May 7, 2024
Belfast poet shaped by working-class childhood

Belfast poet shaped by working-class childhood

A Belfast poet wants to challenge perceptions that working-class communities are less interested in poetry.

Scott McKendry is originally from the mainly unionist Shankill estate in Belfast.

After leaving school at 16, he initially began to train as an electrician, but inherited a love of poetry from his grandfather.

In 2019, he won the Patrick Kavanagh poetry award for his work.

Some of the poems are shaped by the Troubles in Northern Ireland, including one about his memory as a child of witnessing a loyalist prisoner protest on the roof of a jail in 1994.

Video journalist: Niall McCracken

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