Tag Archives: Ruairí McKiernan

Lahinch-based author Ruairí McKiernan has landed a major US prize for his book Hitching for Hope – a Journey into the Heart and Soul of Ireland. The annual Best Book Awards by the American Book Fest have been in existence for almost 20 years. They celebrate some of the finest writing from the United States and around the world. McKiernan scooped the top award in the travel category, which also included finalists from Spain, Mexico and the United States. Hitching for Hope is part memoir and part hitchhiking travel adventure. An Irish number 1 bestseller, it has also proved particularly popular with US readers. Both Ruairí and his book benefit from strong US associations. He has spent considerable time in the US over the years, including as a Fulbright scholar in Berkeley, California. Hitching for Hope is published by renowned US publisher Chelsea Green Publishing. It has received praise from readers throughout the US, including from well-known Americans such as …

LAHINCH’S Ruairí McKiernan will host a special event this weekend to celebrate the feast of St Brigid. The event, on Saturday afternoon, will hear from a Nobel Peace Laureate, as well as a man the Dalai Lama described as a ‘hero’ at a Virtual Féile Bríde event. Mairead Corrigan Maguire and Richard Moore will join the conversation which will explore issues relating to peace and justice in the modern world. The virtual Féile Bríde event, hosted online last year for the first time, was a huge success with hundreds joining from around the world and while it is expected to return to Kildare next year, this year the virtual option remains very popular. To date, registrations for Saturday’s event have come from people in Brazil, Guatemala, South Africa, North America, and Vietnam. McKiernan is a Lahinch-based campaigner and the author of Hitching for Hope. He will moderate the event involving special guest Belfast’s Mairead Corrigan Maguire. Ms Corrigan Maguire won …

A CLARE-based podcast is attracting a growing international listenership with inspiring contributions from artists of various disciplines who are living in or originally from this county. ‘The Creative Souls of Clare’ podcast is hosted by Lahinch author and social innovator Ruairí McKiernan. Since its launch just over a year ago, the podcast has been making waves, boasting listeners in over 27 countries, including Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Qatar, Iran, the Philippines, Finland, Portugal, and Mexico. The podcast first came about following the cancellation of the launch for Hitching for Hope, Ruairí’s hugely popular book documenting his travels around Ireland in the wake of the economic crash. The pandemic forced him to cancel all events, including his planned ‘World tour of Clare’. This was to involve events in various County Clare libraries as part of an initiative by Creative Ireland to promote creativity in the community. Ruairí’s response to the enforced cancellations might be considered to be an act of …

LAHINCH author and activist Ruairí McKiernan, South African activist and Knockalisheen Direct Provision centre resident Bulelani Mfaco, and Bellharbour poet and activist Sarah Clancy are to help lead a major event honouring legendary South African humanitarian and anti-apartheid campaigner Desmond Tutu, who passed away last Sunday at the age of 90. The event, which takes place online on Thursday (December 30), is being organised by Afri, an Irish peace and human rights organisation. Archbishop Tutu was the organisation’s patron for almost thirty years, after it hosted his first visit to Ireland 1984. Since then, Afri hosted the revered human rights leader several times, including in 1991 when he led the annual Afri famine walk in Doolough, County Mayo. Afri helped lead the Irish campaign against apartheid and arranged for the Dunnes Stores strikers, who refused to handle South African fruit, to meet Tutu in London while on his way to collect the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. This meeting famously helped internationalise the campaign against …

Lahinch author honoured by president for his book on hitch-hiking adventures around Ireland LAHINCH author, charity founder and campaigner, Ruairí McKiernan has been lauded by the President for his new book, Hitching for Hope – A Journey into the Heart and Soul of Ireland. President Michael D Higgins said the work “offers hope” during turbulent times. He described the best-selling book as being “in the fine tradition of a search for what is most valuable in the different spaces of Ireland and how they might help us craft a new way forward together.” He added that it is “empathic in approach, well written, and crucially, it offers hope.” President recently invited Ruairí to present the book at Áras an Uachtaráin. The event had been due to take place last year but was postponed due to pandemic restrictions. Although Ruairí had been to the Áras on numerous occasions previously, while serving on the Council of State during 2012-2019, he said this …

HOPES for the arrival of Spring are closely associated with St Brigid’s Day and, in normal times, thousands would have made the pilgrimage last Monday to the saint’s well in Liscannor. This year, to mark the day and to celebrate the ancient festival of Imbolc, a virtual event is being hosted by the Irish peace and justice organisation Afri and will include two Clare-based contributors. The virtual Féile Bríde takes place from 3-5pm next Saturday, February 6, and will feature a combination of inspirational talks, poetry and music, combined with the live-streaming of the annual tree planting ceremony. Afri coordinator Joe Murray said he’s looking forward to the event and expecting several hundred attendees from throughout Ireland and abroad. “We’re surprised by the huge volume of registrations already this year,” he remarked. “It feels like people are particularly hungry for hope in these times and that is understandable given all that is going on in the world. February is a time …

MACRA na Feirme, the rural youth organisation is to launch a new Ennistymon Macra branch this week (January 27). It has been more than 20 years since there was such a club in the town and the revival is seen as a major  progression for Macra in Clare which is 74 years old this year. Following on from the successful launch of the Kilrush club in 2019, the launch forms part of the Clare organisation’s five-year plan and will create a better geographical balance to the clubs in the county. While the new club will be based in Ennistymon, members from all different backgrounds across the surrounding areas of North Clare are welcome and people from non-farming backgrounds are also encouraged to join. On Wednesday, January 27, in an online launch, Clare Macra will make a short presentation outlining its activities and the  benefits of joining. National President Thomas Duffy will be in attendance. Guest speaker on the night will …

Lahinch author Ruairí McKiernan writes about the challenges of writing his first book, overcoming initial rejection from publishers, and then launching what became a No.1 bestseller at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was never my dream to write a book, but it seemed life had other plans. The first call to write came when I was 23 and living in Canada. A publisher approached me after hearing me on the radio discussing globalisation. I was no expert on the subject, but I decided to give it a go. A third of the way through the first draft I gave up. Too hard, too time-consuming; the writing life not for me. “Never again,” I said. Fast forward a decade. I’m hitchhiking around Ireland on what I called a listening tour; seeking out hope for myself and my country. At that time I was burnt out, feeling lost and depressed, and so too was post-boom Ireland. I began meditating, bringing awareness to …