Episode 108 - Kevin Toolis - The Irish Wake

Kevin Toolis is a BAFTA winning film maker and writer of the acclaimed death guide My Father’s Wake: How the Irish Teach Us to Live, Love and Die. Toolis has reported on famines, wars and plagues all over the world for The New York Times and The Guardian. As a documentary maker he has filmed in the middle east and directed the Emmy-nominated Cult of the Suicide Bomber television history series. He is also producer/ director of a compelling new stage work Wonders of the Wake that revives the lost art of Irish keening and celebrates the ancient rite of the Irish Wake.

 

In this episode we talk all about the Irish Wake, the death of his brother and father, grief dreams in the Irish culture, grief dreams in families of suicide bombers, and his own grief dreams of those he reports on.

 

You can find more about Kevin at www.myfatherswake.com or on Twitter @KevinToolis

 

Here is his BBC video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALT8zbjnjkY