Nell McCafferty
| Nell McCafferty | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 28, 1944 Derry, Northern Ireland |
| Residence | Ranelagh, Dublin |
| Alma mater | Queen's University Belfast (QUB) |
| Occupation | Journalist, writer |
| Home town | Derry |
| Religion | Raised Roman Catholic Currently atheist |
| Partner | Nuala O'Faolain |
| Awards | Jacob's Award (1990) |
Nell McCafferty (born 28 March 1944) is an Irish journalist, playwright, civil rights campaigner and feminist. In her journalistic work she has written for The Irish Press, The Irish Times, Sunday Tribune, Hot Press and The Village Voice.
McCafferty was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, to Hugh and Lily McCafferty, and spent her early years in the Bogside area of Derry. Although her family were not wealthy, she had a comfortable upbringing and entered Queen's University Belfast (QUB), where she took a degree in Arts. After a brief spell as a substitute English teacher in Northern Ireland and a stint on an Israeli kibbutz, she took up a post with The Irish Times.
In 1990, McCafferty won a Jacob's Award for her reports on the 1990 World Cup for RTÉ Radio 1's The Pat Kenny Show. McCafferty lives in Ranelagh, an area of Dublin. McCafferty published her autobiography, Nell, in 2004. In it, she explores her upbringing in Derry, her relationship with her parents, her fears about being gay,[1] the joy of finding a domestic haven with the love of her life, the Irish writer Nuala O'Faolain, and the pain of losing it.
In 2009, after the publication of the Murphy Report into the abuse of children in the Dublin archdiocese, McCafferty confronted Archbishop Diarmuid Martin asking him why the Catholic Church had not, as a "gesture of redemption", relinquished titles such as "Your Eminence" and "Your Grace."[citation needed] Nell has recently courted controversy with a radio declaration that the Minister for Health Mary Harney is an alcoholic, a spat with Beaumont hospital over her treatment for a brain aneurysm, a nude photoshoot, and a public offer to euthanize with her stash of morphine any ailing friend who asks.
The Irish Times wrote that "Nell's distinctive voice, both written and spoken, has a powerful and provocative place in Irish society."[2]
[edit] Bibliography
- A Woman to Blame: the Kerry Babies Case
- Peggy Deery: A Derry Family at War
- Nell (Penguin, 2004)
[edit] References
- ^ Chrisafis, Angelique (November 22, 2004), "Just call me Nell", The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1356491,00.html, retrieved 2007-11-30
- ^ "Nell McCafferty". Scríobh Literary Festival, 2005. Retrieved on April 14, 2008.
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- 1944 births
- Living people
- Celebrity Bainisteoir
- Hot Press people
- Irish atheists
- Irish dramatists and playwrights
- Irish schoolteachers
- Irish women's rights activists
- Irish women writers
- Jacob's Award winners
- Lesbian writers
- LGBT feminists
- LGBT journalists from Ireland
- LGBT people from Northern Ireland
- LGBT radio personalities from Ireland
- LGBT rights activists from Ireland
- LGBT television personalities from Ireland
- LGBT writers from Ireland
- Participants in Irish reality television series
- People from Derry
- People from County Dublin
- Radio personalities from the Republic of Ireland
- Sunday Tribune people
- The Irish Press people
- The Irish Times people
