OUR STORY

The days of the great Fianna warriors have ended. Unexpectedly, Oisín is invited to live out his retirement in the Otherworld and become husband to Niamh on Tír na nÓg, the Land of Youth. How long is too long in paradise? Despite his love for his new wife and children, Oisín is destined to end his days at home in Ireland.

OUR GUEST

Dian Killian is the author of The Gaelic Effect, a popular publication on Substack, where she explores linguistic archaeology, human experience and potential, through the lens of Irish language, place and culture. Her writing is informed by a background in applied linguistics, Irish cultural studies, conflict resolution, and work as a professional coach. In addition to The Gaelic Effect, she is the author of two books (Connecting across Differences and Urban Empathy: True Life Adventures of Compassion on the Streets of New York), and is also an artist and musician. She lives in Dublin and frequently travels around Ireland, including to the Gaeltacht.

The Gaelic Effect: https://diankillian.substack.com

OUR CONVERSATION

• Like mythical characters who live between this world and the Otherworld, we know what it means to be liminal creatures living in liminal times.
• Coming to Irish as an adult: beginner’s mind, humility, and meeting the language with love
• The Irish words for wife and husband, bean chéile and fear chéile, emphasize how it’s a language built on relationship rather than ownership
• Irish employs many of the principles of Nonviolent Communication
• How the modern Irish language embodies the aisling (“vision poem”) and the spéirbhean (“sky woman”)
• Also in this episode: Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Spenser, Joyce and Beckett, Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World by Tyson Yunkaporta, and Manchán Magan
• Marisa’s story of Tír na nÓg at the start of the show is based on Marie Heaney’s telling in Over Nine Waves.

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WORK WITH MARISA

1:1 Writing Coaching: If you are working on a novel, memoir, or visionary creative nonfiction, book a free consultation with Marisa at www.marisagoudy.com

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Music by Beth Sweeney and Billy Hardy: billyandbeth.com