“The Seven Ages – Like it or Not” by We Honest Troubadours. Devised by: Berni Dwan. Directed by: Alan O’Brien + Berni Dwan. Written + Performed by: Berni Dwan, Jimmy O’Connell + Michael J Whelan. Narration + Singing by: Alan O’Brien. Jacques’ speech, The Seven Ages of Man in Shakespeare’s As You Like It describes the journey from birth to death. We signpost it with new poetry and old song. It happened on Saturday February 22nd at 9.30 pm in Smock Alley Theatre.

The ever-generous Adrianne Murphy at Near FM 90.3 interviews me about my experience with the station here

​​The lovely & patient John Healy at Near FM 90.3 interviews me about The Seven Ages; Like It Or Not in Smock Alley staged on Saturday February 22 at 9.30. Listen here.  

Listen to a live recording of The Seven Ages; Like It Or Not as it happened in Smock Alley on February 22nd.
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Podcasts to all 26 episodes of The A to Z of Historical Blunders are available on Near FM 90.3. See links below.

​The first online Takin the Mic at the Irish Writers Centre happened on April 20th. Special guest author was Alan McMonagle, reading from his brilliant novels Ithaca and Laura Cassidy's Walk of Fame. Yours truly was MC. You can watch it here.


​Check out my love affair with the 'coming of age' genre in the Irish Examiner 
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Click here to hear my Near FM Podcast Series - Oldfilibuster's Rhyme and Reason 
 
​​Promo for Dublin Festival of History Library Series with Near FM

The following Near FM productions were recorded in local libraries as part of the Dublin Festival of History. They were made with the support of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the television licence fee.

Jews and Protestants in Dublin - Recorded in Ballymun Library

The Border and the Democratic Programme - Recorded in Donaghmede Library

Women in Dublin during the Tan War

Me in freefall on Northside Today about Junior Cert History 

Podcasts of first series of A to Z of Historical Blunders are here:

Series 1

Agincourt to Passchendaele

Bourgeoise; don't mess with them

Ciphers; there are no certainties in them

Dueling; not a good idea if you are a genius

​​​Egotism is egregious if you use it get elected

A police force that scores an F  

Gallileo, green eggs and ‘German’ science  

World peace yet again threatened by hubris  

Restless Vikings and Normans; ignore them at your peril

Jumping the Gun

Applying the Karenina principle to Ireland’s fight for freedom

Series 2

​Language and literature make history, for better or for worse

Medieval mindset is the mother of all misogyny

Neo-liberalism, non-interference and laissez-faire in the Great Irish Famine

The O's have it

Plantations and Penal Laws leave a shadowy legacy

The Questionable Majesty of Queenship

Revolting Media

Series 3

The inseperability of sugar and slavery

The only two certainties in life; taxes and death

The unsustainability of unaccountability in the Catholic Church in Ireland

The vagaries of voting

The workhouse – an unworkable solution to Irish poverty

Xenophobia; it just won’t go away

Can you separate a work of literature from the political beliefs of the author?

Zero tolerance of printed matter that makes you think

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Had fun chairing session - Commissioning Editors: What they want in a pitch, at NUJ Dublin Freelance Forum Spring 2019. From left to right: Me, Mark Hennessy, News Editor, Irish Times. Elaine Prendeville, Editor, Sunday Business Post Magazine. Roisin Ingle, Deputy Features Editor, Irish Times. Mark, Elaine and Roisin gave very generous and valuable advice. Photo by Gerard Cunningham - faduda.ie

Delighted to attend a session delivered by former US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, in Women for Election headquarters in Dublin on November 7th. She is indeed an intellectual powerhouse.

Refurbished Kevin Street Library. What a great place to launch a first poetry collection in September 2018.

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