Sarah Clancy - Poet and Activist

Love and Courage

Sarah Clancy is a well-known poet, activist and commentator who works in community development in County Clare where she now lives. Sarah grew up in Galway immersed in the world of ponies and horses which led her to working all over Ireland and later in Australia and New Zealand. Although she dabbled in poetry in her youth, it wasn’t until her 30s that she really found her poetic voice. And when she did, things really took off. It wasn’t long before she was winning awards, performing on major stages and on radio. She also released 3 separate poetry collections, published by Lapwing Press and Salmon Poetry. During this same period Sarah delved deeper into the world of social justice, both through academia, and through community organising and campaigning.

This is when I first met Sarah. I was running the SpunOut youth organisation which was based in Galway at the time. We ended up involved in different campaigns together and over the years I always found her to have one of the sharpest and most insightful minds I’ve ever encountered.

This conversation covers a lot of ground and although it’s a long one, it’s worth going the distance and listening to the end, or perhaps in different sittings. In it, we talk about Sarah’s early years, her travels, some of the campaigns she has been involved in, as well as her courageous and difficult personal journey of reporting the man who abused her. Sarah also talks about how poetry helped her navigate this particularly turbulent period, as well as discover an unexpected platform for social and political expression.

I had a couple of minor issues with the online sound recording which resulted in me turning my microphone down but in general the quality should be okay. I’m working on improving the overall sound recording for remote recordings and appreciate your support and patience while I work on this.

As always, your support in promoting, sharing, subscribing, rating and reviewing the podcast is hugely appreciated, especially as it helps get voices like Sarah’s out into the world.