Laurence McKeown

Irish writer and republican

Laurence McKeown

Born| September 1956 (aged 68)

Randalstown, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

Education|

* Open University ([[Bachelor of Social Science |BSS]])
* Queen's University Belfast (DSocSci)

Occupation(s)| Writer, Academic, Playwright
Known for| 1981 Irish Hunger Strike, Belfast Film Festival
Notable work|

* Nor Meekly Serve My Time: The H-Block Struggle 1976–1981
* Out Of Time: Irish Republican Prisoners
* Long Kesh, 1972–2000

Military career
Paramilitary| Provisional IRA
Years of service| c. 1972 – 1992
Battles / wars| The Troubles

Laurence McKeown (born 1956) is an Irish author, playwright, screenwriter, and former volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who took part in the 1981 Irish hunger strike.

## Background and IRA activity

[edit]

McKeown was born in 1956 in Randalstown, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.[1] He attended St Malachy's College, Belfast.[2] As a teenager, McKeown had ambitions of becoming an architect and started working in the offices of a quantity surveyor when aged 15.[3] When aged 16 he joined the IRA. He said of joining the IRA: "There was a lot of soul-searching. It's not like joining a state army, where someone signs their name, gets a uniform and rifle, and the chaplain blesses them."[3] In August 1976, McKeown was arrested and charged with causing a series of bomb explosions and the attempted murder of a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.[1][3] At his trial in April 1977, McKeown was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Maze Prison.[1][3] McKeown refused to recognise the courts.[4]

## Imprisonment and hunger strike

[edit]

McKeown took part in the blanket protest at the Maze Prison upon arrival in 1978 with the aim of resecuring Special Category Status for convicted paramilitary prisoners, which had been lost in 1975.[4] He then joined the subsequent no-wash protest in 1978.[4] In late 1980 the protest escalated and seven prisoners took part in a hunger strike, aimed at restoring political status by securing what were known as the "Five Demands":

1. The right not to wear a prison uniform;
2. The right not to do prison work;
3. The right of free association with other prisoners, and to organise educational and recreational pursuits;
4. The right to one visit, one letter and one parcel per week;
5. Full restoration of remission lost through the protest.[5]

The strike ended before any prisoners had died and without political status being secured, and a second hunger strike began on 1 March 1981 led by Bobby Sands, the IRA's former Officer Commanding in the prison.[6] McKeown joined the strike on 29 June, after Sands and three other prisoners had died.[7] Following the deaths of six other prisoners, McKeown's family authorised medical intervention to save his life on 6 September, the 70th day of his hunger strike.[7] He described his recollection of the events in an interview:

> "We were committed to something. Unless someone was coming in and saying “Right, you have your own clothes, you won’t do prison work, you have all your demands,” short of that we wouldn’t have entertained it. It was all or nothing at that stage. The fact that so many people had died made us even more determined."[8]

> "You're very sleepy and very, very tired and you're sort of nodding off to sleep but something's telling you to keep waking up. This was the thing that kept everybody going through the hunger strike in trying to live or last out as long as possible. I knew death was close but I wasn't afraid to die – and it wasn't any sort of courageous or glorious thing. I think death would have been a release. You can never feel that way again. It's not like tiredness. It's an absolute, total, mental and physical exhaustion. It's literally like slipping into death."[9]

## Freedom

[edit]

McKeown was released in 1992. Before his release, he completed a bachelor's degree in social science from the Open University while in prison, and subsequently obtained a PhD in Sociology from Queen's University Belfast.[3][10][11] In the mid-1990s he co-founded the Belfast Film Festival,[3] and has written two books about Irish republican prisoners in the Maze Prison; Nor Meekly Serve My Time: The H-Block Struggle 1976–1981 (co-written with Brian Campbell and Felim O'Hagan) was published in 1994, and Out Of Time: Irish Republican Prisoners, Long Kesh, 1972–2000 was published in 2001.[11] In 1996 he was an unsuccessful candidate in the Northern Ireland Forum election in South Antrim.[12] In 2006 he appeared in a two-part documentary titled Hunger Strike, which was shown on RTÉ to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike.[13] McKeown also works as a Development Officer for Coiste na nIarchimí, an umbrella organisation of republican ex-prisoners groups.[14]

## Writing

[edit]

McKeown and Brian Campbell co-wrote a film about the 1981 hunger strike called H3 which was directed by Les Blair, and premiered in cinemas on 28 September 2001.[15] Before the death of Campbell in 2005, he and McKeown also wrote two plays together, The Laughter of Our Children which debuted in 2001, and A Cold House which debuted in 2003.[16][17] McKeown's first solo play, The Official Version, debuted on 18 September 2006.[18] He has continued to write drama, including Two Roads West which is a site-specific play set in a Belfast black cab, where the audience enters the cab with the two actors. The play was revived with an altered script for a Derry location as part of Derry City of Culture in 2013.[19]

In 2016, McKeown's play Green and Blue premiered at the Girdwood Community Hub, Belfast as part of the Belfast International Festival. Produced by Kabosh, Green and Blue dramatises the realities faced by, and unlikely relationship between, a Garda officer and an RUC officer. It was inspired by the Voices From the Vault oral history project which recorded first-hand accounts of Garda Síochána and Royal Ulster Constabulary experiences during the Troubles.[20]

### Selected Playography

[edit]

* The Laughter of Our Children (2001, co-written with Brian Campbell)[21]
* A Cold House (2003, co-written with Brian Campbell)[21]
* Two Roads West (2009)[21]
* The Official Version (2006)[22]
* The West Awakes (2010)[21]
* Those You Pass On The Street (2014) [23]
* Green and Blue (2016) [20]
* Something In The Air (2019)[22]
* Before You Go (2021)[24]

## Publications

[edit]

* Nor Meekly Serve My Time: The H-Block Struggle 1976–1981 (1994, co-written with Brian Campbell and Felim O'Hagan) ISBN 978-0-9514229-5-3.
* Out Of Time: Irish Republican Prisoners, Long Kesh, 1972–2000 (2001) ISBN 978-1-900960-10-6.
* Threads (2019) ISBN 978-1-912561-23-0
* Time Shadows : A Prison Memoir (2021) ISBN 978-1-914318-11-5

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c English, Richard (2003). Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA. Pan Books. p. 416\. ISBN 0-330-49388-4.
2. ^ Moriarty, Gerry (13 August 2016). "A former IRA gunman and hunger striker tells his story". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
3. ^ a b c d e f McFadyean, Melanie (4 March 2006). "The legacy of the hunger strikes". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
4. ^ a b c Moriarty, Gerry (13 August 2016). "A former IRA gunman and hunger striker tells his story". The Irish Times. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
5. ^ Taylor, Peter (1997). Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 229–234\. ISBN 0-7475-3818-2.229-234&rft.pub=Bloomsbury+Publishing&rft.date=1997&rft.isbn=0-7475-3818-2&rft.aulast=Taylor&rft.aufirst=Peter&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Laurence+McKeown" class="Z3988">
6. ^ "A Chronology of Main Events". CAIN. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
7. ^ a b "List of Dead and Other Hunger Strikers". CAIN. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
8. ^ Taylor, Peter (1997). Behind the Mask : the IRA and Sinn Fein. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 291\. ISBN 0-7475-3818-2.
9. ^ Taylor, Peter (1997). Behind the Mask : the IRA and Sinn Fein. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 292\. ISBN 0-7475-3818-2.
10. ^ "The prison that served its time". BBC. 27 July 2000. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
11. ^ a b "Long Kesh memories". Irish Resistance Books. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
12. ^ Northern Ireland elections
13. ^ Kehoe, Emmanuel (7 May 2006). "Hunger strikes: A tale of two Irelands". The Sunday Business Post. Archived from the original on 28 August 2006. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
14. ^ McKeown, Laurence (25 January 2007). "Out from behind the doors". An Phoblacht. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
15. ^ "Harsh facts of the hunger strikes". The Sunday Business Post. 30 September 2001. Archived from the original on 21 December 2004. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
16. ^ "Lawrence McKeown". dollee.com. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
17. ^ "A Cold House". An Phoblacht. 22 May 2003. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
18. ^ Aine Ni Bhriain (14 September 2006). "New play commemorates Hunger Strikes". An Phoblacht. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
19. ^ "Two Roads West". Kabosh. 2013. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
20. ^ a b "Green and Blue". Kabosh. 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
21. ^ a b c d "Laurence McKeown Playography". Irish Playography. 2022. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
22. ^ a b "Laurence McKeown: There are things I'd do differently but not to do with the conflict". Irish News. 23 May 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
23. ^ "Those You Pass On The Street". Fit-Up Theatre Festival. Blood in the Alley. 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
24. ^ "Before You Go". Kabosh. 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2022.

* v
* t
* e

1981 Irish hunger strike

Participants who died|

* Bobby Sands
* Francis Hughes
* Raymond McCreesh
* Patsy O'Hara
* Joe McDonnell
* Martin Hurson
* Kevin Lynch
* Kieran Doherty
* Thomas McElwee
* Michael Devine

* Northern Ireland portal

Participants who survived|

* Brendan McLaughlin
* Paddy Quinn
* Laurence McKeown
* Pat McGeown
* Matt Devlin
* Liam McCloskey
* Patrick Sheehan
* Jackie McMullan
* Bernard Fox
* Hugh Carville
* John Pickering
* Gerard Hodgkins
* James Devine

Political and religious figures|

* Margaret Thatcher
* Garret FitzGerald
* Charles Haughey
* Humphrey Atkins
* Jim Prior
* Bernadette Devlin McAliskey
* Owen Carron
* Tomás Ó Fiaich
* Basil Hume
* Denis Faul
* John Magee

Key events|

* Blanket protest
* Dirty protest
* April 1981 Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election
* June 1981 Irish general election
* August 1981 Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election

* v
* t
* e

Provisional Irish Republican Army

General|

* Anti-Treaty IRA
* Sinn Féin
* Republican News
* An Phoblacht
* The Green Book
* The Troubles (Timeline)
* Haughey arms crisis
* IRA campaign
* Chronology of Provisional IRA actions
* Arms importation
* Weaponry
* Barrack buster
* Improvised tactical vehicles
* Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape
* Blanket protest
* Dirty protest
* HM Prison Maze
* Anti H-Block
* 1981 Irish hunger strike
* Maze Prison escape
* Armalite and ballot box strategy
* Punishment attacks
* Disappeared
* Smithwick Tribunal
* Northern Ireland peace process
* Good Friday Agreement

Organisation|

* Chief of Staff
* IRA Army Council
* IRA Northern Command
* IRA Southern Command
* Internal Security Unit
* Active service unit
* Belfast Brigade
* Derry Brigade
* South Armagh Brigade
* East Tyrone Brigade
* Balcombe Street Gang

Actions|

| 1970–1979|

* Battle of St Matthew's
* Falls Curfew
* 1970 Crossmaglen bombing
* Scottish soldiers' killings
* Red Lion bombing
* Balmoral showroom bombing
* Abercorn bombing
* Donegall Street bombing
* Battle at Springmartin
* Battle of Lenadoon
* Bloody Friday
* Claudy bombing
* Newry customs bombing
* Old Bailey bombing
* Honey Trap killings
* King's Cross & Euston bombings
* Coleraine bombings
* 1973 Westminster bombing
* M62 bombing
* Clogher attack
* Houses of Parliament bombing
* Tower of London bombing
* Guildford pub bombings
* Harrow School bombing
* Brooks's Club bombing
* Woolwich pub bombing
* British Airways bombing attempt
* Birmingham pub bombings
* London pillar box bombings
* Talbot Arms bombing
* Bristol bombing
* Telephone exchange bombings
* 1974 Oxford Street bombing
* Carlton Tower & Portman Hotel shootings
* Mountainview attack
* Bayardo Bar attack
* Forkhill attack
* Caterham Arms bombing
* Tullyvallen massacre
* London Hilton bombing
* Piccadilly bombing
* Trattoria Fiore bombing
* Scott's Oyster Bar bombing
* Walton's Restaurant bombing
* Drummuckavall ambush
* Balcombe Street siege
* Kingsmill massacre
* West Ham station attack
* Olympia bombing
* Store bar shooting
* Stag Inn attack
* Garryhinch ambush
* Jonesborough Gazelle downing
* La Mon restaurant bombing
* Crossmaglen ambush
* Warrenpoint ambush
* Brussels bombing
* Dungannon attack

|

1980–1989|

* Dunmurry train bombing
* Lough Foyle attacks
* Glasdrumman ambush
* 1981 Bessbrook attack
* Chelsea Barracks bombing
* Hyde Park & Regent's Park bombings
* Harrods bombing
* Royal Artillery Barracks bombing
* Brighton hotel bombing
* Ballygawley land mine attack
* Newry mortar attack
* Ballygawley attack
* Enniskillen mortar attack
* RUC Birches barracks attack
* Rheindahlen bombing
* Loughgall ambush
* Operation Flavius
* Corporals killings
* Lisburn bombing
* Aughanduff Lynx shootdown
* 1988 Netherlands attacks
* Glamorgan barracks bombing
* Inglis Barracks bombing
* Ballygawley bus bombing
* Jonesborough ambush
* Clive Barracks bombing
* Deal barracks bombing
* Mayobridge attack
* Derryard attack

1990–1991|

* Derrygorry Gazelle downing
* South Armagh sniper
* Downpatrick roadside bomb
* Operation Conservation
* 1990 Wembley bombing
* Carlton Club bombing
* London Stock Exchange bombing
* Honourable Artillery Company bombing
* Lichfield gun attack
* RFA Fort Victoria bombing
* Proxy bombings
* Downing Street mortar attack
* Paddington & Victoria station bombings
* Mullacreevie ambush
* Glenanne barracks bombing
* Coagh ambush
* Musgrave Park Hospital bombing
* Crumlin Road Prison bombing

1992–1997|

* Teebane bombing
* Clonoe ambush
* London Bridge bombing
* Staples Cnr bombing
* Baltic Exchange bombing
* Sussex Arms bombing
* Cloghoge attack
* Coalisland riots
* Forensic Science Laboratory bombing
* Stoke Newington Road bomb
* 1992 Manchester bombing
* Night of the Long Knives
* 1993 Harrods bombing
* Warrington bombings
* Cullaville occupation
* Camden bombing
* Bishopsgate bombing
* Finchley Road bombings
* Battle of Newry Road
* Shankill Road bombing
* 1993 Fivemiletown ambush
* Heathrow attacks
* Crossmaglen Lynx downing
* Drumcree conflict
* Docklands bombing
* Aldwych bus bombing
* 1996 Manchester bombing
* Hammersmith Bridge bombing
* Osnabrück mortar attack
* Thiepval barracks bombing
* Coalisland attack
* 1997 Northern Ireland riots

Personalities
(Volunteers)|

* Paddy Agnew
* Martina Anderson
* Declan Arthurs
* Thomas Begley
* Ivor Bell
* Patricia Black
* Charles Breslin
* Edward Butler
* Paul Butler
* Joe Cahill
* Liam Campbell
* Fergal Caraher
* Malachy Carey
* Owen Carron
* Gerard Casey
* Carál Ní Chuilín
* Gabriel Cleary
* Peter Cleary
* Kevin Coen
* Eamon Collins
* Eddie Copeland
* Marion Coyle
* Gerard Davison
* Matt Devlin
* Hugh Doherty
* Joe Doherty
* Kieran Doherty
* Martin Doherty
* Pat Doherty
* Colin Duffy
* Rose Dugdale
* Dessie Ellis
* Mairéad Farrell
* William Fleming
* Kieran Fleming
* Bernard Fox
* Angelo Fusco
* Michael Gaughan
* John Francis Green
* Dessie Grew
* George Harrison
* Brendan Hughes
* Francis Hughes
* Martin Hurson
* Pearse Jordan
* Brian Keenan
* Gerry Kelly
* John Kelly
* Patrick Joseph Kelly
* Sean Kelly
* Jim Lynagh
* Proinsias Mac Airt
* Breandán Mac Cionnaith
* Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde
* Joseph MacManus
* Seán Mac Stíofáin
* Patrick Magee
* Paul Magee
* Donna Maguire
* Larry Marley
* Paul Marlowe
* Leo Martin
* Alex Maskey
* Pearse McAuley
* Daniel McCann
* Fra McCann
* Jennifer McCann
* Raymond McCartney
* Martin McCaughey
* Raymond McCreesh
* Joe McDonnell
* Séamus McElwaine
* Thomas McElwee
* Brendan McFarlane
* Tom McFeely
* Gerry McGeough
* Pat McGeown
* John Joe McGirl
* Martin McGuinness
* Pádraig McKearney
* Tommy McKearney
* Billy McKee
* Kevin McKenna
* Laurence McKeown
* Michael McKevitt
* Thomas McMahon
* Jackie McMullan
* Martin Meehan
* Ian Milne
* Arthur Morgan
* Danny Morrison
* Conor Murphy
* Thomas "Slab" Murphy
* Kieran Nugent
* Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
* Ed O'Brien
* Dáithí Ó Conaill
* Éamonn O'Doherty
* Joe B. O'Hagan
* Siobhán O'Hanlon
* Rita O'Hare
* Diarmuid O'Neill
* Dolours Price
* Marian Price
* Liam Quinn
* Paddy Quinn
* Billy Reid
* Bobby Sands
* Seán Savage
* Pat Sheehan
* Frank Stagg
* Jimmy Steele
* Bobby Storey
* Gerard Tuite
* Seamus Twomey
* Roy Walsh
* Séanna Walsh

Espionage and
Supergrasses|

* Eamon Collins
* Denis Donaldson
* Joseph Fenton
* Kevin Fulton
* Raymond Gilmour
* Martin McGartland
* Sean O'Callaghan
* Freddie Scappaticci (allegedly "Stakeknife")

Associates|

* Cumann na mBan
* Fianna Éireann
* South Armagh Republican Action Force
* Direct Action Against Drugs
* NORAID
* Clan na Gael
* Troops Out Movement

Derivatives|

* Continuity Irish Republican Army
* Real Irish Republican Army

Prominent
killings|

* Jeffery Stanford Agate
* Johnathan Ball
* Anthony Berry
* Robert Bradford
* Joe Bratty
* Matthew Burns
* Martin Cahill
* Eamon Collins
* Raymond Elder
* Gerard Evans
* Christopher Ewart-Biggs
* Joseph Fenton
* Billy Fox
* Maurice Gibson
* Ian Gow
* Heidi Hazell
* Donald Kaberry
* Andrew Kearney
* Baroness Brabourne
* William "Frenchie" Marchant
* Martin McBirney
* Jerry McCabe
* Robert McConnell
* Jean McConville
* Columba McVeigh
* Ross McWhirter
* Stephen Melrose
* Lord Mountbatten
* Lenny Murphy
* Robert Nairac
* Thomas Oliver
* Tim Parry
* Paul Quinn
* Robert Seymour
* Robert McCartney (allegedly)
* Joseph Rafferty (allegedly)
* Ray Smallwoods
* Sammy Smyth
* Nick Spanos
* James Stronge
* Norman Stronge
* Richard Sykes
* Stephen Tibble
* Sammy Ward
* Michael Willetts

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* FAST
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* Israel

Other|

* IdRef

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