Róisín Meets...

In the final episode of the Roisin Meets podcast, Roisin chats to her mum Ann Ingle and legendary Irish race car driver Rosemary Smith about the latter's biography, ghostwritten by Ann. Expect tales of rallying across continents, love affairs with the likes of Oliver Reed and why, in the depths of despair, Rosemary looked over the edge but decided to turn back and give life another shot. Stay tuned for details of Roisin Ingle's brand new podcast in 2019.

For over 20 years, Ziauddin Yousafzai has been fighting for equality - first for Malala, his daughter - and then for girls all over the world. On this week's podcast, he talks to Róisín about the roots of his activisim in Pakistan's Swat Valley, his Nobel Prize winning daughter and his book, Let Her Fly.

In his first children's book Niall Breslin has written a story that encompasses a mindfulness technique to help children explore difficult emotions, face their fears and return to the present moment. Illustrated by Sheena Dempsey, Bressie hopes The Magic Moment will help to encourage children to feel the fear and jump in anyway. He talks to Róisín about the book, about his mindfulness studies and why music is still an important outlet for him.

Game Changer, Cora Staunton's autobiography, is the first from a female GAA player. In it the Mayo woman documents her sporting journey, from her childhood home of Carnacon, to her 67 Championship games over 23 seasons in the Mayo jersey. Her inter-country career game to a bitter end this year and she talks to Róisín Ingle about the controversy that brought her there. She also talks about the woeful under-resourcing of women's sport in Ireland and about her mother, who died when she was a teenager.

Auschwitz survivor Dr Edith Eger came in Ireland for the first time to speak at the international Safe World Summit, hosted by Safe Ireland. The 91-year-old psychologist’s best-selling memoir The Choice recounts her time in the concentration camp and her struggle to be free of the survivor’s guilt and shame that followed her as she made a life in America. She arrived at the camp in May 1944, one of more than 10,000 Jewish people from her hometown of Kosice, Hungary, who were rounded up by the Nazis. Eger went on to become a psychologist and for the past several decades has worked in America with people struggling to overcome traumatic events in their lives – from violent relationships and child sexual abuse to post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction. Roisin Ingle interviewed Edith on stage at the summit, which addressed gender equality and ending gender-based violence.

In five years selling at farmers' markets and hosting dining events, James Kavanagh and William Murray's food business Currabinny has grown a huge fanbase. The pair are boyfriends as well as business partners and in this podcast they talk Róisín about their meeting on Grindr, why James has William to thank for his 'influencer' status, how their mothers have influenced their love of food and their gorgeous debut publication, The Currabinny Cookbook.

Róisín talks to one of Ireland's best-loved broadcasters, Mary Kennedy, about her 40 year RTÉ career, getting the Eurovision presenting gig on the third go and why she loves working on Nationwide. They also speak about her Catholic faith and how she reconciles that with her own beliefs, the Rose of Tralee, and her new book, Home Thoughts from the Heart.

With her 10th book, Martina Devlin salutes the trailblazing women who drove change in Ireland. 'Truth and Dare' tells the stories of incredible Irish women including Countess Markievicz, Anna Parnell and Hanna Sheehy Skeffington. On this week's podcast Martina talks to Róisín Ingle about the book, about the peculiarity of writing personal testimony and about her early journalism career on London's Fleet Street, and an assignment that saw her dispatched to Parkhurst prison to interview the notorious criminal Reggie Kray.

Bestselling authors and best friends, Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen, talk to Róisín about The Importance of Being Aisling, googling 'how to write a screenplay', the origins of their friendship and their delight at being envied by the great Fintan O'Toole.

Virgie Tovar is an author, activist and a leading expert and lecturer on fat discrimination and body image. She is the founder of Babecamp, an online course designed to help women who are ready to break with diet culture, and she started the hashtag #LoseHateNotWeight. Virgie talks to Róisín about her manifesto, You Have the Right to Remain Fat, the link between gender and fat shaming and the silent epidemic of women living in fear of food and their bodies.

On today's show, Róisín meets Su Carty, the first female representative to be appointed to the World Rugby Council. Su talks about her late start and fast rise in rugby, her work in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and the fourth annual “Get Up and Go” inspirational conference, where Su will deliver a talk this weekend. www.getupandgoevents.com

Caitlin Moran talks to Róisín Ingle about her razor-sharp new novel How To Be Famous, which tracks one young woman’s riotous journey through a world where men hold all the power. Nothing is off the table in this chat, which was recorded in front of an audience at the National Concert Hall in Dublin as part of the International Literature Festival Dublin’s Off The Page series of events. Expect meditations on life, sex, politics and lots of laughs. HEALTH WARNING: This podcast contains lots of cursing and buckets of feminism.

After David Gillick's career in athletics came to an end, he entered a dark period of his life and contemplated suicide. His new book Back on Track shares the techniques he used to pull himself out of despair, including a healthy diet and exercise. He talked to Róisín about his journey.

Stars of the musical Wicked, currently running at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Dublin, Amy Ross and Helen Woolf chat to Róisín Ingle about the rarity that is female-led theatrical productions, about being women in musical theatre and why Irish audiences are the best.

It's the final installment of the 2018 edition of Music Month on Róisín Meets. This week it's Éna Brennan, or Dowry as she goes by on stage. Brussels-born to an Irish mum and Danish dad, Éna is a woman who wears many hats: multi-instrumentalist musician, composer, multi-media designer and costume designer, to name a few. She talks to Róisín Ingle about growing up in Brussels, the 12 Points festival 5-8 September and her musical collaborations with Paul Noonan and Lisa Hannigan. Songs in this episode: 1. Flutter 2. In E.

Mongoose are this week's Music Month guests, a band of four women who combine exquisite vocal harmonies with great instrument-playing and songwriting. Molly O'Mahony, Ailbhe Dunne, Muireann Ní Cheannabháin and Cara Dunne are currently crowd funding to help get their second album over the line and you can help out by visiting www.gofundme.com and searching for Mongoose Make An Album. In this podcast they speak to Roisin Ingle about that fundraising, an upcoming collaboration with the Irish singer Mary Coughlan for a piece in the Dublin Theatre Festival and about some of their upcoming gigs, including one at the Irish centre in Paris later this year. Songs in this episode: Motionless, Sister and Bullseye

The 2018 edition of Music Month continues this week with Pillow Queens, a four-piece who came together in the autumn of 2016 on a basketball court in a Dublin city park. Cathy plays guitar and sings. Rachel plays drums and also sings, while Pam and Sarah swap guitar, bass and lead vocal duties. They talk to Róisín about feminist themes in their music, the challenges facing young people living in Ireland today and they explain the "not very PC" meaning behind their name. Songs in this episode: 1. Wonder Boy 2. Rats 3. Favourite.

In the first installment of the 2018 edition of Music Month, Róisín sits down with Morgan MacIntyre & Gemma Doherty, better known as Saint Sister. The duo, who started making music together in 2014, mix Celtic harp, 60s folk and electronic pop to create their unique sound. They talk to Róisín about their mentor Lisa Hannigan, touring with Arcade Fire and share the inspiration behind the three songs they played live in studio on the day this podcast was recorded. Songs in this episode: 1. Causing Trouble 2. Corpses 3. The Mater

Playwright Phillip McMahon, co-founder of theatre company THISISPOPBABY and co-creator of RIOT, talks about his current show in the Abbey Theatre. Called Come on Home, it's a play about "faith, family, place and desire".

'Lifeshocks' happen to all of us. They are those moments that floor you, devastate you and leave you wondering how you'll move on. Sophie Sabbage knows what it's like to be hit by multiple lifeshocks. The bestselling author is living with terminal cancer, she has overcome bulimia, a petrol bomb was planted at her family home as a child and she was raped in her 20s. In her latest book, Lifeshocks and How to Love Them, Sophie offers guidance and support on how to deal with similar unwanted events. She talks to Róisín Ingle about her life and how she learned to respond to lifeshocks positively.

Ahead of the annual Music Month on Róisín Meets next month, we bring you one from the archive. In 2016, Lisa Hannigan spoke to Róisín Ingle about the breakdown of her working relationship with Damien Rice, her third album At Swim and how working with The National's Aaron Dessner was the help she needed to get out of the rut she'd been stuck in. She also played three songs live in studio from that record. In a few weeks time we'll kick off the 2018 Music Month with music from Saint Sister, who have toured with Hannigan and count her as a mentor.

Liza Donnelly is an American cartoonist with The New Yorker and resident cartoonist of CBS News. She is also the creator of digital live drawing, a new form of journalism using a tablet to literally live-draw news and events, including the Oscars and the 2017 Presidential Inauguration. Liza was in Dublin recently and spoke to Róisín Ingle about live-drawing, how she got into cartooning, the Charlie Hebdo attacks and sexism in the industry.

Last year Caroline Foran's book, Owning It: Your Bullshit Free Guide to Living With Anxiety, was a runaway hit, becoming a best seller, surprising even her. Caroline was doing well – she’d overcome crippling anxiety, written a book about it and people had liked it. But the stress of promoting the book got to her and she realised she still had a long way to go in terms of confidence. She talks to Róisín Ingle about once again facing her fear and turning it into something positive with her new book, The Confidence Kit: Your Bullshit Free Guide to Owning Your Fear.

Arnold Thomas Fanning has written a searing personal account of mental illness in his book Mind on Fire. Recently he spoke to Roisin Ingle at the International Literature Festival Dublin about his illness, the depths he sunk too, shame and living to tell the tale.

American singer and performance artist Amanda Palmer was in Dublin the week Ireland voted to remove the 8th Amendment from the Constitution. As someone who has had three abortions and who has spoken publicly about those experiences, Palmer was overjoyed at the result and could be seen around Dublin in her REPEAL sweater in the lead up to the vote. She spoke to Róisín Ingle about the referendum, abortion and women's rights. They also spoke about life in Trump's America and Palmer sang Róisín's favourite song of hers, In My Mind.

In 2006, 12 years after they had fled the Rwandan genocide, 18-year-old Clemantine Wamariya and her older sister were reunited with the rest of their family live on US TV on the Oprah Winfrey show. On today's podcast, Clemantine speaks to Róisín Ingle about her memoir, The Girl Who Smiled Beads, which describes a childhood brutally disrupted by the genocide in 1994.

The Happy Pear twins, Stephen and David Flynn, are famous for their hand-standing, health-living ways, but on today's episode they reveal to Róisín Ingle that they were once Ross O'CK-style, beer swilling, rugby playing, jocks. They speak to Róisín about what it's like to be mirror-twins, there's also talk of time spent living behind a waterfall in Costa Rica and first encounters with a lentil. They also speak about their family-friendly event Playstival, aimed at getting kids off their screens and into the outdoors. It's in association with Laya City Spectacular and takes place at Airfield farm in Dublin on Aug 11th and 12th. Find out more here: https://www.playstival.ie/

Julia Kelly is the author of two novels, 2011’s With my Lazy Eye and 2014’s The Playground. Her third book, Matchstick Man, is a memoir about her former partner the artist Charlie Whisker and his Alzheimer's. She talks to Roisin Ingle about the book, which is a heart breaking and, at times, an uncomfortably honest account of the mental disintegration of a brilliant man and its effect on his family.

Former All Black rugby player and pundit Brent Pope and psychotherapist Jason Brennan join Roisin Ingle to talk about their new book - Win: Proven Strategies for Success in Sport, Life and Mental Health.

Louise O'Neill has re-imagined the Little Mermaid through a feminist lens for her latest book, moving the action to the Atlantic Ocean off the Irish coast. The Surface Breaks is her second new book in as many months, following on from her third novel, Almost Love, and comes just a few weeks before the stage adaptation of her award-winning second book, Asking for It, debuts at the Everyman Theatre in Cork. She talks to Roisin Ingle about the joy of seeing her book come to life on stage, the trouble with people confusing her writing for works of non-fiction and why she will never be tempted to publish two books in two months again.

The woman at the centre of the CervicalCheck cancer screening scandal, terminally ill Limerick woman Vicky Phelan, speaks to Róisín Ingle about the situation, calling it “disgraceful, saying it’s an absolute national scandal”. Vicky tells Róisín that the buck stops with HSE director general Tony O'Brien and that she doesn't understand how he could “have the balls to stay in the job at this stage”. Vicky explains why signing a non-disclosure agreement in her High Court case over her false negative smear test result was never an option and why despite being told she has between six and 12 months to live, she doesn't think she is going to die.

On the latest Róisín Meets 'Queen of Teen' Juno Dawson chats to Roisin Ingle about her new book Clean, feminism and why undergoing gender transition to live as a woman was like taking off a disguise she had been wearing her whole life.

After the discovery of an unsent teenage love letter, David Nadelberg began asking people online whether they knew anyone who wanted to share their hideously embarrassing childhood writings on stage. It went viral and Mortified was born. 15 years later, it's been a podcast, a stage show, a 2013 movie and now a Netflix show. There’s a Dublin Chapter of the movement and recently David was in town for a show. He spoke to Róisín Ingle about the teenage crush that spawned the movement, and lots more.

Vicki Ashman was a senior partner in an international law firm before selling off her part in the business and taking an early retirement in her forties. She tells Róisín Ingle why she swapped legal briefs for luxury knickers, Scrumpies of Mayfair. She also talks about the pros and cons of running a business with her husband Ian, how a chance encounter with a taxi driver saw her up sticks for a job in the Cayman islands, and what it's like to live in a house once occupied by one of Ireland's most powerful Catholic leaders, Archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid.

Lying in Wait author Liz Nugent talks to Róisín Ingle about her new crime novel set in the Cote d'Azur, Skin Deep. She also talks about her life, the fall she had aged 6 and a half that nearly killed her, her husband Richard, why she's glad they chose not to have children, and lots more. Skin Deep, by Liz Nugent, published by Penguin Ireland, is out now.

Camille O’Sullivan has been treading the boards around Ireland and beyond for many years. As she returns to the Gate Theatre with Shakespeare’s The Rape of Lucrece this week, she speaks to Róisín Ingle about the production. She also talks about the life-changing car accident that saw her ditch architecture for a career as a singer, her boyfriend the actor Aidan Gillen, how her four and a half year old daughter Lila has changed her, and lots more.

So far this year there have been more than 30 mass shootings in the United States, including the school shooting in Florida last month which killed 17 people and injured nearly 20 others. Last year, the U.S. saw a total of 346 mass shootings. This weekend protests will take place in every state calling for better gun control as part of the March For Our Lives. In this podcast, Róisín Ingle speaks to Mary Farley, an Irish-based American activist with Moms Demand Action, who are holding a sister rally at the U.S. embassy in Dublin this Saturday afternoon.

U.S. defence lawyer Dean Strang shot to fame when he provided legal representation for Steven Avery, twice convicted of murder in Wisconsin, who featured in the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer. In the past few weeks he has been in Ireland for a guest lecture series at the law department of the University of Limerick and has given a number of public talks on the role of the defence lawyer, including one entitled ‘How Can You Defend Those People?’ He speaks to Róisín Ingle about the latest developments in the Steven Avery case, how he came to be a defence lawyer in the first place and just what is wrong with the US justice system.

Tara Westover grew up in on Buck Peak, a beautiful mountain in rural Idaho, in a household that was in a perpetual state of preparation for the End of Days. Her family didn't talk about the summer, it was ‘canning season’ to them, a time spent furiously preserving peaches and other foodstuffs to stockpile for the inevitable End of Man. Westover’s father, a Mormon Survivalist, lived in fear of the ‘feds’ throughout her childhood, but with a divine belief that everything that happens in this world – good or bad – is God’s will. She wasn’t registered for a birth certificate until she was old enough to ask for one and because her father didn’t believe in doctors or the public school system, she had no medical or educational records by the time she left home at 17. On the first Róisín Meets podcast recorded in front of a live audience at The Gutter Bookshop in Dublin, Tara Westover talks to Róisín Ingle about her memoir, Educated. It tells the story of her childhood and explains how she went from bare minimum home-schooling in an isolated part of the U.S., to earning a PhD at the elite Trinity College, Cambridge in Britain.

Nora Twomey will find out this weekend whether she and the Irish animation company Cartoon Saloon have won their first Oscar for their film (which counts Angelina Jolie as an executive producer) The Breadwinner. The film is based on Deborah Eilis's novel of the same name and tells the story of 11-year-old Afghan girl Parvana. Nora talks to Róisín Ingle about the film, her entry into animation, working with Jolie, and much more.

Tony Blair’s former director of communications Alastair Campbell talks to Róisín Ingle about Brexit, Northern Ireland, #MeToo, his new book Saturday, Bloody Saturday, and lots more.

Canadian singer Johnny Orlando is a pretty big deal. When he was 8 years old, his big sister asked their parents if she could put a video of Johnny singing a song on YouTube. Fast forward a couple of years, and Johnny, who turned 15 last month, has amassed a following of over 10 million fans across his social media accounts, and there are tens of millions of listens on all of his songs on YouTube. He is frequently joined on his songs by Mackenzie Ziegler and in December the pair of them played a sold-out show at the Academy in Dublin. Róisín Ingle went along to see what all the fuss was about - she spoke Johnny and Mackenzie, as well as Johnny's dad Dale Orlando about his son's extraordinary fame.