RadNIW · Writing on Air: Radio and Northern Irish Writers, 1966–1986

Writing on Air: Radio and Northern Irish Writers, 1966–1986

This interdisciplinary project seeks to combine studies of media broadcasting, cultural history, collaboration, and literary analysis to consider the lives and works of recent Irish writers whose careers were closely tied to the BBC and RTE. In short, it seeks to address the significant – and significantly underappreciated – role radio broadcasting has played in the popular rise of Irish poetry over the last 60 years. The social importance of this project is multifaceted. The first factor is cultural heritage: it helps preserve an interest in archival broadcasting materials that many people are unaware exist. It also helps satisfy a public interest in the history of the BBC and RTE as broadcasting institutions. The second factor has to do with literary scholarship: there is great interest in the lives and works of writers such as Heaney, Longley, Boland, and Muldoon, and this research project shines new light on both their literary writing and the wider cultural and biographical context in which they were working. The third factor is intersectional: to explore the gender imbalances that seem to have existed within the these broadcasting institutions, and to shine light on exactly why it seems so many women writers were overlooked for radio broadcasting work during this period. The project has four overall objectives and associated research questions: O1) To show that radio has shaped Irish literary production since the 1960s. Why were Irish writers so attracted to the BBC and RTÉ, particularly in the early stages of their careers? Is there a cross-fertilization of forms between radio writing and poetry writing? O2) To bridge the gap between literary studies and radio scholarship. Why have scholars been so slow to account for radio in the development of modern Irish literature? What barriers to further study are presented by the radio archives themselves? How does writing for radio differ from print publication? When can we say one medium is shaping the other? O3) To document the interpersonal networks and collaborations between writers and producers affiliated with the BBC and RTÉ in the period. Did the very public collaboration of Irish writers on the radio lead to collaborations in other cultural projects? Did producers’ relationships and affiliations with certain writers directly affect their radio commissions? Was this a boy’s club? O4) To contribute towards media work that explores the historical relation between Anglophone writers and the radio. How does the BBC look on its own role in Irish cultural history? How can we promote public awareness of radio’s symbiotic relationship with modern Irish poetry?

Data: CORDIS, © European Union