By Phyllis Boumans
Published in Irish University Review, 2026.
Link

Abstract

In the middle decades of the twentieth century, an extraordinary number of Irish writers gravitated towards radio as an important outlet for their short fiction. Radio writing allowed them to reach almost half a million listeners at home at a time when the magazine market for stories was dwindling, and publication opportunities were scarce. Authors became increasingly dependent on the wireless marketplace for financial remuneration and to sustain their literary careers. This article shows how writers who understood and submitted stories that aligned with Radio Éireann's narrative preferences – such as a recognisable ‘Irishness’ and an emphasis on plot, dialogue, and surprise endings over psychological introspection – were most successful in getting their stories broadcast on the wireless, as were those willing to adapt their work to suit the medium's technological specificities. The essay examines the poetics of the radio story and argues that the editorial suggestions imposed by radio producers, scriptwriters and features officers often ran counter to the poetics of the modern short story as it was favoured and practiced by prominent Irish literary figures such as Seán O’Faoláin and Mary Lavin. The final section reads a selection of story scripts by Mary Lavin, Maura Laverty and James Plunkett and demonstrates how their stories at Radio Éireann differed from their broader literary output.