Author Mary Costello reads her short story 'Things I See' from her home in Dublin, in English. Mary is joined by translator Isabel Puente Lozano, who reads her Spanish translation of the story, 'Las cosas que veo', from her home in Dalkey. 'Things I See' is set in a family home in Ireland. The story weaves between the spaces inside a marriage, inside the relationship of mother and daughter, husband and wife, and the rituals and habits of home. 'Things I See' is about the distances that can accumulate between people, and the humble elasticity of love.


For each episode of 'Talking Translations' we have paired a short story with a language, and asked the author and translator to read their work aloud. It is our hope to share these stories with listeners around the world, heard in languages where the author may not yet  be widely published.


Literature Ireland Promotes Irish literary authors and their work worldwide and is funded by Culture Ireland and the Arts Council. To read the full stories in English and Spanish, and to learn more about what we do, visit www.literatureireland.com. For any queries, or to say hello, please email [email protected]. The music in this episode is kindly used with permission from David Hilowitz and Maria Pien.


Things I See © Mary Costello

This story was first published in The Stinging Fly magazine in 2010 and subsequently in the short story collection The China Factory (Stinging Fly Press 2010 and Canongate 2015).
Las cosas que veo by Isabel Puente Lozano © Literature Ireland.