Sarah Clancy: Poetry, Activism, Politics, and the Contemporary Left

Irish Left Archive Podcast

In this episode we talk to Sarah Clancy. Sarah is a poet and activist from Galway, and currently based in Clare. Her published collections include Stacey and the Mechanical Bull in 2011, Thanks for Nothing, Hippies in 2012, and The Truth and Other Stories in 2014. Sarah has often performed her work both at literary and at political events.

We discuss Sarah’s background and how she came both to political activism and to poetry, how the two inflect each other, her experience of activism and analysis of the political Left. We also discuss the challenges for the contemporary Left in Ireland during the pandemic crisis.

During the episode you can hear Sarah recite her poem, “And Yet We Must Live in These Times”.

You’ll find a video of Sarah performing “Cherishing For Beginners” at the Stand for Truth rally during the visit of the Pope in 2018 on Youtube (thanks to the WSM).

Lyrikline.org has the text and a recording of the Rita Ann Higgins poem, “Some People”, which Sarah discusses.

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The Irish Left Archive Podcast looks at Left politics in Ireland, talking to activists, writers, historians, politicians and others involved in Left organisations and movements about their experiences of participating in Left parties and campaigns. The podcast is hosted by Ciarán Swan and Aonghus Storey.

View this episode on our website: #17: Sarah Clancy: Poetry, Activism, Politics, and the Contemporary Left.