s3e33 Pat Cotter, Mahreen Sohail, Laura Jean McKay, Laura Cassidy, Mary O’Donnell, Chucho Valdez
Cork Short Story Festival 2025, Part 2, New Music
s3e33
October 30, 2025
Tony Robles speaks with participants in the Cork International Short Story Festival, part 2. We listen to an Irish poem and fairytale. Jay Rodriguez Sierra plays with Chucho Valdez in a rare live recording. New poetry from Martha Cinader.
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CREDITS– HOST: Martha Cinader, Tony Robles, Jay Rodriguez Sierra. FEATURED GUESTS: Pat Cotter, Maureen Sohail, Laura Jean McKay, Laura Cassidy, Mary O’Donnell. FEATURED SPOKEN WORD: The Song of Amorgan. From the Book of Irish Poetry, Part 1, read for Librevox .org, by Sonia, How Ethne Quitted Fairyland by T .W. Rowleston. Martha Cinader, Eye of the Storm. MUSIC: Thingamagig by Jay Rodriguez Sierra- featuring Chucho Valdez – piano, Ratso Harris – bass, Victor Jones – drums, Jay Rodriguez Sierra – tenor saxophone. ORIGNAL SOUNDTRACK, MIXING, MASTERING, SOUND DESIGN: Jay Rodriguez Sierra. Editing by Martha Cinader. Produced by Martha Cinader and Jay Rodriguez Sierra. Executive Producer, Martha Cinader.
FEATURED GUEST
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Patrick Cotter – Poet
Read more: Patrick Cotter – PoetPatrick Cotter is an Irish poet, born in Cork City where he still lives and works as a literary festival organiser and editor. His poems have been published in journals such as the Financial Times, The London Review of Books, Poetry and Poetry Review. He is a recipient of the Keats-Shelley Prize for Poetry. His…
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Mary O’Donnell – Writer
Read more: Mary O’Donnell – WriterMary O’Donnell has written award-winning poetry, novels, short fiction collections and dynamic essays. Published fiction includes the novels The Elysium Testament and Where They Lie. In 2023 she received an An Post/Irish Book Award for her political poem ‘Vectors in Kabul’. In 2026 Wake Forest University Press (USA) will publish her ninth poetry collection, Tenderness. In May this year, a…
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Laura Jean McKay – Writer
Read more: Laura Jean McKay – WriterLaura Jean McKay is the author of The Animals in That Country – winner of the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Victorian Prize for Literature, the ABIA Small Publishers Adult Book of the Year and co-winner of the Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel 2021. Laura is also the author of Holiday in Cambodia and her latest collection…
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Mahreen Sohail – Writer
Read more: Mahreen Sohail – WriterMahreen Sohail was born in Pakistan. She has an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College where she studied as a Fulbright scholar; and was a Writing Fellow at A Public Space and a Charles Pick Fellow at the University of East Anglia. Her work has appeared in Granta, the Kenyon Review, the Pushcart Prize Anthology (XLII), and elsewhere. She lives in…
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Laura Cassidy – Writer, Publisher
Read more: Laura Cassidy – Writer, PublisherLaura Cassidy is publisher and co-editor at the literary journal and small press Banshee, where along with her co-founders she was named a Bookseller Rising Star. Her novels for young adults were published by Penguin Ireland, and she is a recipient of the Cecil Day Lewis Literary Bursary Award and an Arts Council of Ireland…
FEATURED BOOKS
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Mary O’Donnell – Walking Ghosts
Read more: Mary O’Donnell – Walking GhostsIn this masterful collection, Mary O’Donnell explores the subtle fractures and quiet transformations that shape modern life. Her characters navigate a society in flux, where traditional certainties give way to new complexities.
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Mahreen Sohail – Small Scale Sinners
Read more: Mahreen Sohail – Small Scale SinnersIn twelve kaleidoscopic stories, Mahreen Sohail shifts our perspective on this question from moment to moment. Two girls observe a group of child soldiers and one reflects: “My sister and I were only small scale sinners.” A chorus of sixth graders unravels a school year they spend obsessed with their twin classmates. A girl cuts…
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Laura Jean McKay – Gunflower
Read more: Laura Jean McKay – GunflowerA family of cat farmers gets the chance to set the felines free. A group of chickens tells it like it is. A female-crewed ship ploughs through the patriarchy. A support group finds solace in a world without men. With her trademark humour, energy, and flair, McKay offers glimpses of places where dreams subsume reality,…
VIDEOS
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