The writer and broadcaster Manchán Magan has said he has "no fear of death" as he discussed his cancer treatment on The Brendan O'Connor Show on RTÉ Radio 1.
The Dubliner was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2023 and told the host that his cancer "suddenly took a bout, a turn" and "started spreading through".
"It's in a bit of my lungs and my brain and my liver, etc, etc, etc," he said.
"Mostly, I'm focused on thinking, 'Jesus, there's books, there's films, there's things I want to do," he continued. "Well, I can't do very much of that from a hospital bed, but there's a surprising amount I can get done."
When asked how he is feeling, Magan replied: "It depends on the day. For some reason, there hasn't been much despair, there hasn't been much 'Why me? Why me?' I don't know why. There's a lot of pain, even despite all the Oxycodone or whatever, painkillers I'm on."
"It's a lovely thing to know that I can plan my last few... is it months or years?" he said.
"We might get a year or two, and we'll definitely get another few months."
"People are thinking, 'Why did you drag this man from [St] James's [Hospital] in here?'" said O'Connor. "But you really wanted to come in today, didn't you?"
"I did, I did," Magan replied. "For two reasons: first, to beg people not to send me blessings and letters and then weird mystery hopes, or cures and things.
"[Secondly,] The last five years, for me, it's almost been like a cancer of creativity. I'm just dropping these books and TV series every few months about the Irish language, different aspects of Irish culture. And there was one aspect I wanted to... There was a book I wanted to write about Ireland and weather. It just makes sense - the Irish language and weather."
Magan's new book, Ninety-Nine Words for Rain (and One for Sun), illustrated by the artist Megan Luddy, has just been published.
He told the programme his connection with "the spirit world" had made his views about death "a huge amount easier".
"Now, I can't say it's a ride in the park," Magan admitted.
"I can't say there's not times where waves of tears come over me, me and my partner, who I never sort of talk about much. But obviously, it's so hard. She's slightly younger than me. Like, when I think of her being left, that's what saddens me, that's what breaks my heart. But even knowing that we get this time together, you know, to put all the things right, put everything in order...
"So in terms of me realising, me never really believing in the physical world and always believing that spirit world was truer and bigger, it helps a lot.
"But it is not making it pain-free for me. It's not meaning that I [am] just dancing delightedly towards my death. There is this huge sadness at times."
He added that it is "part of life" and "good to talk about these things".
"For some reason, I'm not scared. There's the sadness, the sadness of thinking about my partner being alone. Luckily, I don't have kids - that's a huge blessing. I've no fear of death."
"And what do you think happens after death?" asked O'Connor.
"I've had this real strong sense that there is this - and it's a naff term - like an Age of Aquarius," said Magan.
"There does seem to be this new enlightenment, this new interest in the land, in language, in a more intuitive, maybe more natural, more sort of feminine, if that's a term one can use, way of being in the world. I believe that's going to grow. And I believe me being in a white body from the 1970s is not the ideal person to be talking about The Goddess, as I do in a lot of my books, or talking about this sensitivity.
"I mean, reincarnation is a story, it's a myth. I've no idea if it's true or not, but for me, it's a handy way to talk about it.
"What I do know [is] I leave this body. It's probably a confusing few hours or days, won't be months. Probably, some people get stuck for months, but I'd say I'd be pretty good at the transfer.
"[I will] Remember all that other life I've been, all that being I've been for thousands of years beyond the physical body, the times that I wasn't in the physical body. And I'd say pretty soon again, I'll probably come into another body to continue this work. Most likely as a woman, most likely not white, most likely not in Ireland.
"I just think there's a new era for the planet. It could be the Oxycodone, it could be the drugs talking, but I don't believe it.
"In my heart, I believe this is a time of great change on the planet - and I want to be young and energetic and part of that. There's a lot of work to do."
"At the moment, I'm in a time of real pain, but maybe in a month or so I mightn't be," Magan said of his plans.
"There's some lovely trips we'd love to take - and we will."
Ninety-Nine Words for Rain (and One for Sun), written by Manchán Magan and illustrated by Megan Luddy, is published by Gill Books.
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The Brendan O'Connor Show, Saturdays and Sundays, RTÉ Radio 1, 11am
