Before you listen to this BBC podcast I'd like to tell you why I love

podcasting. I'm Natasha Aronson I'm an assistant commissioner for the BBC and I work on

making podcasts my real passion is discovering unbelievable unheard stories and working with the biggest

stars who can really bring those stories to life.

I love the whole process of making podcasts from the spark of an idea to hearing the final edit.

There's nothing like it. What makes BBC Podcast special is that we're working for you.

So whatever we commission has to reflect the things that you care about and love wherever you are in the

UK. So if you like this BBC podcast, there's so much more to discover. Have a listen on BBC Sounds.

BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. Laura Levine here.

We're taking our summer break.

So until we're back on air, we're showcasing a few programs from our archive.

As usual, the music's been shortened for rights reasons.

This week's guest is the writer Edna O'Brien, who died in July.

Kurster Young cast her away in 2007. My castaway this week is the writer Edna O'Brien for more than 45 years

she has lived in the literary spotlight. Described as a poet of heartbreak,

her lyrical storytelling has excelled in capturing the fragility and pain of the

human condition, reflecting the drama of her own life as much as the imagined journeys of her characters.

Born and raised in a small village in County Claire, her first and highly successful novel the country girls was banned and indeed

burned in the streets of Ireland when it was first published in 1960. An uneasy relationship with her homeland continues to this day.

But she says of Ireland, it's in my roots, and when I dream at night, it's the place I go.

So, Ed O'Brien, 20 novels, numerous short stories, screenplays, biographies.

You said in the past that if you were at peace, you wouldn't need to write, given that you are still writing, presumably you're still not at peace.

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