Listen "Fionnuala O'Connell"
Episode Synopsis
Youth project worker, poet, and visual artist, Fionnuala O'Connell has worked for many years to support young people through activities and capacity building.She reads her poems, ‘I'm Sorry’, ‘Mother Tongue’ and 'Article 6’ (inspired by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) -'You can't eat your rights. You can't hold your rights on top of you to keep you warm or shaded from the sun. You can't wrap your rights around you when your parents have died.'We talk about her mother in Liberia and how she writes about what she sees happening in the world right now.'You see how things are landing, you can see the other side of things in real time and sometimes I find that kind of a bit difficult to deal with because it brings up issues of justice and equality and equity and poverty.'And she emphasises the importance of empathy and care in political poetry.'I think a lot of the time I try to just see the person, see the picture. Picture what's happening in the most simplest form. To connect to what's happening.'With thanks to the Arts Council of Ireland for funding support.Produced by Bairbre Flood : @bairbreflood // bairbreflood.org
More episodes of the podcast Wander
Wander Open Call
18/09/2025
Hend Jouda
11/08/2025
Dean Oke
06/06/2025
Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan
23/05/2025
Amano
09/05/2025
Lavie Olupona
01/05/2025
Noor Hindi
25/04/2025
Helen Hutchinson
15/04/2025
Mustafa & Moody
03/12/2024
Sauti Youth
02/09/2024
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.