Joining Andy this week in the Be Grand schoolyard is author and journalist Caelainn Hogan.
Caelainn is the author of Republic of Shame, which looks at Ireland’s shameful history with mother and baby homes, where the relationship between church and state allowed their treatment of “fallen women” to grow into an epidemic.
As well as this debut book, Caelainn’s work has taken her around the world, writing about Boko Haram, human trafficking in Nigeria and parents choosing if it’s safe enough to bring their children for cancer treatment in Syria.
Caelainn chats to Andy about how our dark history isn’t as far in the past as people may think, the moments on her travels that will stay with her forever, and how incredibly moving it is that no matter how dark things get people will always cling to the idea that things can get better and life keeps moving on.
Much like her work, this episode of Be Grand deals with both the dark and the light as Caelainn also joins Andy in a celebration of Chuck Norris, recounts her time as a hostess in the dying days of the boom and also the importance of the rainbow jumper.
