Olivia O’Leary’s guest is Paula Meehan, former Ireland Professor of Poetry, who has published seven collections and won numerous awards.
Paula’s selected poems, As If By Magic (Dedalus Press), is the Book Club choice for the 2021 Bealtaine Festival, the first time a book of poetry has been chosen.
Paula talks about creativity and childhood and shares warm memories of her family and the community where she grew up in inner city Dublin. She also reads a selection of poems, including an extract from her poem The Pattern, which is a favourite with many of her readers.
Members of the Bealtaine Writing Group have been writing their own poetry in response to Paula’s work and we also hear some of them on the programme, with contributions from Marguerite Colgan, Glenda Cimmino and Peter Clarke.