A library of the Hunger Strikes

The struggle in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh and in Armagh Women’s Prison, culminating in the Hunger Strikes of 1980 and 1981, has produced a library that, 40 years on, continues to grow. This article takes a look at just some of those books and is not intended to be a comprehensive survey but is a personal perspective. 

Top of the list must be Bobby Sands’ own writings. First published in pamphlet form in April, June, and October 1981 respectively: ‘The Writings of Bobby Sands’, ‘The Diary of Bobby Sands’ and ‘Prison Poems’. 

The writings of Bobby Sands were a revelation to me and to many of my generation. They cut through all the hostile propaganda against Republicans and were read avidly throughout tragic ’81 and well beyond. They have seldom been out of print since. Much of the material was first published in Republican News and from 1979 in the amalgamated An Phoblacht/Republican News. 

They were followed in 1982 by Bobby’s ‘One Day in My Life’ with an introduction by Seán Mac Bride. This was published by Mercier Press of Dublin and Cork whose founder and director John M. Feehan in 1983 wrote and published ‘Bobby Sands and the Tragedy of Northern Ireland’, an impassioned account of the political context of Bobby’s life and the war then raging. 

Feehan deserved credit for such work in the face of the prevailing censorship and demonization of republicans. With wonderful irony, he placed on the title page of his own book Margaret Thatcher’s words: “You have to be prepared to defend the things in which you believe and be prepared to use force to secure the future of liberty and self-determination.” 

Bobby’s writings have been translated into many languages. While I do not (yet?) read Italian, I do possess a copy of ‘Un Giorno Della Mia Vita’, the translation of ‘One Day in My Life’ by Silvia Calamati, first published in 1996. 

Generally regarded as the best journalistic account of the 1981 Hunger Strike, ‘Ten Men Dead’ by the late David Beresford is another classic which must be read, with even The Observer describing it as “possibly the best book to emerge from the past 20 years of conflict in Northern Ireland” when it was published in 1987. It uses the ‘comms’, secret written communications between the prisoners and the Movement outside, to give a gripping and moving account of the crisis. 

The British government’s criminalisation strategy was broken by the hunger strikers and, after 1981, the H-Blocks became a university of freedom and an engine of struggle. This included reflection by the prisoners on their own experience. One of the outcomes of this was the excellent ‘Nor Meekly Serve My Time – the H-Block Struggle 1976-1981’, first-hand accounts of the prison struggle by those who fought it, compiled by the late Brian Campbell, former editor of An Phoblacht, and published in 1994. ‘Out of Time – Irish Republican Prisoners, Long Kesh 1972-2000’, a comprehensive account by former hunger striker Laurence McKeown, followed this in 2001. 

Sadly, there are not too many books on Armagh Women’s Prison, but recently published was ‘John Lennon’s Dead – Stories of Protest, Hunger Strikes and Resistance’ by former POW Síle Darragh. Gerry Adams has said that it “goes a long way in redressing the imbalance in the prison history which for many reasons had focused on the H-Blocks”. An earlier work, published in 1998, was ‘Hard Time – Armagh Gaol 1971-1986’ by Raymond Murray who served as Catholic chaplain in the prison during those years. 

The 25th anniversary of 1981 saw the publication of ‘Hunger Strike’, a series of reflections by a variety of writers in prose and some poetry, edited by Danny Morrison. This is excellent for getting different perspectives and it was republished in 2019 with additional material. Also first published in 2006 was Denis O’Hearn’s biography ‘Bobby Sands – Nothing but an Unfinished Song’, which Laurence McKeown said has Bobby Sands “alive and vibrant on every page”. 

Just published this year is ‘6000 days’ by Jim (Jaz) McCann which covers his time on the blanket protest, as a prisoner during the Hunger Strikes and as a recaptured participant in the Great Escape from the H-Blocks in 1983.

Finally, ‘Ireland’s Hunger for Justice – the Story of our 22 Hunger Striker Martyrs’ published in 2017 by the Tomás Aghas Centenary Memorial Committee in Tralee, tells the stories of the ten of 1981 alongside the previous 12 republicans who died on hunger strike since 1917. 

It is safe to say of the Irish that no people has a longer history of struggle by political prisoners or a more comprehensive literature to record and reflect on it.