Rita Ann Higgins on Irish TV & Radio
Photo credit: Andrew Downes
Galway poet Rita Ann Higgins published her eleventh collection Tongulish with Bloodaxe in 2016. Her other books of poetry and prose includes Sunny Side Plucked (Poetry Book Society Recommendation) (1996), An Awful Racket (2001), Throw in the Vowels: New & Selected Poems (2005) and Ireland Is Changing Mother (2011) from Bloodaxe, and Hurting God: Prose & Poems (2010) and Our Killer City: isms, chisms, chasms and chisms: essays and poems (2018) from Salmon. An up-dated retrospective, Jiving with Wasps: New & Selected Poems, will be published by Bloodaxe in March 2026.
RTÉ RADIO INTERVIEWS WITH RITA ANN HIGGINS
Arena, RTÉ Radio 1, Tuesday 28 October 2025, 7-8pm
Poet Rita Ann Higgins was Rick O’Shea’s guest on Arena on 28 October 2025 ahead of an event at Dublin Book Festival on 6 November. She joined Rick down the line from Galway.
Rita Ann read and introduced her poems ‘I Liked My Father at Halloween’ and ‘All Souls’ Day’ from her collection The Long Weekend (Gill, 2024). Both of these poems will be included in her forthcoming up-dated retrospective Jiving with Wasps: New & Selected Poems. Later on in the programme she read two new poems ‘Renvyle Swim’ and ‘MRI’, both of which will be included in Jiving with Wasps, and spoke about the process of choosing poems for the book with her Bloodaxe editor Neil Astley.
Rita Ann also spoke about a TV series she is working on. Details are still under wraps, but it’s a dark comedy with an undisclosed number of half-hour episodes.
‘Poet and playwright Rita Ann Higgins discusses Ní chuireann sí fiacail ann | She tells it straight, a bilingual reading and conversation with Laureate for Irish Fiction Éilís Ní Dhuibhn at this year’s Dublin Book Festival.’
This 15-minute interview with Rita Ann Higgins is available as a podcast here.
Brendan O’Connor, RTÉ Radio 1, Saturday 12 July 2025, 11am-3pm
Rita Ann Higgins was a guest on the Brendan O’Connor show on 12 July 2025. She was discussing AI with host Brendan O’Connor and fellow guest Mark Little. Rita Ann was asked to read two poems – one of her own poems, and one created by AI in the style of Rita Ann Higgins. Listeners were asked to vote on which poem was the real one.
The real poem was ‘The Party’ from her 2016 collection Tongulish and will also be published in Rita Ann’s forthcoming retrospective Jiving with Wasps: New & Selected Poems in March 2026.
‘Rita Ann Higgins, and entrepreneur & journalist, Mark Little. We asked ChatGPT to “write a poem in the style of Rita Ann Higgins.” We then asked Rita Ann Higgins to read it on air, alongside one of her REAL poems. Finally, we asked Mark and the listeners to guess which was the ‘real’ poem.’
The full half-hour feature is available as a podcast.
https://www.rte.ie/radio/podcasts/22527462-can-artificial-intelligence-write-better-poetry-th/
Arena, RTÉ Radio 1, Tuesday 5 March 2024, 7-8pm
Ahead of a special event in Galway celebrating her life and work, Rita Ann Higgins spoke to Seán Rocks on RTE Radio 1's Arena on 5 March 2024.
She read her poems 'Goddess on the Mervue Bus' and 'Old Soldier' from her 2005 retrospective Throw in the Vowels: New & Selected Poems, among others.
Listen here.
Rita Ann Higgins wrote about 'learning to accept praise' for RTÉ Culture online ahead of this event. The page also includes a video of Rita reading ten poems. Read the piece here.
A recording of the event is available on Vimeo here.
Sunday Miscellany, RTÉ One, Sunday 7 August 2022, 9.10-10am
Galway poet Rita Ann Higgins read two new poems on Sunday Miscellany on 7 August 2022. One of them was a tribute to fellow Bloodaxe Irish poet, the late Matthew Sweeney. ‘King Crab’ will be included in Rita Ann Higgins’ forthcoming up-dated retrospective – out from Bloodaxe in March 2026.
‘King Crab’: a tribute to the late Matthew Sweeney
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22129774/
‘My Mother Loved Me in Red’ closed the show.
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22129781/
Arena, RTÉ Radio 1, Monday 23 May 2016, 7-8pm
Rita Ann Higgins was interviewed live from Galway on RTE Radio 1’s week-nightly arts show Arena on 23 May 2016. She read and spoke about three long poems: ‘The Carer’, ‘Flight’ and ‘The Search’ from her new collection Tongulish.
Click here to listen to the interview (archived in chapters)
Arena, RTÉ Radio 1, Thursday 26 May 2016, 7-8pm
Arena recorded Rita Ann Higgins reading some of her poems from her new collection Tongulish. She read three poems when she was interviewed on the programme on 23 May, and the rest will be aired over the next few weeks. On 26 May Arena broadcast Rita Ann reading her poem ‘Sinner’.
Click here to listen to Rita Ann Higgins reading ‘Sinner’
The Poetry Programme, RTÉ Radio 1, Saturday 9 April 2016, 7-8pm
An interview with Galway-based poet Rita Ann Higgins ran on The Poetry Programme of 9 April. She was speaking about her new collection Tongulish. Rita Ann started by explaining the meaning of ‘Tongulish’ – her conflation of the words tongue and ghoulish. She read and talked about her poems ‘Costa Del Dento’, about institutional abuse, ‘Shades of Truth’ and ‘I’ll Give Good Plinth’.
‘Rita Higgins is one of Ireland’s best loved contemporary poets, beloved of readers and audiences ever since she published her first collection, ‘Goddess on The Mervue Bus’, with the pioneers of Salmon Poetry way back in 1986. She joins Rick to talk about her new collection,’Tongulish’, published by Bloodaxe.’
Click here to listen to the programme (1st item)
TV INTERVIEWS WITH RITA ANN HIGGINS
Rita Ann Higgins has been a guest on RTÉ One's The Late Late Show on several occasions, most recently on 3 March 2017, when she read her new poem 'They Trespass Against Us'.
The Late Late Show, RTÉ One, Friday 15 April 2016, 9.30pm
Rita Ann Higgins was interviewed on The Late Late Show on 15 April. She talked to Ryan Tubridy about her new book of poems Tongulish, which she was about to launch at The Cúírt International Literature Festival on 23 April.
Rita Ann's slot was 1.16–1.33mins. Videos available in chapters on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a9KcO-KOnc
[07 March 2024]
