What makes a place a home? Is it family? A location that becomes inextricably linked to significant life experiences? Walking streets that become so familiar that you can retrace them in your mind? Poet Gerald Dawe was born in Belfast in 1952 and remembers the city becoming a place of suspicion and violence in the early years of the Troubles. He taught at University College Galway for twenty years, before moving to Dublin where he taught at Trinity College Dublin for sixteen years, living in rooms in College before settling in Dun Laoghaire. In this programme, he reads a selection of the poetry and prose that he has written over the years about his experience of these different places that became home to him. Eleanor Shanley is a folk singer renowned for her interpretation of Irish and Roots songs. A former singer with De Danann, she has also recorded with The Dubliners, U2 and many more. Accompanied by guitarist Donogh Hennessy, she performs arrangements of songs connected with Northern Ireland (I’ll tell me ma, Carrickfergus), Galway (Galway to Graceland) and Dublin (Raglan Road), all interwoven with Gerald Dawe’s readings. Part performance, part meditation, Home Thoughts is a nostalgic and thoughtful exploration of the places that Dawe has called home.
Producer: Claire Cunningham
Sound supervision: Tinpot Productions
A Rockfinch Production (Ireland) for RTE lyric fm, funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland from the Television Licence Fee.
RTÉ lyric fm, Sunday 28th January, 6pm-7pm