To mark St Patrick's Day on the Guardian Books podcast, we've put together readings from a selection of great Irish writers.

WB Yeats begins with a reading of his poem "The Lake Isle of Innisfree", recorded in 1937. Next comes George Bernard Shaw with a recording made 10 years earlier – an extract from his talk "Spoken English and Broken English". Then we jump 50 years ahead to catch up with Liam O'Flaherty at the National Poetry Centre in London, reading the opening of his short story "The Mermaid", and hear Sean O'Casey talking about his life and work in an interview recorded in 1962. We finish with WB Yeats back in 1927, with an introduction to a BBC programme, Poets in the Pub.

Listening list

The Spoken Word: Irish Poets and Writers is published by the British Library, price £20.00. The recordings are copyright of the BBC or the British Library Board.