Living alone, age 64, on the low income of state benefits and being one of the 110,000 in the North of Ireland living with a rare disease, I now have first-hand experience of being in the typically underrepresented, marginalised community of artists.

My life during the war in the North and my career as a barrister and human rights advocate have taught me the importance of unity, solidarity and perseverance in insisting on change and actively promoting and supporting freedom of expression and to foster environments or that freedom to be articulated… hence my love for the spoken word.