The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 3, Episode 3. Dr. Dong Jin Kim

Pádraig Ó Tuama is joined by Dr. Dong Jin Kim.

Dong Jin Kim is a writer and academic whose research interests are in the areas of peacebuilding, humanitarian and development cooperation, theology, and comparative studies of peace processes. He has collaborated with various humanitarian, development, and peace and reconciliation organisations, including Okedongmu Children in Korea, Korean Sharing Movement, and Corrymeela. Jin was a Senior Research Fellow in Peace and Reconciliation Studies at the Irish School of Ecumenics at Trinity College Dublin. He was a Goodwill Ambassador for Peace on the Korean Peninsula at the South Korean Ministry of Unification from 2020 to 2022. Jin is the author of The Korean Peace Process and Civil Society: Towards Strategic Peacebuilding (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), and co-editor of Reconciling Divided States: Peace Processes in Ireland and Korea (Routledge, 2022, with David Mitchell). 

Jin joins Pádraig to talk about the situation on the Korean peninsula, the complexities of unification/ reunification, and the role that humanitarian aid can play in reconciliation work. You can find a full transcript and discussion questions here.

The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 3, Episode 2. Jan Carson

Credit: Jess Lowe

Pádraig Ó Tuama is joined by Jan Carson

Jan Carson is a writer and community arts facilitator based in Belfast. She has written three novels, two collections of short stories, and two flash fiction anthologies; her work has also appeared in a number of journals and on BBC Radio 3 and 4. Her second novel, The Fire Starters (Transworld, 2019), won the EU Prize for Literature and was shortlisted for the Dalkey Novel of the Year Award. Her latest short story collection, Quickly, While They Still Have Horses was published by Penguin in April 2024. Jan is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Jan joins Pádraig to talk about magical realism, writing about the Northern Irish Protestant experience, and her work in community arts. You can find a full transcript and discussion questions here.

The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 3, Episode 1. Prof. John Paul Lederach

Pádraig Ó Tuama is joined by John Paul Lederach.

Prof. John Paul Lederach is a conflict transformation practitioner, writer, and academic. He has worked with communities all over the world, in countries including Somalia, Nicaragua, and Nepal. John Paul is the author of more than twenty books including The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace (Oxford University Press, 2005), When Blood and Bones Cry Out: Journeys Through the Soundscape of Healing and Reconciliation (University of Queensland Press, 2010), and Reconcile: Confict Transformation for Ordinary Christians (Herald Press, 2014). His writing explores social healing, spirituality, and the role of the arts in conflict transformation. John Paul is Professor Emeritus of International Peacebuilding at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, and a senior fellow at Humanity United.

John Paul joins Pádraig to talk about pacifism, language, the power of going in circles, and the role of the arts in conflict transformation. You can find a full transcript and discussion questions here.

The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 2, Episode 12. Dr. Peter Coleman

Pádraig Ó Tuama is joined by Peter Coleman.

Dr. Peter Coleman is a professor of psychology and education at Columbia University, and a renowned expert on constructive conflict resolution, intractable conflict, and sustaining peace. He directs the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution and is co-executive director of Columbia University’s Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict, and Complexity (AC4). Peter is also the co-creator of the Conflict Intelligence Assessment and the Polarization Detox Challenge. His most recent book, The Way Out: How to Overcome Toxic Polarization was released by Columbia University Press in 2021.

Peter joins Pádraig to talk about his belief in the power of big ideas, the science of intractable conflict, and how we can begin to address political polarisation. You can find a full transcript and discussion questions here.

The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 2, Episode 11. Dr. Nóirín Ní Riain

Credit: Mícheál Ó Súílleabháin

Pádraig Ó Tuama is joined by Nóirín Ní Riain.

Nóirín is an Irish theologian and recording artist who has performed to audiences all over the world. She specialises in Irish traditional music and Gregorian chant, and has collaborated musically with the monks of Glenstal Abbey in Co. Limerick, where she lived for many years. Nóirín is the author of Theosony: Towards a Theology of Listening (Columba Books, 2011), and the autobiography Listen With the Ear of the Heart (Veritas, 2010). She was ordained as an interfaith minister in 2017, and now presides over ceremonies to mark births, marriages, separations, deaths, and other important milestones. Her book Sacred Rituals: A Simple Book of Everyday Prayer was published by Hachette Books Ireland in 2023.

Nóirín joins Pádraig to share some music and to talk about theology, listening, ritual, blessing, and her deep love of the Irish language. You can find a full transcript and discussion questions here.

The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 2, Episode 10. Rev. Dr. Lesley Carroll

Pádraig Ó Tuama is joined by Lesley Carroll

Lesley Carroll is an ordained Presbyterian minister. She’s held a number of public roles in Northern Ireland, including serving as deputy chief commissioner at the Equality Commission and as an associate member of the Victims and Survivors Forum. In 2006, she was appointed to a member of the Independent Consultative Group on the Past. She has served as the Prisoner Ombudsman for Northern Ireland since 2019.

Lesley joins Pádraig to talk about conflict, religion, the role of faith in society, and how we should address the legacy of the past. You can find a full transcript and discussion questions here.

The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 2, Episode 9. Juliane Okot Bitek

Pádraig Ó Tuama is joined by Juliane Okot Bitek.

Juliane Okot Bitek is a poet. Her 100 Days (University of Alberta Press, 2016) was nominated for several writing prizes including the 2017 BC Book Prize, the Pat Lowther Award, the 2017 Alberta Book Awards and the 2017 Canadian Authors Award for Poetry. It won the 2017 IndieFab Book of the Year Award for poetry and the 2017 Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry. Her second collection, A is for Acholi (Wolsak and Wynn, 2022), was shortlisted for the 2023 Pat Lowther Memorial Award and is a finalist for the 2023 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize, and the 2023 Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes. Her most recent collection of poetry, Song & Dread (2023), is published by Talonbooks under the name Otoniya J. Okot Bitek. She is an assistant professor of Black Studies, joint appointed in English and Gender Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

Juliane joins Pádraig to talk about language, exile, conflict, and what and how we remember. You can find a full transcript and discussion questions here.

The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 2, Episode 8. Sarah Perry

Credit: Steve Brading

Pádraig Ó Tuama is joined by Sarah Perry.

Sarah  is the internationally bestselling author of the novels Melmoth (Serpent’s Tail, 2018), The Essex Serpent (Serpent’s Tail, 2016), and After Me Comes the Flood (Serpent’s Tail, 2014), and the non-fiction Essex Girls (Serpent’s Tail, 2020). She is a winner of the Waterstone’s Book of the Year Awards and the British Book Awards, and has been nominated for major literary prizes including the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Folio Prize and the Costa Novel Award. She is the Chancellor of the University of Essex, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Her essays have been published in the Guardian, the New York Times, the Observer, and the London Review of Books. She has been the UNESCO City of Literature Writer in Residence in Prague, and the Writer in Residence at the Savoy Hotel in London. Her no. 1 bestseller The Essex Serpent was adapted for television starring Clare Danes and Tom Hiddleston in the lead roles. Her new novel, Enlightenment, will be published by Jonathan Cape (UK) and Harper Collins (US) in May 2024.

Sarah joins Pádraig to talk about education, morality, our understandings of the past, and the interconnectedness of science and the arts. You can find a full transcript and discussion questions here.

The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 2, Episode 7. Richard Holloway

Pádraig Ó Tuama is joined by Richard Holloway, who was the Bishop of Edinburgh in the Scottish Episcopal Church from 1986-2000. Richard is the author of thirty books, including Godless Morality: Keeping Religion Out of Ethics (Canongate, 1999), Stories We Tell Ourselves (Canongate, 2020), and Waiting for the Last Bus (Canongate, 2018). His book Leaving Alexandria: A Memoir of Faith and Doubt (Canongate, 2012) was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize and won the PEN Ackerley prize. He was chairman of the Scottish Arts Council from 2005-2010, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. A frequent broadcaster, he has presented a number of television series and radio programmes, including Three Score Years and Ten for BBC Radio 4.

Richard joins Pádraig to share stories of some of the formational moments of his life, as well as talk about religion, doubt, death, and the arts. You can find a full transcript and discussion questions here.

The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 2, Episode 6. Prof. Duncan Morrow

Duncan Morrow is a lecturer in politics and Director of Community Engagement at Ulster University. In 1998, he was appointed as a Sentence Review Commissioner, and from 2002-2012 he was chief executive of the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council. He has also chaired the Scottish government's advisory group on tackling sectarianism. Duncan’s academic interests include conflict, ethics, and religion.

Duncan joins Pádraig to talk about the shifting nature of our identities, the importance of relationship in politics, and the necessity of acknowledging complicity in conflict. You can find a full transcript and discussion questions here.

The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 2, Episode 5. Veena O'Sullivan

Veena O’Sullivan has worked for the relief and development charity Tearfund since 2000. She has focused particularly on HIV, peacebuilding, and violence against women and girls. Originally from Bengaluru in the southern part of India, Veena has lived in Ireland since 2015. In 2021, she became the international director of Tearfund UK. 

Veena joins Pádraig to talk about the complexities of ‘relief and development’, and what sustains her in her work. A full transcript and discussion questions are available here.

The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 2, Episode 4. Dr. Jude Lal Fernando

Jude Lal Fernando is a campaigner and peace activist who coordinated the People’s Tribunal of Sri Lanka. He teaches interreligious theology and ethics at the Irish School of Ecumenics in Trinity College Dublin, and directs the Trinity Centre for Post-Conflict Justice. His publications include Religion, Conflict and Peace in Sri Lanka: The Politics of Interpretation of Nationhoods (Lit Verlag, 2013), and Resistance to Empire and Militarization: Reclaiming the Sacred (Equinox, 2020).

Jude joins Pádraig to talk about nationalism, colonialism, interreligious conflict, and his work as a peace activist in Sri Lanka. You can find a transcript and discussion questions here.

The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 2, Episode 3. Oliver Jeffers

Photo credit: Yasmina Cowan

Oliver Jeffers is a visual artist and author working in painting, bookmaking, illustration, collage, performance, and sculpture. Curiosity and humour are underlying themes throughout Oliver’s practice as an artist and storyteller. While investigating the ways the human mind understands its world, his work also functions as comic relief in the face of futility. His acclaimed picture books have been translated into over fifty languages, and have sold over 14 million copies worldwide.

His original artwork has been exhibited at such institutions as the Brooklyn Museum in New York, the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, and the National Portrait Gallery in London. Oliver grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and currently divides his time between there and Brooklyn, NY.

Oliver joins Pádraig to talk about conflict, creativity, education, perspective, and the art of feeling. As always, a full transcript and discussion questions are available.

The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 2, Episode 2. Marina Cantacuzino

Marina Cantacuzino is an award-winning British journalist who, in response to the imminent invasion of Iraq in 2003, embarked on a personal project collecting stories in words and portraits of people who had lived through violence, tragedy or injustice and sought forgiveness rather than revenge. As a result, Marina founded The Forgiveness Project, a UK charity that uses the real stories of victims and perpetrators to explore how ideas about forgiveness, reconciliation and restorative justice can be used to impact positively on people’s lives. She is also the creator of The F Word Podcast and author of three books on the topic of forgiveness, including Forgiveness: An Exploration, which was published by Simon & Schuster in 2022.

Marina joins Pádraig to talk about forgiveness, reconciliation, trauma, apology, and the power of a story. As always, a full transcript and discussion questions are available.

The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 2, Episode 1. Prof. Katy Hayward

Katy Hayward is Professor of Political Sociology at Queen’s University Belfast, a Fellow of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, and an Eisenhower Fellow. Her latest books are the co-authored Northern Ireland a Generation After Good Friday (Manchester University Press, 2021) and the monograph What do we know and what should we do about… the Irish border? (Sage, 2021). She has written and presented to media, policy, civic and academic audiences worldwide on the Irish border, Brexit, and the protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.

Katy joins Pádraig to talk about borders, British-Irish and international relations, and some of the important trends she’s seeing in the political landscape. As always, a full transcript and discussion questions are available.

The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 2. Trailer

Friends, we’re delighted that The Corrymeela Podcast is back in 2023 for a second season, with six episodes in the spring, and six in the autumn. Host Pádraig Ó Tuama will be speaking with artists and writers and academics about art, conflict, theology, politics, and reconciliation. There’ll be group discussion questions and full transcripts available.

The first episode of Season 2, coming out on April 7th, will feature the brilliant political sociologist Katy Hayward.

The Corrymeela Podcast is brought to you with generous support from The Henry Luce Foundation, the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council, and the Irish Government’s Reconciliation Fund.

The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 1, Episode 12. Martin Hayes.

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In this, the final episode of the first season of the Corrymeela podcast, Pádraig Ó Tuama speaks to Martin Hayes, the renowned and multi-award winning fiddle player. Martin talks about how music carries culture, memory, place and possibility. As always, Martin has his fiddle with him, so he plays music that demonstrates his insight.

We have a full transcript and some reflection questions here.

Martin Hayes’ website is martinhayes.com His albums can be found online or in music shops or directly from the store on his website.

As we evaluate the first season of the podcast, we have a short feedback form (it should only take you a few minutes to fill in). We'd be delighted to hear from you.

The Corrymeela Podcast, Season 1, Episode 11. Dr Lia Shimada

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Dr Lia Shimada is a a conflict mediator, a theologian and a geographer. She’s used these wide-ranging trainings to work at the interface of migration, ethnicity, change, religion and conflict. In this wide ranging conversation we discuss her experiences working in conflict mediation in Belfast, her experiences of migration, and how living with the death of her newborn son Rowan has influenced her sense of place.

As always you can find some reflection questions and a full transcript here.

This is the second-last episode of season 1 of the Corrymeela Podcast. We would love a few minutes of your time to get some feedback via this link..

You can find out more about Lia Shimada’s work on her website here. If you purchase ‘Mapping Faith; Theologies of Migration and Community’ from the publishers you can get a 25% discount (valid till the end of 2021) by using this code: ‘B25D9F4’ for the ebook and ‘MAPPING’ for the paperback.