Best Pádraig Ó Tuama Podcasts (2025)

1
Episode 89: Pádraig Ó Tuama, excerpts from Kitchen Hymns 54:50

20d ago54:50

54:50

This episode was recorded on March 2, 2025 at the Phillis Wheatley Heritage Center in St. Louis., Missouri. In this conversation, Pádraig Ó Tuama reads several poems from Kitchen Hymns (Copper Canyon Press, 2024), his newest collection. We discuss subversive speech, belief and doubt, lyrical poetry, the psychology of poetic forms, and the power of …

1
Episode 36b: Pádraig Ó Tuama: In the Shelter of Each Other & Saying Hello to the Questions (Rebroadcast) 31:42

21d ago31:42

31:42

This is a rebroadcast of episodes 6 & 7 from October 19, 2022. What power does poetry have to help us navigate the challenges of life? How do we approach art and how does it approach us? Join our guest host Diane Sims for a journey through these questions, and many others, with Pádraig Ó Tuama in an episode so big, we had to split it into two. In P…

1
Episode 91: Joanne Diaz, Two Emergencies 24:40

41m ago24:40

24:40

In this episode, Katy Didden and Abram Van Engen discuss the extraordinary leaps, narrative disjunctions, and temporal frames that fill Diaz's extraordinary ekphrastic poem, a reflection on Bruegel's painting, "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" written in conversation with W.H. Auden's poem "Musée des Beaux Arts." "Two Emergencies," appears in My …

1
Melinda Gates: That Clearing in Between 38:58

4d ago38:58

38:58

There are seasons when everything feels a bit undone. A marriage ends. A child grows up. A job shifts. And suddenly, we’re no longer who we were…and not yet who we’ll become. Melinda French Gates has lived through some of life’s biggest transitions. In this conversation, she reflects on what it means to stay open when life is changing—quietly or al…

1
Episode 90: N. Scott Momaday, The Delight Song of Tsoai-talee 20:23

7d ago20:23

20:23

This episode explores the incantation and mystic union of Momaday's famous delight poem, ending with a recorded recitation in his own rich voice. We explain anaphora and explore its power, and we trace the links and connections from one thought to the next throughout the poem. Special thanks to Universty of California Television (UCTV) for permissi…

1
Sarah Bessey: Faith That Survives 45:02

9d ago45:02

45:02

What happens when the faith that once held you starts to unravel? When the certainty you clung to turns to dust? Sarah Bessey knows what it’s like to watch faith fall apart—and somehow find something more honest, more spacious, more real on the other side. In this Holy Week conversation, Kate and Sarah talk about what it means to sit in the wildern…

1
Pod 301 - Going Strong Pt 2 33:10

11d ago33:10

33:10

To mark getting over 300 podcasts, here are three wonderful stories from the archives: Caroline Orr knows when a date is going nowhere; Brian Ammons falls in love for the first time but it goes nowhere; Louise Nealon meets 007 & it goes somewhere. Paul is your host.By Tenx9

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Simone Gorrindo: The Cost of Love and Duty 38:09

19d ago38:09

38:09

What happens when the person you love is called to something that takes them away? Again and again and again. Journalist Simone Gorrindo never expected to become a military wife. Raised in a liberal anti-war family, she had her whole life mapped out–until she fell in love. And love, as it turns out, isn’t just about saying yes. Sometimes it asks fo…

1
Pod 300 - Going Strong 36:25

19d ago36:25

36:25

To celebrate Podcast 300, we’ve taken a deep dive into the tenx9 archive to 2017: Richard O’Leary makes two pilgrimages to Knock; Helen Killick was always too young for life; Pádraig Ó Tuama gets flustered by familial love. Paul is your host.By Tenx9

1
Episode 36a: Pádraig Ó Tuama: In the Shelter of Each Other & Saying Hello to the Questions (Rebroadcast) 40:53

21d ago40:53

40:53

This is a rebroadcast of episodes 6 & 7 from October 19, 2022. What power does poetry have to help us navigate the challenges of life? How do we approach art and how does it approach us? Join our guest host Diane Sims for a journey through these questions, and many others, with Pádraig Ó Tuama in an episode so big, we had to split it into two. In P…

1
Jeff Chu: Good Soil 38:22

26d ago38:22

38:22

What happens when a journalist-turned-seminarian finds God in a pile of rotting vegetables? You get Jeff Chu—writer, pastor, and accidental theologian of compost. In this tender and funny conversation, Jeff and Kate talk about what it means to be changed—by grief, by love, by the kind of calling that makes zero practical sense. They talk about comp…

1
Pádraig Ó Tuama: In the Name of Belonging 48:26

1M ago48:26

48:26

What does it mean to live alongside people you don’t agree with? And love them anyway? Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet, theologian, and conflict mediator from Ireland, where belonging has always been complicated and peace is fragile at best. In this conversation, Kate and Pádraig explore what it takes to live together in the midst of disagreement—the bea…

1
Pod 299 - Class 33:25

1M ago33:25

33:25

Three stories told at our brilliant March event in Belfast when the theme was Class: Bernie McDonald gets her heart broken twice; Stephen Magee applies practical measures to help his children with maths while Sharon Magee looks on & sees it very differently. Paul is your host.By Tenx9

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Episode 88: Oksana Maksymchuk, Tempo 29:12

1M ago29:12

29:12

Oksana Maksymchuk joins us for a reading and discussion of "Tempo," a poem that explores the how war causes us to "whirl with / planets and stars that coil / around our fragile core." Oksana Maksymchuk is a bilingual Ukrainian-American poet, scholar, and literary translator. Her debut English-language poetry collection Still City is the 2024 Pitt P…

1
Amy Griffin: Some Warriors Weep 37:54

1M ago37:54

37:54

We all carry stories. Some smooth over the past, making things easier to bear. Others—the truer ones—break us open. Amy Griffin knows what it’s like to hold a secret so tightly, it starts to define you. As a child, she was sexually assaulted by a teacher—a painful truth she buried for years. But eventually, staying silent became harder than telling…

1
Bonus Pod - Cats & Dogs 11:15

1M ago11:15

11:15

In October 2024, Ann-Marie Foster told this story at the Black Box when the theme was Care.By Tenx9

1
Coach K: Love in Winning, Love in Losing 43:45

2M ago43:45

43:45

What happens when someone believes in you–before you’re even ready to believe in yourself? In this powerful conversation, Kate sits down with legendary basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K) to talk about trust, leadership, and the important work of calling out greatness in others. From his storied career at Duke to coaching Team USA, Coach K s…

1
Pod 298 - Malawi Misadventure 37:00

2M ago37:00

37:00

Three amazing & dark true stories from recent tenx9 events: Lisa Graham’s family faces an African adventure; Fergal McGuckin faces the Beast of Belfast; Rosaline Callaghan is the Queen of the Castle. Paul is your host.By Tenx9

1
Episode 87: Monica Ong, Her Gaze 35:21

2M ago35:21

35:21

In this episode, Monica Ong joins us to discuss "Her Gaze," a visual poem that celebrates the achievements of astronomer Caroline Herschel. "Her Gaze" appears in Planetaria, Ong's new collection that merges archival materials with striking lyric poems. Monica Ong is the author of two books: Silent Anatomies, which was the winner of the Kore Press F…

1
Episode 35: Ellen Jovin & Brandt Johnson: Rebel(s) with a Clause 36:37

2M ago36:37

36:37

In their new film Rebel with a Clause, grammar guru Ellen Jovin and director Brandt Johnson head off on a road trip to all 50 states to show how comma fights, rather than divide, can bring us closer together. Join Roberta as they talk about the power of language, taking a grammar stand, and the New York Times bestselling book that started it all. T…

1
The Hardest Part: A Lent for Real Life 36:47

2M ago36:47

36:47

Lent is here—the season we stop pretending we’re fine and admit that life is…a lot. It’s forty days of naming what’s fragile, walking toward the hard truths, and resisting the urge to skip straight to the happy ending. In this special Ask Kate Anything episode, Kate answers your biggest, messiest questions: How do we stay soft in a brutal world? Ho…

1
Denise Duhamel — How It Will End 17:02

2M ago17:02

17:02

Have you ever gotten consumed by watching a couple argue in public and trying to decipher what’s really going on between them? Denise Duhamel’s deliciously entertaining “How It Will End” offers us that experience. Come for the voyeurism, stay for the awareness it stirs up. Why are we so captivated by other people’s disagreements? And how can what w…

1
Vivek Murthy: We Are Good Medicine 42:52

2M ago42:52

42:52

Loneliness is more than just a feeling—it shapes how we see ourselves and the world around us. It can make us withdraw, hesitate to reach out, or convince us that connection is for other people. But Dr. Vivek Murthy has spent years reminding us of what is most true: we are meant to hold each other up. As U.S. Surgeon General (twice!), Vivek confron…

1
Fady Joudah — [...] 12:55

2M ago12:55

12:55

Even though Palestinian-American Fady Joudah’s poem is sparingly titled “[...],” an ellipsis surrounded by brackets, this work itself is psychologically dense. Through crisp lines and language, it wrestles with the nature of human ambivalence — about things like fear, desire, disaster, liberty — and it finds certainty only in the shaky universal gr…

1
Pod 297 - Chemistry 34:55

2M ago34:55

34:55

Three hilarious stories told at our collaboration with the NI Sci Fest: Don Gregory chooses family over his dream job; Fionnuala Close shocks her mother into saying a rosary; Paul Brady discovers the joys of chemistry. Paul is your host.By Tenx9

1
Episode 86: Gwendolyn Bennett, I Build America 25:19

2M ago25:19

25:19

Gwendolyn Bennett was a poet, journalist, editor, and activist whose contributions helped to fuel the Harlem Renaissance. In this episode, we read "I Build America," a poem that exposes and critiques the exploitation and suffering of ordinary workers. To learn more about Gwendolyn Bennett, see Heroine of the Harlem Renaissance and Beyond: Gwendolyn…

1
Benjamin Zephaniah — To Michael Menson 12:52

2M ago12:52

12:52

Benjamin Zephaniah’s urgent, imperative “To Michael Menson” was written when he was a poet in residence at a human rights barrister in England. His poem resonates with his repeated calls for justice for a murdered Black musician — not a justice that is gullible, impotent, or hopeless but one that is clear-eyed, collaborative, and mighty. Benjamin Z…

1
Pod 296 - Lost in France 35:00

2M ago35:00

35:00

Three stories to beat the Winter blues told at Belfast’s Black Box: Melanie Bowden goes abroad but her dad pays the price; Joe Millican hears an intruder as he sleeps beneath the stars; Lorna Dunn knows something isn’t right despite the doctor. Paul is your host.By Tenx9

1
Listen Again: N.T. Wright 48:03

2M ago48:03

48:03

Scripture can become a weapon in the hands of the ultra-certain. As if every pain or suffering is part of “God’s divine plan.” So how should we understand and apply the Bible to our real lives with our real-life problems? NT Wright, a New Testament scholar, is a trusted expert to help us understand what truths resound across time and circumstance a…

1
Carmen Giménez — Ars Poetica 15:16

3M ago15:16

15:16

Carmen Giménez’s poem “Ars Poetica” is a stunning waterfall of words, a torrent of dozens of short statements that begin with “I” or “I’m.” As you listen to them, let an answering cascade of questions fill up your mind. What does this series of confessions reveal to you about poetry? The poet? And yourself? Carmen Giménez is the author of numerous …

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Pádraig Ó Tuama Podcasts

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