The Corrymeela Podcast

This is a live recording of a conversation held at an event in June 2025 called Borderlands. This is a monthly event run by Jonny Clark from Corrymeela and a small cluster of friends and partners. Last June it was a profound privilege to host Jo Berry CBE and Pat Magee at the Black Box for our event that came days before the annual Day of Reflection. Their story is one of the most challenging and inspiring examples of reconciliation we have encountered. Jo and Pat were brought together through tragedy: the Brighton bomb that killed Jo’s father, Sir Anthony Berry. Years later, Jo made the extraordinary choice to seek out the man responsible for his death. What followed was not a moment of closure, but the beginning of a long, evolving journey of dialogue.

Damian Gorman is a playwright, poet, and committed peacebuilder who has used his art to build bridges in theatres, playhouses and peace centres all over Ireland and the world. He has addressed large audiences and he has worked with small groups facilitating challenging conversations in places of conflict. Born in Newcastle, County Down, Damian has devoted much of his career to exploring the human stories that emerged from the Troubles, fostering dialogue and understanding through theatre, poetry, and community engagement. He has recently taken up the role of Head of Peacebuilding at the brilliant charity Children In Crossfire.

Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet with interests in language, violence, power, and religion. He has published poetry, essays, a memoir and works of theology. He led Corrymeela from 2014-2019. He currently lives in the USA, in New York City, where he presents Poetry Unbound, is poet-in-residence with Columbia University’s Conflict and Cooperation Centre, and writes. He has two new books for 2025: Kitchen Hymns (CHEERIO and Copper Canyon Press) and 44 Poems on Being with Each Other (Canongate and WW Norton).As always, you can download a full transcript and discussion questions here.

In this last of four special compilation episodes of The Corrymeela Podcast, we revisit interviews with guests who shared their insights on conflict and reconciliation. Featured in this episode are Duncan Morrow, Dong Jin Kim, Christine Bell, Juliane Okot Bitek, Peter Coleman, and Marina Cantacuzino, who bring us their thoughts on peace processes, conflict resolution, and the work of forgiveness.You can find a full transcript and discussion questions here.

In this third of four special compilation episodes, we return to previous guests who spoke with us about language, storytelling, and the past. Included in this episode are Sarah Perry, Sef Townsend, John Paul Lederach, Richard Holloway, and Nóirín Ní Riain.As always, you can download a full transcript and discussion questions here.

We revisit interviews with guests who spoke with us about place, movement, migration, identity, and belonging. Included in this compilation are clips from Johnston McMaster, Anthony Reddie, Lia Shimada, and Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, who offered insights from the fields of history, theology, and the arts, as well as sharing personal stories of identity and belonging.As always, you can download a full transcript and discussion questions here.

We return to interviews from earlier seasons to hear guests' insights on the pasts, presents, and futures of Britain and Ireland. Featured in this episode are Mary McAleese, Claire Mitchell, Gail McConnell, and Ebun Joseph. As always, you can download a full transcript and discussion questions here.

Sef Townsend is a storyteller and musician. He’s collected stories and songs from his travels all around the globe, and has worked with refugees, people in exile and those in asylum detention. Sef’s work has included peace and reconciliation projects, and sharing his stories with audiences in schools, museums, churches, mosques and synagogues around the world. He has co-written two collections of short stories: London Folk Tales for Children (The History Press, 2019) and London’s River Tales for Children (The History Press, 2022).As always, you can download a full transcript and discussion questions here.

Yousif M. Qasmiyeh is a poet and scholar whose work has appeared in publications including Modern Poetry in Translation, Critical Quarterly, Cambridge Literary Review, New England Review, and Poetry London. His collection Writing the Camp (Broken Sleep Books, 2021), was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and was shortlisted for the 2022 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize. Yousif is Writer in Residence for Refugee Hosts - a research project at University College London. His latest collection, Eating the Archive, was published by Broken Sleep Books in 2023.As always, you can download a full transcript and discussion questions here.

Rachel Mann is a poet, theologian, broadcaster, and Anglican priest, who, since 2023, has served as Archdeacon of Salford and Bolton. She has published two collections of poetry: her first, A Kingdom of Love (Carcanet, 2019) was highly commended in the Forward Prizes for Poetry. The areas covered by her work include theology, cultural history, and heavy metal music; she’s also written a book of reflections for Lent based on the works of Jane Austen. Rachel has appeared as a panellist on the BBC Radio 4 programmes The Moral Maze and Beyond Belief, and is a regular contributor to Thought For The Day. Her second poetry collection Eleanor Among the Saints was published by Carcanet at the start of 2024.As always, you can download a full transcript and discussion questions here.