Prose
Seán Street’s prose may be divided into three main categories – books relating to radio, and those relating to poetry and literature and topographical works.
Radio
A Concise History of British Radio(Kelly Books, 2002/2005) Foreword, Piers Plowright.
Crossing the Ether: Pre-War Public Service Radio and Commercial Competition in the UK(John Libbey, 2006)
Historical Dictionary of British Radio(Scarecrow Press, 2007)
The A to Z of British Radio(Scarecrow Press, 2009)
The Poetry of Radio - The Colour of SoundRoutledge, 2013 (Hardback), 2014 (Paperback)
The Historical Dictionary of British Radio (2nd Ed.)
The Memory of Sound: Preserving the Sonic Past
Sound Poetics: Interaction and Personal Identity
Sound at the Edge of Perception
The Sound Inside the Silence
The Sound of a RoomLiterature
A Remembered Land : Literary Recollections of Life in the Countryside, 1880-1914(Ed., Michael Joseph)
The Dymock Poets(Seren)
The Wreck of the Deutschland(Souvenir Press)
Wild Track - Sound, Text and the Idea of Birdsong Topographical / Other
Petersfield – A Pictorial Past(Ensign)
Tales of Old Dorset(Countryside Books)
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra(With Raymond Carpenter, Dovecote Press)
Hampshire Miscellany(Countryside Books)
Comments
“Wild Track - Sound, Text and the Idea of Birdsong
Seán Street is an extraordinary listener: he listens like no one else, to how we all listen. This remarkable book should be translated for the birds. The dawn chorus might take notes. Certainly, to human ears after Wild Track, birdsong will sound forever different.
Tim Dee, author The Running Sky (2009) Greenery 2020). Former BBC radio producer”
Seán Street is an extraordinary listener: he listens like no one else, to how we all listen. This remarkable book should be translated for the birds. The dawn chorus might take notes. Certainly, to human ears after Wild Track, birdsong will sound forever different.
Tim Dee, author The Running Sky (2009) Greenery 2020). Former BBC radio producer”
“Wild Track - Sound, Text and the Idea of Birdsong
An eloquent plea for us to listen to the natural world - to the birdsong that is disappearing. This poetic text illuminates the attempt to capture the sound of the natural world in words and is a celebration of the mystery of birdsong.
Richard Shannon, Goldsmiths, University of London”
An eloquent plea for us to listen to the natural world - to the birdsong that is disappearing. This poetic text illuminates the attempt to capture the sound of the natural world in words and is a celebration of the mystery of birdsong.
Richard Shannon, Goldsmiths, University of London”
“Wild Track - Sound, Text and the Idea of Birdsong
In this book Seán Street has re-imagined the term 'Wildtrack', and guides the reader/listener from when sound was "recorded" solely through experience and then replayed from memory, imagination, poetry and prose, clearly across time, harnessing text with the developing role of technology to create a narrative flow as affecting as a woodland chorus in spring.
Chris Watson, wildlife sound recordist”
In this book Seán Street has re-imagined the term 'Wildtrack', and guides the reader/listener from when sound was "recorded" solely through experience and then replayed from memory, imagination, poetry and prose, clearly across time, harnessing text with the developing role of technology to create a narrative flow as affecting as a woodland chorus in spring.
Chris Watson, wildlife sound recordist”
“The Memory of Sound: Preserving the Sonic Past
The Memory of Sound is a book for radio lovers and for anyone who ponders the importance of memory, audio and history in our modern society.
Steve Ahern, in Radioinfo (www.radioinfo.com.au)”
The Memory of Sound is a book for radio lovers and for anyone who ponders the importance of memory, audio and history in our modern society.
Steve Ahern, in Radioinfo (www.radioinfo.com.au)”
“The Memory of Sound: Preserving the Sonic Past
This is an important book by a writer who understands the power of sound as a broadcaster, as a researcher, as a listener, and, above all, as a poet. Seán Street has already shown us in his earlier work, The Poetry of Radio – The Colour of Sound, how what we hear and how we hear it cuts to the heart of how we feel and how we understand – how we see. This book, in effect a sequel, examines, without jargon or heavy-handedness, the way that sound triggers and recalls memory, how, ‘given the right circumstances, the sound of the past can be caught by the memory like a photograph’. Drawing on his own life and experiences, and in conversation with specialists in key areas of research and practice, Seán Street, in 155 closely argued pages, brilliantly illuminates how sound, our first and last sense, runs like a flash of lightning through time lost and found.
Piers Plowright, Radio Features Producer”
This is an important book by a writer who understands the power of sound as a broadcaster, as a researcher, as a listener, and, above all, as a poet. Seán Street has already shown us in his earlier work, The Poetry of Radio – The Colour of Sound, how what we hear and how we hear it cuts to the heart of how we feel and how we understand – how we see. This book, in effect a sequel, examines, without jargon or heavy-handedness, the way that sound triggers and recalls memory, how, ‘given the right circumstances, the sound of the past can be caught by the memory like a photograph’. Drawing on his own life and experiences, and in conversation with specialists in key areas of research and practice, Seán Street, in 155 closely argued pages, brilliantly illuminates how sound, our first and last sense, runs like a flash of lightning through time lost and found.
Piers Plowright, Radio Features Producer”
“The Historical Dictionary of British Radio (2nd Ed.)
Over 400 pages of meticulous research on UK radio history.
Media.info UK”
Over 400 pages of meticulous research on UK radio history.
Media.info UK”
“The Memory of Sound: Preserving the Sonic Past
Sean Street manages to capture the invisible with words. This book is a beautiful and poetic investigation of the impact sounds have on us as we pass through our worlds, and their power when replayed again.
Francesca Panetta (Independent audio producer and sound artist)”
Sean Street manages to capture the invisible with words. This book is a beautiful and poetic investigation of the impact sounds have on us as we pass through our worlds, and their power when replayed again.
Francesca Panetta (Independent audio producer and sound artist)”
“The Memory of Sound: Preserving the Sonic Past
Seán Street's The Memory of Sound is a moving and poetic book about the act of creating and preserving audio memories. While other worthy books might focus on the technical aspects of audio production, this carefully constructed work serves as a celebration of international documentary makers who have devoted their lives to recording the memories and stories of others. Street's profound insights weave through every chapter in this masterful work, each a cherished ode to the documentation and preservation of sound. For that I thank him.
Dmae Roberts, (Peabody Award winning Independent Public Radio producer.)”
Seán Street's The Memory of Sound is a moving and poetic book about the act of creating and preserving audio memories. While other worthy books might focus on the technical aspects of audio production, this carefully constructed work serves as a celebration of international documentary makers who have devoted their lives to recording the memories and stories of others. Street's profound insights weave through every chapter in this masterful work, each a cherished ode to the documentation and preservation of sound. For that I thank him.
Dmae Roberts, (Peabody Award winning Independent Public Radio producer.)”
“The Poetry of Radio - The Colour of Sound
'Seán Street has written a seminal and elegant book on the poetics of radio. It is intellectually and creatively rooted in qualitative research and makes an original contribution to the scholarship on the relationship between poetry and the new medium of sound literature that has blossomed as a result of the onset of the radio age from the early part of the twentieth century. He is a veritable poet and professor of radio himself and brings to the text all of the passion, intelligence and T.S. Eliot’s description of ‘the auditory imagination’ present in his own creative feature making. This book will be a lasting treasure for students, professionals and artists in the field of radio and sound programme making. It is a brilliant and masterful achievement.'
Tim Crook, Goldsmiths College, University of London”
'Seán Street has written a seminal and elegant book on the poetics of radio. It is intellectually and creatively rooted in qualitative research and makes an original contribution to the scholarship on the relationship between poetry and the new medium of sound literature that has blossomed as a result of the onset of the radio age from the early part of the twentieth century. He is a veritable poet and professor of radio himself and brings to the text all of the passion, intelligence and T.S. Eliot’s description of ‘the auditory imagination’ present in his own creative feature making. This book will be a lasting treasure for students, professionals and artists in the field of radio and sound programme making. It is a brilliant and masterful achievement.'
Tim Crook, Goldsmiths College, University of London”
“The Poetry of Radio - The Colour of Sound
'Writing informed by the ear of a poet.'
Jonathan Harvey”
'Writing informed by the ear of a poet.'
Jonathan Harvey”
“The Dymock Poets
Seán Street's account of The Dymock Poets is hardly improvable as an example of realist-narrative criticism.
John Powell Ward”
Seán Street's account of The Dymock Poets is hardly improvable as an example of realist-narrative criticism.
John Powell Ward”
“A Concise History of British Radio
This is a much-needed book: a coherent and dramatic sweep from the first scientifically-based attempts to send sound messages over distance to the rich and sometimes rude complexity of 21st century digital broadcasting. Seán Street, who is a scholar, a poet and a radio practitioner is ideally placed to lead us on this exhilarating journey, and everything you need to know quickly about 80 years of British radio is here.
Piers Plowright”
This is a much-needed book: a coherent and dramatic sweep from the first scientifically-based attempts to send sound messages over distance to the rich and sometimes rude complexity of 21st century digital broadcasting. Seán Street, who is a scholar, a poet and a radio practitioner is ideally placed to lead us on this exhilarating journey, and everything you need to know quickly about 80 years of British radio is here.
Piers Plowright”
“Crossing the Ether
A highly readable, well-researched and revealing analysis of the social and cultural factors that affected the development of UK commericlal radio. Seán Street has produced a work of significant scholarship.
The Radio Journal”
A highly readable, well-researched and revealing analysis of the social and cultural factors that affected the development of UK commericlal radio. Seán Street has produced a work of significant scholarship.
The Radio Journal”
“The Historical Dictionary of British Radio
The Historical Dictionary of British Radio is a highly useful reference work. I would unhesitatingly recommend this to any undergraduate student trying to get a grip on the subject, and it would also provide a useful resource for any scholar of British radio history.
Richard Rudin, Liverpool John Moores University”
The Historical Dictionary of British Radio is a highly useful reference work. I would unhesitatingly recommend this to any undergraduate student trying to get a grip on the subject, and it would also provide a useful resource for any scholar of British radio history.
Richard Rudin, Liverpool John Moores University”
“The Wreck of the Deutschland
Seán Street's book is engrossing from start to finish. As a sea-story it is as riveting as any of C.S. Forester's.
Patricia Beer, London Review of Books”
Seán Street's book is engrossing from start to finish. As a sea-story it is as riveting as any of C.S. Forester's.
Patricia Beer, London Review of Books”
