The Nerve: An English and Arts Podcast

Jenny O'Connor
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The Nerve is a podcast produced by the English department at South East Technological University (Waterford, Ireland). Each episode brings together staff and students to discuss a range of topics, including English literature, cultural events and critical theory. Hosted by Dr. Jenny O'Connor.

  1. Ep. 84: Author and lecturer Dr Oona Frawley

    27 JAN

    Ep. 84: Author and lecturer Dr Oona Frawley

    In her collection of personal essays, This Interim Time, Oona Frawley details the ways in which we try to make sense of the world as our loved ones pass on. Her mother’s descent into dementia and the death of her beloved friend after a battle with cancer cause her to meditate on the loss of her father decades earlier in New York, where she grew up. Now a lecturer in Maynooth University, Dr Frawley’s research interests span late-19th and 20th century Irish Studies, Memory and Trauma Studies, ecocriticism, and writing from New Zealand and Australia, and she teaches on the Creative Writing programme alongside Paul Lynch (Prophet Song) and Belinda McKeon (Tender). Her novel, Flight, was published in 2014 and was nominated for an Irish Book Award. In this first episode of the podcast for 2026, Oona talks about her connection with America and with Ireland, the impact of having actor parents and what it’s like to be vulnerable in your writing when you are also a lecturer standing in front of 400 students.

    29 min
  2. Ep. 83: Christmas recommendations 2025

    11/12/2025

    Ep. 83: Christmas recommendations 2025

    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 Year, and thanks for listening in 2025! Featured books/films: All my sons by Arthur Miller Through her eyes: A new history of Ireland in 21 women by Clodagh Finn Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa The Raptures and The Fire Starters by Jan Carson Deaf, directed by Eva Libertad (Spanish, 2025)

    56 min
  3. Ep. 82: Dyslexia and finding a love of language through Shakespeare, with actor Keith Dunphy

    21/11/2025

    Ep. 82: Dyslexia and finding a love of language through Shakespeare, with actor Keith Dunphy

    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 Keith’s production to the syllabus for the second year module Literature and Society, and student Katy Fitzgerald, who discusses how important it is to have texts like this on the curriculum, and promotes the new student literary magazine Glór, of which she is an editorial board member.

    37 min
  4. Ep. 81: Practical approaches to GenAI in education with Dr Michelle Kassorla

    03/11/2025

    Ep. 81: Practical approaches to GenAI in education with Dr Michelle Kassorla

    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 value of teaching with GenAI. She also writes the substack “The Academic Platypus,” where she advocates strongly for educators to embrace AI in the classroom. In the episode, she outlines practical approaches to teaching with AI, ways of rethinking Bloom’s taxonomy and assessment, the value of human empathy and creativity, and the huge impact that AI agents are likely to have in the coming months. Further Reading: Understanding Inverted Bloom's Taxonomy - https://michellekassorla.substack.com/p/understanding-inverted-blooms The Academic Platypus - https://michellekassorla.substack.com Boodle Box AI - https://boodlebox.ai

    53 min
  5. Ep.80: Language, home and fitting in, with Patrick Holloway

    20/10/2025

    Ep.80: Language, home and fitting in, with Patrick Holloway

    This episode of the podcast features the writer Patrick Holloway, whose debut novel, “The Language of Remembering” was released earlier this year. The book tells two parallel stories: the first is set “Now” and details Oisín’s return from Brazil with his wife and daughter and his reconnection with his mother Brigid, who is suffering with early onset Alzheimer’s. The second, “Then” details Brigid’s early life in the same small town, as she deals with an unexpected pregnancy.  Patrick himself lived in Brazil and pursued a Masters and PhD in Creative Writing and he has produced poems and short stories that have also explored themes of language, belonging and grief.

    32 min
  6. Ep. 79: The Poetry Lounge

    11/10/2025

    Ep. 79: The Poetry Lounge

    In this first episode of the new season of The Nerve, we visit The Poetry Lounge, a regular event organised by Waterford poet Ger Duffy that features well known and new poets from around the country. Events are held in Waterford Gallery of Art and are free and open to members of the public. This episode features the poets Luke Morgan, John Noonan and D'Or Seifer and includes readings of their work recorded at the event by Aidan Grant.

    53 min
  7. Ep. 78: Poet, pacifist and fabulist Nidhi Zak/ Aria Eipe

    08/04/2025

    Ep. 78: Poet, pacifist and fabulist Nidhi Zak/ Aria Eipe

    In this final episode of the podcast for this academic semester, we are joined by the poet Nidhi Zak/ Aria Eipe. Her first poetry collection, Auguries of a Minor God(2021), was selected as a Book of the Year by The Irish Times and The Irish Independent and was shortlisted for major poetry prizes such as the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Butler Literary Award. She is a Global Peace Ambassador with the Institute for Economics and Peace, and a recipient of the Next Generation Artist Award in Literature from the Arts Council of Ireland. Born in India, Nidhi has lived across The Middle East, Europe and North America, an upbringing that has informed the variety of styles and forms that she works within. During the episode, she discusses a workshop on ekphrastic poetry that she ran at SETU Waterford thanks to funding from the Strategic Alignment for Teaching and Learning Enhancement (SATLE) from the National Forum. The session used ekphrastic poetry as a way of asking participants to reconsider their perspectives on the world around them, and Nidhi discusses the role of her own poetry in asking questions (rather than offering answers) in times of personal, social and political upheaval.

    40 min
  8. Ep 77: Poet Gustav Parker Hibbett, and final year English students

    25/03/2025

    Ep 77: Poet Gustav Parker Hibbett, and final year English students

    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 Research Fellow at the Long Room Hub. Parker gave a talk on their poetry at SETU in March and was interviewed by two final year English students, Chika Dike and Naoise Murphy, who also join the discussion in studio along with Dr Christa de Brún who organised the event.   This event was made possible through funding from the National Forum’s Strategic Alignment of Teaching Learning Enhancement.

    1h 1m
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Ratings & Reviews

5
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4 Ratings

About

The Nerve is a podcast produced by the English department at South East Technological University (Waterford, Ireland). Each episode brings together staff and students to discuss a range of topics, including English literature, cultural events and critical theory. Hosted by Dr. Jenny O'Connor.

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