Mind Your Language: Having a Word with Ourselves

Pre-recorded event, brought to you from the grounds of the world-renowned Ashford Castle.

We’re grand talkers in Ireland, and not many of us would consider ourselves Gaeilgeoirs – but language doesn’t develop in a vacuum; our unique blend of Hiberno-English, from ‘We do be giving out’ to ‘You’ve it ruined’ draws heavily from Irish sounds, syntax, rhythms and vocabulary.

Writers Lisa McInerney, Manchán Magan and Darach Ó’Séaghdha come together to discuss the connections between Ireland’s two languages, the many dialects that have sprung from this deep well and the writing that has emerged under this influence over centuries of use.

Manchán Magan is a regular contributor to The Irish Times and presents ‘The Almanac of Ireland’ on RTÉ Radio 1, as well as dozens of documentaries on issues of world culture for TG4, RTÉ & Travel Channel. His book, Thirty-Two Words For Field, explores the insights the Irish language offers into the landscape, psyche and heritage of Ireland. 

Lisa McInerney’s work has featured in Winter Papers, The Stinging Fly, The Guardian and Granta. Her debut novel The Glorious Heresies was published in 2015 and went on to win the 2016 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and the 2016 Desmond Elliott Prize. The Blood Miracles, was published in 2017 and the third book in the trilogy, The Rules of Revelation, will be released in May 2021.

Darach Ó’Séaghdha is the host of the popular Irish language podcast, Motherfoclóir, and is the curator of the Twitter account @theirishfor. He is the author of two books, Motherfoclóir and most recently, Craic Baby, which explores the very new and very old parts of the Irish language from a personal perspective.

This is a pre-recorded event. It will not have a Q&A.

Access options: This event will have closed captions.