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