On the podcast this month, Ann and Emma reflect on the year that’s been and gone, looking back on their personal peaks and troughs as well as highlights of 2022 for The Limerick Lady. This episode is about looking back, as well as looking forward to a new year. There are also some wild claims made about Munster’s French-speaking history.  2022 was a busy year for both of your hosts, but it was marked by the final reemergence of the world from covid fear, so yes, sorry – just when you thought...

NEWS FIRST! We're doing a live show on the 24th of November at the Record Room (downstairs in The Commercial on Catherine Street, Limerick City) at 8pm. Special guests are historian Sharon Slater, musical comedy duo The Wild Geeze, and singer-songwriter Abe Soare. Doors at 8, kicking off at 8.30 sharp – this is a pre-recorded live podcast episode so get in early and take your seats on time. Tickets are €5 – pay on the door. This month we meet Dr Tracy Fahey, an Irish author who has been...

This month we meet Helena Close and Marie Boylan, the writing team behind brand new play "Red Army". Red Army is the flagship production for the Lime Tree Theatre in Limerick City, and is set to run from the 22nd to the 29th. The play centres on four women and their intersecting lives as they're drawn together by a shared love of Munster rugby, and the shared tragedy of the sudden death of Munster coach Axel Foley in 2016.  This episode we look at the on-stage visibility and representation...

In this episode Ann and Emma chat with honourary Limerick Lady and tour de force Justyna Cwojdzińska, the artistic director of The Polish Arts Festival. Our hosts and guest explore everything from common mythologies between Ireland and Poland, to Slavic Gymnastics, to how the never-ending discussion around "women's rights" can ironically often deflect from the fact that those rights are, quite simply, human rights. Justyna Cwojdzińska studied Theatre at Cultural College in Wrocław and holds...

Ann and Emma chat to Lauren Guilfoyle, a Chartered Physiotherapist, about women in sport. The discussion covers a wide variety of her experience and whether her life would be different if she had more visible female role models in sport in childhood. Emma reminisces that, as a child, she felt sport just wasn't for her and Ann grapples with the fact she finds herself supporting the women's English soccer team. Lauren works with a variety of sports teams including Ireland Basketball & Cork...

  It's just the two of us building castles in the sky... This month Ann and Emma are without a guest, so sit back and enjoy what can simply be described as a meandering conversation about everything and anything.  This episode is given over to reflecting on the month that's been; whiskey-tasting and talking to spirits; Limerick Pride; burnout and the importance of taking holidays; ego and how it can make us nervous workaholics; trans rights and nosy neighbours; beard rash; and how life...

In this episode Emma and Ann ambush poor Ailbhe and wrangle every conceivable bit of info out of her about her life, her activism, and where the feck she gets all the energy! In this episode Ailbhe Smyth – activist extraordinaire – gives us a first-hand perspective, whistle-stop tour of the recent socio-political history of Ireland, from the removal of the Legitimacy Act in 1987 which removed all remaining legal distinctions between children born to married and unmarried parents, to the...

This month Eva O'Connor joins Ann Blake to talk about changing the focus and conversation around climate. Theatre maker, Eva, is the co-producer of the inaugural Future Limerick: Climate Arts Festival with Hildegarde Ryan and their company Sunday's Child Theatre. Eva, a prolific playwright and performer, has had huge success with shows such as My Name Is Saoirse and Overshadowed, the latter which  was turned into an 8 episode series for BBC3 in 2017. Her play Mustard premiered in 2020 and...

On this month's episode your hosts Emma Langford and Ann Blake are joined from Barcelona by special guest Tina Nsubuga.  Tina is a 29-year-old Ugandan-Irish Fashion-Tech entrepreneur. Ever evolving and exploring, she currently finds herself developing a company that influences not just our thoughts on fashion but also our behaviours towards a much more sustainable fashion lifestyle.  On top of that, she's also focusing on separating her work and career from her self worth by actively slowing...

Connecting to a "joy state"; writing as part of the healing process; self esteem and "sexual self-esteem"; teaching your kids kindness and respect; running a zero-drama household; establishing and practicing our boundaries... A mere handful of the subjects explored in this month's podcast episode with host Emma Langford and special guest Taryn De Vere.  Joy-bringer, writer, podcaster, mother of 5, colourful fashionista... Taryn De Vere moved from Australia to Ireland in 1998 and is now a firm...

“I do genuinely adore my job, and I’m dancing in the crowd while I’m taking my photographs”  To drastically paraphrase Jona Lewie, you will always find Ruth Medjber with a camera in her hand at parties. This month's guest talks to us about the things that elevated her to being selected to tour with the likes of Hozier and Arcade Fire. She breaks down the “weird engineering side of things” involved in great music photography - not just knowing your tool, but also having an awareness of the...

Ann and Emma record together, in person, for the first time since March of 2020. This month's episode is a reflection on gender-based violence, men's violence, and violence against women.   According to Women's Aid, 244 women have died violently in Ireland since 1996.  Of resolved cases, 87% were perpetrated by a man. 13% of perpetrators were strangers.  We dedicate this episode to the memories of all these women.  You can report flashing and assault under section 45 of the sexual...

Incredible, and incredibly busy woman Mamobo Ogoro joined Emma and Ann for this end-of-year episode! This conversation, recorded on the day of the Winter Solstice, takes in Christmas and Solstice traditions and rituals around turning over a new leaf. Christmas can be a tricky time for many - going back to the family home, seeing old friends and family members we may not always see eye-to-eye with. The trio discuss the value of empathetic conversation in place of arguments, and Mamobo...

"Story Kid?" is a new series of mini-podcasts from the Limerick Lady where Emma Langford and Ann Blake are joined by various guests with interesting insights & stories for a brief but enriching chat about life.  The Winter Solstice falls on the 21st of December, it is historically the shortest day, and the longest, darkest night of the year. This day marks the turn of the season toward longer brighter days - the "grand stretch" starts now! Emma is joined by Roisin Little (she/her), a...

This month Cassie Delaney joins Ann Blake to talk about the freedom and political power of podcasts, creepiness, queerness and being on the other side of an intense religious upbringing. A lot of fun was had in the making of this episode - just to be clear - even though Emma wasn't there. (She's very busy touring at the moment but sends her love!) Cassie runs Tall Tales Podcasts which produces, among many others, Mother of Pod, Juvenalia and the charmingly gruesome true crime comedy...

Sandrine Ndahiro joins Ann Blake and Emma Langford to talk about her project, Unapologetic Magazine. She speaks about the burden that falls to people to advocate for themselves & the burden of representing all minority voices as an outspoken member of any minority group.  Unapologetic is about creating a medium that showcases the cultural richness of the multiple heritages defining contemporary Ireland and unrepresented in modern discussion. Find Unapologetic online at...

Ann and Emma chat with Dr. Belinda Vigors - she's a social scientist, and the host and curator of the Women of Ireland Project.  An Irish woman living in the UK, Belinda became acutely aware of her 'Irishness' once she moved away. She has set out through the Women of Ireland Project to connect Ireland's past to the lived experiences of modern Irish women. The project explores Ireland's culture, history and heritage, and also involves interviewing women of Ireland about how our culture has...

Caroline O'Donoghue is the author of two novels, Scenes of a Graphic Nature and Promising Young Women - not to be mistaken with Promising Young Woman (singular) starring Carey Mulligan, unless you want to give Caroline an Oscar that is.  Ann Blake and Emma Langford chat with the Cork-born novelist about the music that defined their youth, the regression to their teens due to the pandemic, the fear of being a bad role model and drawing on real life (or not) in making art.  Caroline is also a...

Emma and Ann speak to Jenny McDonald, theatremaker and facilitator originally from Toronto, Canada now based in Dublin. Pandemics and performances haven't really gone together and the industry has been left adrift, so Jenny explains how she and a group of women chose to build their own boat - as such. She is the creator and director of SoloSIRENs, a Tallaght based collective of emerging and established theatre artists amplifying women's voices onstage and beyond.  SoloSIRENs recently...

Emma and Ann talk to Pamela Connolly of Choice Prize nominated Dublin band Pillow Queens. They talk the importance of queer representation, the difficulties in balancing a public persona with the tough reality of earning a living from music alone, and how listening to Jack Johnson can cause sexual awakenings if you're not careful.  The Limerick Lady Podcast is supported by the Limerick Post Newspaper, and sponsored by the Ormston House Feminist Supermarket Tweet using #LKLadyPod

In this month's podcast Emma and Ann talk to novelist Professor Emilie Pine about her no.1 bestselling novel "Notes To Self" (2018), a collection of personal essays about alcoholism, family, relationships, sexual abuse and miscarriage - how it felt to share those life experiences with the world in the form of a book, and how she found the transition from academic writing to non-fiction. 

Broadcaster, podcast, youth worker, animal lover and DJ Olivia Chau has been stalwart of the music scene in Limerick for over 13 years now. If she isn’t running, promoting, or playing at gigs, she is at gigs. Having started as an Indie DJ over 13 years ago, she now plays a blend of Disco, Nu-Disco, ’80s, and ’90s R&B. In 2019, Olivia became a Craic Mechanic of Sing Along Social, a no commitment choir for people who can’t sing well. Just this year in March 2020, she started her own radio...

This time last year Ann and Emma hosted their first ever live Limerick Lady podcast with an audience in the beautiful, historic surrounds of erstwhile supermarket Ormston House. The building was opened as a supermarket in 1961, closing in 1982, only to be reopened in 2011 as a Cultural Resource Centre to create new opportunities for artists and arts workers. This International Women's Day, we meet two artists being supported by Ormston House's new scheme: Ormston House Feminist Supermarket -...

Ann and Emma caught up with a woman who has interwoven her way into both of their lives in various ways: the ordained interfaith minister who married Ann and her wife Jenny; a tutor and mentor to Emma in University; and a friend to both. During this month's podcast we learn why Reverend Nóirín Ní Riain has such respect for the arts of silence and of listening.  Nóirín generously shares the story behind suddenly losing her voice for 20 years at the age of 14; as well as the journey that...

Sharon Slater, Limerick historian, joins our hosts Ann Blake and Emma Langford to talk about the brand new Women of Limerick app, created alongside the team at local creative hub Ormston House. The app is interactive and brings the user on a walking tour of Limerick city and the women of Limerick who have shaped the world through innovation, creativity and philanthropy. The discussion explores the ever-evolving field of recording history, and why it's important to document the truth.  Follow...