Keiran Goddard and Caelainn Hogan Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

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Poet and political writer Keiran Goddard and journalist Caelainn Hogan discuss the secularisation of Ireland and the huge changes happening in the country.

Goddard and Hogan are among the contributors to The Passenger: Ireland, a collection of contemporary writings on the country. It describes a country that has gone from a poor, semi-theocratic society to a thriving economy free of the Catholic Church. The Passenger explores the ramifications of issues such as Brexit in the north and the transformation in the south from a deeply conservative society to one that voted in a referendum to enshrine gay marriage in law.

Goddard grew up in England but is second generation Irish and writes about the Irish diaspora in England. He is a published poet and has also written a novel, Hourglass. Hogan is a journalist whose work has featured in The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, The Guardian, The Irish Times and The Dublin Review. She is author of Republic of Shame, the story of how the Catholic Church and the Irish state operated institutions for the concealment and punishment of ‘fallen women’.

This event is part of the festival’s programme of Irish literature and culture.