From Strokestown to London 

In From Strokestown to London (25:27) acclaimed poet and performance artist Cherry Smyth counterpoints her impressions of female Famine Irish immigrants in London in the 1840s with her recollections of visiting the National Famine Museum, Strokestown Park, which helped inspire her to create Famished (Pindrop Press, 2019). She brings viewers on an evocative and spell-binding journey from famine-stricken rural Ireland to the heart of the British Empire at the height of the Great Hunger. The film weaves together candid reflections, evocative verse, traditional lyric and recovered voices from the 1840s which convey and interlayer the plight of women with the fate of Famine migrants such as the 1,490 from Strokestown who crossed the Atlantic on "coffin ships". Smyth collaborates with composer Ed Bennett and vocalist Lauren Kinsella for the performance as well as filmmaker Louise Boer.
Famished by Cherry Smyth is available from Pindrop Press www.pindroppress.com/books/Fam.... You can learn more about Cherry Smyth at www.cherrysmyth.com/welcome.html
From Strokestown to London is hosted by the National Famine Museum, Strokestown Park, and Irish Heritage Trust as part of the Great Famine Voices 2023 season strokestownpark.ie/great-fami..., which is funded by the Government of Ireland Emigrant Support Programme.
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