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4 Extra Debut. A literary walk around Dublin, visiting landmarks immortalised by some of Ireland's most famous writers. Read by Colm Tóibín.

Award-winning writer Colm Tóibín explores the complex relationships between three of Ireland's literary giants and their fathers:

Oscar Wilde
WB Yeats
James Joyce

From Oscar Wilde's polymath father who was a doctor specialising in diseases of the eye and ear, an amateur architect, as well as a statistician who was knighted for his work; to WB Yeats' father a brilliant correspondent and impoverish artist who struggled to complete a painting; to John Stanislaus Joyce, a drinker and story-teller who was unwilling to provide for his family.

He starts by taking a literary walk around Dublin, stopping off at a variety of landmarks immortalised in the works of some of Ireland's most famous writers.

At the same time he reflects on his own writing life.

Abridged in five parts by Richard Hamilton

Producer: Elizabeth Allard

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2018.

14 minutes

Last on

Tue 18 Jul 202302:00
BBC Radio 4 Extra

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Broadcasts

  • Mon 29 Oct 201809:45
    BBC Radio 4 FM
  • Tue 30 Oct 201800:30
    BBC Radio 4
  • Mon 17 Jul 202307:00
    BBC Radio 4 Extra
  • Mon 17 Jul 202312:00
    BBC Radio 4 Extra
  • Mon 17 Jul 202317:00
    BBC Radio 4 Extra
  • Tue 18 Jul 202302:00
    BBC Radio 4 Extra