Podcast Summary

Podcast: New Books Network
Host: Helen Pannet
Guest: Iria Seijas-Pérez
Episode: "Sapphic Adolescent Girls in Irish Young Adult Fiction: Queering Girlhood" (Routledge, 2025)
Date: February 14, 2026

Overview

This episode features a deep-dive interview with Iria Seijas-Pérez about her recent monograph, Sapphic Adolescent Girls in Irish Young Adult Fiction: Queering Girlhood. The conversation explores the complexities of representing Sapphic (lesbian, bisexual, queer) adolescent girls in contemporary Irish YA (Young Adult) fiction, the intersections of sexuality, ethnicity, religion, and history, as well as the evolving landscape of Irish queer literature and its broader cultural implications.

Guest Introduction and Project Genesis

• Personal and Academic Journey ([01:32])
  • Iria describes how living in Ireland pre-pandemic and working as a language assistant informed her focus on Irish literature and queer/feminist studies ([01:32]).
  • The research draws heavily from her 2024 PhD thesis, with a shift in focus early on (within the first three months) from established Irish authors to contemporary YA Sapphic fiction.
  • Key moment of redirection occurred during a discussion with her supervisor, which led to a focus on YA novels by Irish women authors with explicitly queer protagonists.

Quote:

“My interest in Sapphic characters stems from my own identity. … So initially what the PhD was going to be… but it changed within the first three months, so that was great timing.” (A, [01:32])

Corpus Selection and Theoretical Framework

• Selection Criteria for Analyzed Texts ([09:42])
  • Focus on YA novels written in English (due to language proficiency), by women from or residing in the Republic of Ireland, with Sapphic protagonists aged 12–18, published after 2015.
  • Excludes texts set outside the Republic, fantasy novels, or those not explicitly addressing sexuality—even if not through romance or coming-out scenes.
  • The 2015 Irish marriage equality referendum is highlighted as a turning point inspiring a spike in LGBTQ YA publishing.

Quote:

“One of my arguments is that YA narratives about queer lives need not be reduced to the queerness of the story, you know.” (A, [11:18])

• Texts and Authors That "Got Away" ([14:25])
  • Some fantasy novels (e.g., Helen Corcoran’s Queen of Coin and Whispers) excluded due to setting/out-of-scope parameters.
  • Recent and forthcoming works by authors such as Caroline O’Donoghue and others noted as promising for future research.

Thematic Analysis of Key Chapters

1. Irish Catholic School Experience ([17:25])

• Analysis of three novels: Moïra Fowley-Doyle's All the Bad Apples, Claire Hennessy's Like Other Girls, Ciara Smyth's Not My Problem.
• Contrasts the range of school experiences for queer girls, from explicit homophobia and isolation to eventual support and finding community.
• Explores nuances: overt homophobia from peers/families, subtler institutional loneliness, and internalized prejudice.

Quote:

“Dina… is targeted by the homophobia of her peers, and not only her peers, but also her family… we have three very different experiences in Catholic schools in Ireland.” (A, [17:25])

“The last book gives us this… allows for the idea that not every queer themed novel has to focus on the repression of it. … All narratives are valid because the queer experience is extremely different.” (A, [25:26])

2. Family and Friendship Dynamics ([27:51])

• In many novels, “queerness” is present, but not the narrative focus—teens grapple with universal issues (family dynamics, mental health, friendships).
• Examples:
  • Not My Problem: Aideen copes with her mother's alcoholism and absent father.
  • The Falling in Love Montage: Saoirse handles her mom’s illness, her father’s new relationship, and the aftermath of a breakup.
  • Like Other Girls: Lauren’s experience with abortion foregrounds reproductive rights, pushing sexuality to a subplot.
• Highlights importance of fun, relatable, non-tragic queer stories.

Quote:

“It surprised me… many of these novels, the focus isn’t something completely different than the sexuality… your experiences are going to be defined by your sexuality… What they're really dealing with is all the typical issues that any teenager would struggle with.” (A, [27:51])

"It’s very important to have queer books that are just a fun read about the struggles of teenagehood." (A, [35:12])

3. Racialized Sapphic Girls: Adiba Jaigirdar’s Work ([36:35])

• Jaigirdar, a Bangladeshi-Irish author, foregrounds the intersection of race, sexuality, and diaspora.
• Her novels (The Henna Wars, Honey and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating, The Dos and Donuts of Love) allow nuanced exploration of belonging, racism, community, and the negotiation of multiple identities.
• Only apparent author providing ongoing representation of racialized Sapphic girls in Ireland—raises questions about publishing and inclusion.
• The analysis distinguishes between “identity struggles” (diaspora, parental expectations, pressures to succeed) and queerness; both are presented as fundamental, interconnected, but not reductive.

Quote:

"They must negotiate that; this sort of dichotomy of ‘I don’t fully belong here because I’m constantly reminded that I don’t belong here’… but I cannot possibly live in Bangladesh if I want to be my real self, which is a queer, racialized girl.” (A, [39:38])

“I feel like Jaigirdar really brings that into her work… the complexity of someone's identity. The sentence ‘I contain multitudes’ is… true.” (A, [44:55])

4. Sapphic Sexuality and Witchcraft ([47:11])

• Focus on Deirdre Sullivan's Perfectly Preventable Deaths and related works.
• Explores the cultural/fictional linkage of queerness and witchcraft as subversive, dissident identities.
• Contrasts the acceptance of Catholic ritual (prayers, altars) vs. suspicion and ostracization of magical practice—both as means of seeking comfort/control.
• The “queer witch” is framed as both outsider and ultimate savior against oppressive, even religious, forces.

Quote:

“Witches and queer people have long been connected as dissident, subversive identities… both fit within those parameters.”
“...Madeleine is the one who does the quirky, magical things, but she's the one saving the day at the end, and religion… turns out to be evil.” (A, [47:11]; [51:20])

5. Haunted by History: The Gothic, Magical Realism, and Ireland’s Past ([54:30])

• Many Irish YA novels process the legacy of institutional violence against women (Mother and Baby Homes, Magdalene Laundries) through Gothic and magical realist genres.
• Fictionalizing trauma allows young readers (often unfamiliar with this history) to access and process dark national legacies at a safe remove.
• Characters are haunted—literally and metaphorically—by suppressions, secrets, and inherited trauma, especially Sapphic women and girls.
• Emphasizes the necessity of foregrounding these stories for awareness and collective reckoning.

Quote:

“Supernatural narratives… make it easier to address hard realities… the experiences of the new generations are marked, are defined by the experiences of the previous generations that never dealt or that were subjected to terrible acts of violence…” (A, [54:30])

“They’re books that I’ll never be tired to recommend.” (A, [65:49])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the proliferation and dynamism of Irish Sapphic YA:

  “I feel like it’s thriving in a sense, 100%.” (A, [16:13])

• On the need for non-tragic queer stories:

  “At the beginning when queer YA novels began to be published, they were tragic. They were absolutely tragic. And this is just a fun queer read…” (A, [32:59])

• On inclusion and future research:

  “There are like, publications that I did not include… but because they were not published at the time that I was already done writing the chapters. … I’m definitely interested in working with their text in the future.” (A, [14:25])

Looking Ahead: Current and Future Work ([66:20])

• Iria is busy with teaching, but has upcoming publications:
  • A chapter on Irish ethnic minority writing (including Adiba Jaigirdar and Zainab Boladali).
  • An article on Sapphic terminology in Irish YA, in collaboration with a linguist.
  • A special journal issue on girlhood studies.
  • Plans to continue research and expand to new authors/works as the field grows.

Recommended Reading List

Throughout the episode, the following novels and authors are discussed and recommended for further reading:

• All the Bad Apples by Moïra Fowley-Doyle
• Like Other Girls by Claire Hennessy
• Not My Problem and The Falling in Love Montage by Ciara Smyth
• The Henna Wars, Honey and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating, The Do's and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar
• Perfectly Preventable Deaths and Precious Catastrophe by Deirdre Sullivan
• Other Words for Smoke by Sarah Maria Griffin

Conclusion

This in-depth conversation offers listeners both a state-of-the-field overview and a nuanced, passionate analysis of how Irish YA fiction is queering girlhood—challenging norms, commemorating history, and offering both complex and joyful representations. For newcomers to queer Irish YA, the episode serves as a lively, informative gateway and provides ample suggestions for building a TBR (“to be read”) list bridging literature, history, identity, and imagination.