Hiberno Goethe Goethe-Institut

Join us for the final episode of Hiberno Goethe with guest Dorothee Meyer-Holtkamp, the series producer and outreach coordinator of Near Media Co-op.

Host Ciarán chats with Dorothee about her growing up in a small town in north Germany and her roundabout journey that led her to Ireland in the late 1990s via Scotland and France. They reminisce about the series remembering guests that featured on the podcast and of course talk about some cultural similarities, differences and culinary specialities.

Ciaran chats to writer and publisher Elizabeth McSkeane about her Glaswegian upbringing, with pictures of the JFK, visits to Glasgow Celtic and St. Patrick's Day traditions. We hear Liz reading works by the Irish poet living in Germany, Jo Burns, from her latest collection of poetry Brink.

Liz has a passion for languages and different cultures. Feeling European, Irish and Scottish, it’s a wonderful benefit to be so mobile in Europe as if it is one country. We hear about Samuel Beckett's time in Germany in the 1930’s and the inspiration behind his most famous work Waiting for Godot. Liz tells us about her publishing company Turas Press and we get an insight into the running of a small publishing house.

This episode features multi-disciplinary artist Vera Klute. Growing up in a small village close to Dortmund in North Rhine Westphalia, Vera gives an insight to some of the area's traditions like the three day parading at the yearly Schützenfest and having antlers or stuffed ducks hanging on the walls of your home. For Vera you don’t need a degree to appreciate art, to decide whether you like something or not people should just go with their instinct. In the two person exhibition The Loneliness of Being German, Vera together with Thomas Brezig interrogates the issue of identity. Vera is part of the Women on Walls project, commissioned to create a bust of Dr Rosalind Franklin for the Long Room in Trinity College Dublin’s old library. She is the proud artist of the iconic Luke Kelly Statue at the Docklands in Dublin 1, an associate member of the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts, enjoys the flatness of Tudor portraits and is dying to go back to Rome to enjoy the city's marble statues and fountains. Vera’s signature dish is the Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte with cherries from Super Value. She spent 20 years in Dublin and is now home in County Kilkenny where she lives with her family.

On this month's Hiberno Goethe, Ciarán talks to physicist Stefan Hutzler. Stefan dressed up in traditional Bavarian costume at the 2015 Ireland Germany game with his sons, and didn't cheer when Ireland scored. Look out for the boys in red and white SSV Jahn Regensburg jerseys playing football in Dublin parks.

Stefan talks about Kepler and Oppenheimer, and the physics behind the Beijing Olympic Swimming Pool based on the ‘Weir Phelan structure’ made from TCD designed bubbles. We also learn how the Guinness head lasts longer than the Weissbier head because of the stability of the bubbles.

Stefan is a keen musician and has played in the Baggot Inn, he recites a couple of his songs for us, including one in 3 different languages. Stefan talks about the Beatles singing in German, and Kraftwerk singing in German and English. We hear how physics is connected to music and about how Einstein played the violin.

On this month's edition Ciaran is joined by actor, director and award winning writer for stage and screen, Stefanie Preissner. Stefanie was born in Germany but moved to Ireland as a child, and grew up in County Cork.

Stefanie chats with Ciaran about feeling German, reminisces about the scharfes S β and gets quite possessive about Ritter Sport Schokolade.

Stefanie was diagnosed with autism as an adult and she explains why girls and women are harder to diagnose. She chats about visiting Germany and how the German way of life makes her feel comfortable.

The Irish relationship with alcohol comes under scrutiny and Stefanie explains how she explores this relationship in her hit TV show Can't Cope, Won't Cope.

Stefanie talks about the differences between writing for TV and stage, and tells us some of her experiences in German theatres, including durational theatre. Check out her podcast Basically which seeks to explain complex things in a simple way!

Christoph chats with Ciarán about his journey to becoming a zoo director, from his early childhood interest in animals, his experiences while in Madagascar studying lemur monkeys and his time spent at Bristol Zoo.

They take a stroll through Dublin Zoo, discuss the difference between former east and west German zoos and how zoos have changed over the centuries, moving towards conservation organizations and trying to have a positive influence on animal welfare in the wild.

We hear about lemur monkeys, the topic of Christoph's Phd, gibbons, elephants, sea lions and that zoos today also are campaigners on sustainability with a positive impact on society through education and consumer power.

The main culinary delight from Germany Christoph misses is Bergische Waffeln. Christoph is a self confessed zoo nerd and he gives a fascinating insight into how these institutions care for animals on a day to day basis and how zoos can be catalysts for positive change in the future.