Radio and Podcasts

BBC Radio 4 Series for Woman’s Hour

Poet Hollie McNish has a cup of tea and honest chats about birth, sex and parenthood with a host of mates, family and new friends. Produced by Abigail Hollick

Interview with The Female Lead

What are the moments that shape us? In this podcast from The Female Lead, brilliant women talk about the key moments that have made them who they are.

Jackie Kay and Hollie McNish at Glasgow Women’s Library

National Poet for Scotland Jackie Kay takes fellow poet Hollie McNish along to Glasgow Women’s Library, where they delve into a rich collection of artefacts, artwork and materials tracing women’s history through the ages. Inside they talk to staff about the origins of the library and discuss issues of women’s representation across society, education and the arts, while also reflecting on the important role that public art and literature plays in shaping the way we see ourselves.

Shakespeare and Company Podcast

Poetry, class, and radical performance, with Hollie McNish and Michael Pedersen

BBC Radio 4 Documentary narrated by Hollie McNish

Four women from different parts of Britain share stories of street harassment. Woven through this feature is a new, specially commissioned poem by Hollie McNish called Streetlights

Interview on How to Own the Room podcast

Helen Russell talks all things sadness, grief and grandmothers with poet Hollie McNish

Today’s guest is the awesome, straight-talking Hollie McNish. Hollie is a spoken-word poet, who won the Ted Hughes Award. We dive into PAGE 336 of her latest book, ‘Slug’. I picked PAGE 336 because, like Hollie, I believe sex education in Britain needs a drastic overhaul. Here, Hollie unpicks her memories of how girls were shamed at school if they admitted to masturbating. Hollie talks about why it’s so important to be honest about sex, pleasure and consent when talking to your children, and the dark and dangerous places shame can lead us. Especially the message to girls that they should expect pain during intercourse.

Interview on Abby Hollick’s Page podcast

 In this episode, McNish talks to Róisín Ingle about her life and career, women’s bodies, her amazing grandmothers, her posh Cambridge education and growing up in the same village as Kate Middleton. Hollie also performs two brilliant poems from Slug.

Interview on How to Own the Room podcast

Viv Groskop talks to poet Hollie McNish about the value of working out your own way to do something – even if it takes time. Hollie discusses her efforts to unlearn society’s unhelpful lessons about being female, including frank conversations with her grandmother. And she explores nerves, pressure, being apologetic – and the sadness of putting poems about her gran into the past tense.

Interview on BBC Radio 4 Open Book

Hollie McNish talks about her new book Slug and other things I’ve been told to hate.

One Thing Interview with Anna Mathur

On this episode of The Therapy Edit, Anna chats with poet Hollie McNish and asks her for her One Thing. Hollie’s One Thing is that as mothers we shouldn’t pass on our feelings of shame to our children. Listeners of this episode will be treated to Hollie reading aloud her poetry on the subject.

Getting Personal with Daphne Bugler and Isabella Hobbs

Your weekly dose of emotional conversations as journalist Daphne Bugler and early years educator Isabella Hobbs chat with your favourite faces about the highs and lows of life. Joined by musicians, actors, artists, authors, athletes, presenters and ordinary people, they’ll be sharing their stories of love, anger, sadness, fear and happiness, as well as a bit of everything in between. Guest Hollie McNish

School for Mothers with Danusia Malina-Derben

Finding power in the things we’re told to hate. My guest is Hollie McNish, writer and poet. We explore her upcoming book “SLUG and other things I was told to hate” and SO much more. We talk masturbation, grief, feminism, being blunt and of course, her poetry.