jen Bray’s first novel, The Lies Between Us, is set in the seaside village of Dunmore East in Co. Waterford, where a disappearance and a murder cause old wounds to be reopened and family secrets to be unveiled. This first novel has shot to the top of bestseller lists in Ireland and has now been sold to publishers in Germany, Poland and the United States. However, Jen also holds down a full-ti...

This episode of the podcast celebrates the launch of the new student-led literary magazine Glór. The first of its kind at SETU, the magazine features work by students from across disciplines and departments and spans art, poetry, fiction, reviews and interviews. The editorial team behind the magazine comprises a group of dedicated second year English students who have big plans for future issues a...

Natasha Everitt is a former student of Theatre Studies and English at SETU and since graduating, she has worked as a drama instructor, writer, actress and voiceover artist. Her upcoming show, Time Passes, will take place at Garter Lane Arts Centre in Waterford on 6th and 7th March. Directed by Deirdre Dwyer, the production focuses on a young woman whose mind starts to unravel to the point where sh...

In her collection of personal essays, This Interim Time, Oona Frawley details the ways in which we try to make sense of the world as our loved ones pass on. Her mother’s descent into dementia and the death of her beloved friend after a battle with cancer cause her to meditate on the loss of her father decades earlier in New York, where she grew up. Now a lecturer in Maynooth University, Dr Frawley...

Our most popular podcast episode of the year is back! On this year’s Christmas recommendations episode, Jenny is joined by Edward Hayden, course leader and lecturer in Culinary Arts (and well-known TV chef!), Dr Sinead O’Halloran, Head of the Department of Science and Dr Katherine Cagney, lecturer in Psychology on the BA Arts programme. They highlight a wonderful selection of books, events and fil...

In this episode of the podcast, Jenny catches up with Waterford actor Keith Dunphy to talk about his show Word against the word which explores his experience as a dyslexic actor at RADA and the ways in which he navigated the complex world of stage and screen auditions. He talks about the role of Shakespeare in igniting his love of language and how important it was for him to find his own (Waterfor...

This episode of the podcast tackles the issue of how we, as educators, might engage with GenAI in our classrooms and features Dr Michelle Kassorla, an Associate Professor of English at Georgia State University, Perimeter College. Michelle has served as a Chair and Expert Panel member for Educause, a non-profit association dedicated to transforming Higher Education through technology. She has co-wr...

This episode of the podcast features the writer Patrick Holloway, whose debut novel, “The Language of Remembering” was released earlier this year. The book tells two parallel stories: the first is set “Now” and details Oisín’s return from Brazil with his wife and daughter and his reconnection with his mother Brigid, who is suffering with early onset Alzheimer’s. The second, “Then” details Brigid’s...

In this first episode of the new season of The Nerve, we visit The Poetry Lounge, a regular event organised by Waterford poet Ger Duffy that features well known and new poets from around the country. Events are held in Waterford Gallery of Art and are free and open to members of the public. This episode features the poets Luke Morgan, John Noonan and D'Or Seifer and includes readings of their...

In this final episode of the podcast for this academic semester, we are joined by the poet Nidhi Zak/ Aria Eipe. Her first poetry collection, Auguries of a Minor God(2021), was selected as a Book of the Year by The Irish Times and The Irish Independent and was shortlisted for major poetry prizes such as the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Butler Literary Award. She is a Global Peace Ambassador with the...

In this episode of the podcast, we are joined by poet and essayist Gustav Parker Hibbett whose debut poetry collection, High Jump As Icarus Story was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize and the 2025 John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize. Nominated for numerous other prizes and published in a wide range of literary magazines, they hold a BA in English from Stanford University and are cu...

This episode of the podcast follows on from a visit by the author Jan Carson to Waterford as part of the Creative Ireland Shared Island initiative. This project is a collaboration between Mid and East Antrim Borough Councils and Waterford City and County Council who are aiming to develop and enhance a shared sense of community through various means, one of which is creativity and literature. Jan g...

In this episode, Jenny is joined by Dr Hazel Farrell and Dr Don O’Neill of the Sustainability in the Arts Festival to talk about winning the Strategic Alignment of Teaching and Learning Enhancement (SATLE) Impact Award and to offer an overview of this year’s festival, which will take place from 7th – 11th April. The SATLE Impact prize money of €25,000 will help to expand the work of the previous t...

This very special episode features members of the English and Theatre Studies teaching team at SETU who share their innovative approaches to teaching and research. In studio with Jenny are Dr Kate McCarthy, Dr Christa de Brún, Dr Úna Kealy, Dr Helena Walsh-Kiely and Deirdre Grant who each bring a variety of skills and to their roles. During the episode, we discuss approaches to teaching and learni...

Every year, we try to do an episode in which staff from various departments within SETU give us their recommendations for good Christmas reads and activities, and this year is no different! In this episode, Jenny is joined by Neill Wylie, a Learning Technologist from the Centre for Technology Enhanced Learning, Dr Caroline McGarry from the School of Education and Dr Felicity Kelliher, a Professor...

Recently featured in The Sunday Times’ Christmas gift guide, The World Between the Rain is a new children’s book by debut author Susan Cahill. A story that plays out themes of grief and resilience within a swirling, watery adventure set in another world, it has at its centre a quiet girl called Marina who can’t shake the feeling that there is magic in the air around her. Susan herself couldn’t qui...

In this episode of the podcast, Jenny chats to Dr Renée Hulan, a Professor of English Language and Literature at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax. She was the Craig Dobbin Visiting Professor in Canadian Studies at University College Dublin in 2020-2021 and has written several books that bring together her interests in climate fiction, Canadian heritage and indigenous communities. She has also ed...

In this episode of the podcast, Jenny speaks to Jim Nolan and Michael Power who have just finished their sold-out run of Jim’s new play Castel Gandolfo at Garter Lane Arts Centre in Waterford. The play revolves around a family whose long-buried secret threatens to unsettle the delicate balance they have established. The production also featured IFTA-nominated Carrie Crowley in the role of the retu...

This episode of the podcast is dedicated to first year students and how they can get the most out of this next chapter of their lives. For most, it is both an exciting and overwhelming time when students must learn how to navigate a new level of independence and cope with new academic, financial and social responsibilities. In studio are Conor Phelan, of SETU’s Student Life and Learning Office, Er...

This episode of the podcast features the collaborative team of lecturers and students who are working on the project “Diversifying the Curriculum”. The project is funded by N-TUTORR, and aims to decolonise and diversify the third-year English module, The Literature of Family. The team presented at the recent national N-TUTORR showcase in Dublin and aims to change the teaching, learning and assessm...

This is a very important and special episode of the podcast, in which Fadi Zmorrod, the recipient of the SEVN (South East Venue Network) bursary joins Jenny in studio to talk about his work with Doulab Circus and Dance. When Fadi was younger, he left the oppressive environment of occupied Palestine and went to study computing in the United States. Yet his heart was simply not in it: he was drawn b...

As policies on EDI are rolled out in higher education institutes, increased efforts are being made to diversify and decolonise a wide range of curricula across the sector. With thanks to SATLE funding (Strategic Alignment of Teaching and Learning Enhancement) from the National Forum, Dr Ebun Joseph joined us at SETU for two seminars (one with students and another with staff) on understanding racia...

This episode sees us welcome our very first spoken word poet to the podcast! Caoimhe Weakliam joined us to chat about the power of spoken word poetry after a talk with English students that was funded by the Strategic Alignment for Teaching and Learning Enhancement initiative from the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. In the past year, Caoimhe has per...

This first episode of 2024 for The Nerve features Daniel Mulhall, former Irish ambassador to the United Kingdom and the United States, who recently received an honorary doctorate from SETU. Born and raised in Waterford, Daniel’s diplomacy work has taken him all over the world, and in the podcast, he highlights how literature has played an important role in his job. He also discusses the process of...