The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast

34:05

Ep. 87: Author and journalist Jen Bray

The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast ·

2026/04/14

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-time job as Political Editor ofThe Sunday Timesand was formerly a political journalist withThe Irish Times. In

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00:44:34

Ep. 86: Student literary magazine Glor

The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast ·

2026/03/09

This episode of the podcast celebrates the first issue of the new student-led literary magazine Glor. The first of its kind at SETU, the magazine features work by students from across disciplines and departments that spans art, poetry, fiction, reviews and interviews. The editorial team behind the magazine is comprised of a team of dedicated second year English students who have big plans for future issues and talk about the realities of balancing college work, part-time jobs and editing

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00:29:07

Ep. 85: Theatre-makers Natasha Everitt and Deirdre Dwyer

The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast ·

2026/02/23

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 she dreams of becoming a lawnmower. In studio, they discuss the process of developing and producing a

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00:55:32

Ep. 83: Christmas recommendations 2025

The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast ·

2025/12/11

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 films for you to enjoy over the festive season. We wish our listeners a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New

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00:36:49

Ep. 82: Dyslexia and finding a love of language...

The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast ·

2025/11/21

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 (Waterford) voice within a world of received pronunciation! Also in studio are Dr Christa de Brún, who added

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00:53:29

Ep. 81: Practical approaches to GenAI in education...

The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast ·

2025/11/03

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-written the AI Literacy in Teaching and Learning framework for Educause and has published elsewhere on the

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01:01:07

Ep 77: Poet Gustav Parker Hibbett, and final year...

The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast ·

2025/03/25

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 currently pursuing a PhD in Literary Practice at Trinity College Dublin, where they are an Early Career

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00:47:31

Ep. 76: Jan Carson and Northern Irish identity

The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast ·

2025/03/03

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 gave a talk at SETU, entitled, “Untangling the Knots of Northern Identity” which explored her identity as

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00:30:24

Ep. 75: Sustainability in the Arts Festival

The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast ·

2025/02/11

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 two festivals which involved multidisciplinary collaborations between undergraduate and postgraduate

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00:47:25

Ep. 74: Meet the English and Theatre Studies...

The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast ·

2025/01/21

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 learning, the team’s ongoing research and creative work, and what we love about our jobs and our

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00:45:11

Ep. 72: From academia to children’s literature: Susan...

The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast ·

2024/11/27

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 quite shake this story that rattled around in her head as she became more and more successful in the world

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00:42:00

Ep. 71: “Cli-fi” (Climate fiction) with Renée Hulan

The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast ·

2024/11/11

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 edited collections on these themes and recently gave a fascinating online lecture at South East

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00:34:57

Ep. 69: What every first year needs to know

The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast ·

2024/09/23

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, Erin McNamara-Cullen, the course leader for the BA Arts programme at SETU and Corey Shanahan, the new

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00:35:03

Ep.68: Diversifying the Curriculum

The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast ·

2024/04/24

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 assessment focus of the module. Also in studio is the SETU N-TUTORR co-ordinator for Student Empowerment,

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00:39:30

Ep. 65: Caoimhe Weakliam, spoken word poet

The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast ·

2024/02/26

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 performed as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival and Culture Night and has delivered two sets at Electric

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00:41:02

Ep. 64: Daniel Mulhall, Joyce and Yeats scholar and...

The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast ·

2024/02/02

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 writing a book on Ulysses during the pandemic, his various academic roles at NYU, Cambridge and

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00:41:59

Ep 63: Christmas book and event recommendations

The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast ·

2023/12/04

Ho, ho, ho, and happy Christmas! In this festive episode of the podcast, Jenny is joined by Aoife Hearne, dietician and lecturer in the Department of Health Sciences (and previous contributor to TV’s Operation Transformation), Dr John McNamara who lectures in Social Care, Social Science, and Sociology in the Departments of Social Care and Early Childhood, and the Department of Arts, and Dr David Scanlon, lecturer in Biology & Biopharmaceutical Science. Their Christmas recommendations range from

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00:44:28

Ep. 62: Alexander MacLeod

The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast ·

2023/11/16

Joining Dr Jenny O’Connor in studio for this episode is the award-winning Canadian author Alexander MacLeod. A Professor of Creative Writing at St Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Alexander has been published in the prestigious New Yorker and Granta magazines and has won the Atlantic Book Award, the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award and the O.Henry Award. His first collection Light Lifting was published in 2010 and his latest, Animal Person, was released in 2022. Both

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00:35:49

Ep 61: Orwell scholar Martin Tyrrell

The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast ·

2023/10/26

This episode of the podcast features a discussion with the facilitator of this semester’s English and Theatre Studies Day, Martin Tyrrell. Martin is the author of the forthcoming George Orwell: from Class War to Cold War and a contributing editor for the academic journal George Orwell Studies. His highly entertaining lecture on Animal Farm, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Orwell’s essays offered context and commentary on the social, political and personal influences in George Orwell’s work. After the

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00:40:41

Ep 60: Shakespeare Squared

The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast ·

2023/10/12

In this episode, members of Waterford’s newest theatrical company, Shakespeare Squared, join Jenny in the studio to talk about the genesis of the organisation and their recent production of Twelfth Night, an open air promenade piece that used the backdrop of Waterford’s Viking Triangle to bring their interpretation to life. Along with theatre professional Eimear Cheasty, co-directors Joe Meagher and Deirdre Dwyer won the maximum available funding from the Arts Council’s Theatre Project Awards 2023

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