Spoken Stories: The State of Us

Cafés by Rebecca Miller read by Susan Zelouf

A woman meditates on change and loss and becoming, when as a young artist she stayed in Florence with her boyfriend who was working there as a restorer, and their baby, and on how what happens to us impresses on our lives.

Austen by Adrian Duncan read by Barry Ward

Austen, a photographer, enjoys playing golf and is a member of a club in the midlands of Ireland. He also aspires to golf-course design, an aspiration that proves to be one deemed by others to be too far above his station.

Sarah by Elaine Feeney read by Jeanne Nicole Ní Áinle 

Sarah was assaulted two years ago. It changed her life. She lies awake beside her sleeping husband and is expecting their first child. Her day in court has arrived. There she sees her attacker, hears the judge's address and garda report, and reverts to stories from her childhood for reassurance.

Money by Niamh Campbell and read by Caitríona Ennis

Lena came of age against the rise and fall of the Celtic Tiger. She is reconciling the role of money in our lives having been a student unable to afford Dublin rents taking two buses and a train to UCD full of posh Southsiders, present at a high-profile kids-gone-wild murder party, and what they reveal about herself and us more generally.

The Impasse by Irish Indian writer Cauvery Madhavan read by Dawn Bradfield

A near head on collision on a remote mountain road brings two women together who know each other since their school days, but who have been avoiding each other for years. Everyone knows these people, some of us might even be them, as they passing judgement on the state of each other, and on our passions, prejudices, sorrows and joys.