This week’s guest is Irish writer Séamas O’Reilly, who has recently published his bestselling memoir, Did Ye Hear Mammy Died?
Séamas is one of 11 children, and his mother died when he was five. He talks about the process of writing about and remembering his mother’s death, and he explains his belief that “memory is treacherous.”
We also discuss the hero of the book, his Dad, and the Catholicism that surrounded him as he grew up in Derry, which included a travelling priest blessing the family caravan.
We do discuss sport, specifically Steve Bruce, given Séamas is an expert in his bewildering series of murder mystery novels. We talk about those bizarre books, and how and why they came about.
Plus: what sport will look like in 17776, how Alan Shearer was the Oscar Wilde of the Newcastle dressing room, and find out whether Noam Chomsky believes dogs’ barking should be considered a separate language.
Séamas’ picks were:
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