I'm spending less and less and less time on socials. If you do want to keep up with my nonsense, there's stuff on Instagram or you could just listen to Arena on @rteradio1.bsky.social every night from 7. Tonight we check out the week's new TV and albums...

Great launch to @dublinbookfest.bsky.social hosted by @rickoshea.bsky.social live on Arena this evening. Great show!

Super opening night of @dublinbookfest.bsky.social with a celebration of 100 issues of @thedublinreview.bsky.social broadcast live on RTE Arena. Brilliant job by @rickoshea.bsky.social and guests @mrkocnnll.bsky.social @patrickfreyne.bsky.social Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Sara Baume and Brendan Barrington

We start in 5......

I, a hip and with-it young person, explain the "Six Seven" trend for old people www.irishtimes.com/life-style/2...

I talk to so many people who say they don't want to be there but "feel they have to". You don't if you don't want to. It's dead. Move on. I left in 2023 and haven't regretted it for a second...

The last event I did before the very first lockdown in 2020 was with legendary photographer Martin Parr at the @shhomeplace.bsky.social. I didn't do another event with a live audience for quite a while afterwards... Tonight we get to catch up as he'll be joining us on Arena from 7pm... 🧵

ICYMI, and all that... Back live on Arena from 7 tonight on @rteradio1.bsky.social.

Thanks so much to everyone who came to the @rte.ie Short Story Competition final at @paviliontheatre.bsky.social. Thanks to everyone who put the show together, the judges, the writers, and to David Kitt (he's playing The Big Romance at the NCH - tx on sale on Tuesday!) www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

It was an absolute pleasure to judge this year’s Francis McManus RTE short prize alongside @neil.hegarty.50 and Tristan Rosenstock. We had an amazing evening with @rickoshea.bsky.social and RTE Arena @paviliontheatre.bsky.social tonight celebrating all 10 shortlisted writers.

Remember, if you don't vote, you can't complain about the outcome

This is tonight at 7, and all few tickets are still available...

I frequently see this as a problem for me. People ask "How's it going?" and I feel the need to honestly tell them how things are for me at the moment...

Yup. Last night I talked to @harlancoben.bsky.social, Bill Nighy, Josh O'Connor and Kelly Reichardt, amd we looked at Rebel Without A Cause at 70 on Arena... www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

The finale of this year's RTE Short Story Competition is coming up: Friday 25 Oct at the Pavilion, Dún Laoghaire - and live at 7pm on Arena, RTE Radio One, with @rickoshea.bsky.social. What a pleasure it has been! - and thanks to fellow judges @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social and Tristan Rosenstock.

We'll be doing a live Arena show at @dublinbookfest.bsky.social celebrating 100 issues of @thedublinreview.bsky.social. We'll have editor Brendan Barrington, contributors Sara Baume, @patrickfreyne.bsky.social, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, and @mrkocnnll.bsky.social. Do come, it's going to be special...

Tonight on Arena, reviews from this year's Wexford Festival Opera, @liamcagney.bsky.social tells us about ‘Haunted Dancehall’ at the NCH, and two more finalists in this year’s @rte.ie Short Story Competition. From 7pm on @rteradio1.bsky.social or listen back wherever you get your podcasts...

Join us for hijinks next Friday evening

This Friday night... There are a few tickets left...

You should come out and join me for a live show next Friday night... We have @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social, @neilhegarty.bsky.social, Tristan Rosenstock, live music from David Kitt, and live readings from a host of Irish actors... www.paviliontheatre.ie/events/view/...

... and Jess Fahy took us through the new Picasso exhibition at the @nationalgalleryirl.bsky.social. All those and everything else from the week wherever you get your podcasts or on the Arena page on the @rteradio1.bsky.social website. www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

If you missed Arena so far this week, I talked to Mark Ronson about his book on DJing in 90s New York, Eimear McBride reviewed Waiting For Godot on Broadway, Alex Lawther told me about playing Leonard in Leonard And Hungry Paul (and his love for cheese toasties in Grogan's)...

Nice write-up of the Leonard and Hungry Paul TV show which is on iPlayer now-ish (I don't have access to the iPlayer so not sure) and which is on BBC Northern Ireland tonight at 9pm; BBC 2 on Monday. Hope you enjoy it.

If you missed Arena so far this week, I talked to Mark Ronson about his book on DJing in 90s New York, Eimear McBride reviewed Waiting For Godot on Broadway, Alex Lawther told me about playing Leonard in Leonard And Hungry Paul (and his love for cheese toasties in Grogan's)...

Coming up on Arena - Atoosa Sepehr about a new play 'My English Persian Kitchen', ‘Picasso: From the Studio’, is at @nationalgalleryirl.bsky.social - Jess Fahy reviews it, and we speak to Alan Foley, about his production of Swan Lake @corkoperahouse.bsky.social. From 7 on @rteradio1.bsky.social.

On socials very little these days, mostly because I'm spending my time talking to Mark Ronson, Rebecca Ferguson or the makers of Obituary, celebrating the life of Seamus Heaney, hearing Eimear McBride review Waiting For Godot on Broadway... Arena tonight from 7 on @rteradio1.bsky.social. Coming?

On socials very little these days, mostly because I'm spending my time talking to Mark Ronson, Rebecca Ferguson or the makers of Obituary, celebrating the life of Seamus Heaney, hearing Eimear McBride review Waiting For Godot on Broadway... Arena tonight from 7 on @rteradio1.bsky.social. Coming?

It's an hour to listen back to when you need a little food for the soul. Find it on the Arena page on the @rteradio1.bsky.social website or wherever you get your podcasts. www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

Thanks too to the panel of editors Bernard O’Donoghue and Dr. Rosie Lavan, poets Moya Cannon and Victoria Kennefick, critic @fotoole.bsky.social and musicians Neil Martin and Louise Mulcahy.

Last night was one of the most extraordinary programmes I've ever been part of, celebrating the new 'The Poems of Seamus Heaney' volume. If you managed to snap up a ticket, thank you so much for coming. All of the credit to the amazing @rte_arena team for bringing it all together. 🧵

Last night was one of the most extraordinary programmes I've ever been part of, celebrating the new 'The Poems of Seamus Heaney' volume. If you managed to snap up a ticket, thank you so much for coming. All of the credit to the amazing @rte_arena team for bringing it all together. 🧵

This is just awful. I met him a few times at events and festivals over the years, and he was always such a positive presence, and the work he has done to make people think about both their relationships with the Irish language and the natural world was work he should have...

It has been a little over two months since my most recent live show on Gold and my first night presenting Arena when Seán was taken ill. I have so many people asking, so - I haven't "left" RTE Gold, bit I don't know when I'll be back as I'm presenting Arena for another while, at least. Do join me x

Yes, I brought books set in Japan on my holiday there (and that was before I bought more!) Seicho Matsumoto's Tokyo Express (tr. Jesse Kirkwood) is a murder-mystery from 1958, the solution to which all hangs on physical train timetables.

The participation of big name funnymen, including Dave Chappelle, Aziz Ansari and Kevin Hart, provoked criticism from fellow comedians and human rights groups.

Tonight is the upcoming Dublin Quiz League tryout night - essentially for players who want ro give it a go and see what it's like or players who don't have a team (my team was a scratch team!) And it's free... quizireland.ie/event/dublin...

Thanks to RTE Arena and @rickoshea.bsky.social for a great segment on this evening's Arena program about A R C H I P E L A G O, the group photography exhibition currently showing in @rha-arts.bsky.social. Listen back via the link in comments

📣 It's Booker Prize 2025 shortlist day!!! A reminder to join our livestream from 7:30pm BST / 2:30pm EDT / 12am IST using this link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6VO...

I, understandably, didn't take many pictures before the @rteradio1.bsky.social Arena Culture Night special on Friday, but I do think our guests were fantastic. You can listen back www.rte.ie/radio/radio1... or wherever you get your podcasts.

I was in Japan on holliers, there are photos. Pop over to www.facebook.com/therickoshea/ or www.instagram.com/therickoshea for the lot...

Do you know a young reader (16-24) who could help us select the next Laureate na nÓg? Applications close next Friday - we'd particularly love to hear from young people from underrepresented backgrounds or communities. More information + application form childrenslaureate.ie/young-reader...

I, understandably, didn't take many pictures before the @rteradio1.bsky.social Arena Culture Night special on Friday, but I do think our guests were fantastic. You can listen back www.rte.ie/radio/radio1... or wherever you get your podcasts.

Tonight on Arena it's our Culture Night spectacular live from Studio 1! We'll be joined by @olionaird.bsky.social, Tolu Makay, Tríona and Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill, MacDara Yeates, Christine Dwyer Hickey and many more. Tonight from the earlier time of 6.30 on @rteradio1.bsky.social.

I was in Japan on holliers, there are photos. Pop over to www.facebook.com/therickoshea/ or www.instagram.com/therickoshea for the lot...

Poet Gerard Smyth joined @rickoshea.bsky.social Shea on @rteradio1.bsky.social Arena to speak about his friendship with Gerald Dawe, ahead of our Home Again celebration event taking place this Sunday. Book your tickets here: www.poetryireland.ie/whats-on/hom...

Miss Arena last night? It was a busy one. You can listen back any time... www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

Live on Arena on @rteradio1.bsky.social from 7 with a look back at the career of Robert Redford, the director and one of the stars of new Irish film Girls And Boys, Cormac Begley on Tradition Now in the NCH, and author Caragh Maxwell talks about her novel Sugartown... www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

ICYMI last night I talked to Ian McEwan about his new books, we looked back at 50 years of Patti Smith's Horses, and found out all about the career of Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan... www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

Come see me and Hazel Gaynor talk about books we love....

Back on Arena on @rteradio1.bsky.social from 7. Coming?