Poets with experience of seeking refuge share their writing.
Funded by the Arts Council of Ireland.
Cover art painting by Shukran Shirzad.
Produced by Bairbre Flood.
Congratulations to everyone selected for the Wander 2025 open call competition! Thank you to everyone who sent in poems and I really hope next year to have this again and to offer this space.
So here are the poems selected:
Alienated by Mustafa Noah (https://www.instagram.com/mustafa__noah/)
How To Be by Sanjar Qiam (https://www.instagram.com/san1man/)
The Dilemma by Hiba Rasheed (https://www.instagram.com/hibarasheedpoet/)
Wind Blows Sudden by B3dmah (https://www.instagram.com/b.3dmah/)
Caged Bird by Shaza (https://www.instagram.com/shazamanlaaa/)
يحتلك الشيطان (Occupied By The Devil) by Hend Jouda (https://www.instagram.com/hendjoudat/)
Produced by Bairbre Flood - www.bairbreflood.org (https://bairbreflood.org/)
Funded by The Arts Council of Ireland (https://artscouncil.ie/)
Wander is a podcast that gives spaces to poets with lived experience of seeking refuge, migration or exile.
11 Aug 2025
Hend Jouda
Hend Jouda (https://www.instagram.com/hendjoudat/) is a writer from Gaza who’s published several poetry collections in Arabic: ‘Someone Always Leaves’, ‘No Sugar in the City’ and ‘Finger Survived’ and also, earlier this year, a collection in Arabic and French called ‘A Poet In Times Of War’. She's the winner of the Wander open call 2025 with her poem 'Occupied By The Devil'.
Hend was born in Al-Bureij refugee camp in Gaza (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/29/two-dead-after-crowds-rush-un-aid-warehouse-amid-gaza-hunger-crisis) which has been attacked dozens of times by Israel, including a bombing on May 7th of a school where displaced people were seeking shelter - over 33 Palestinian civilians were murdered. The school was targeted twice.
Whatever you can do to stop this genocide, do it (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_Action). Free Palestine. Saoirse don Phalaistin.
Produced by Bairbre Flood (https://www.instagram.com/bairbreflood/) - all episodes at www.bairbreflood.org (https://www.bairbreflood.org)
With thanks to the Arts Council of Ireland for their funding support.
13 Jul 2025
Fionnuala O'Connell
Youth project worker, poet, and visual artist, Fionnuala O'Connell has worked for many years to support young people through activities and capacity building.
She reads her poems, ‘I'm Sorry’, ‘Mother Tongue’ and 'Article 6’ (inspired by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) -
'You can't eat your rights. You can't hold your rights on top of you to keep you warm or shaded from the sun. You can't wrap your rights around you when your parents have died.'
We talk about her mother in Liberia and how she writes about what she sees happening in the world right now.
'You see how things are landing, you can see the other side of things in real time and sometimes I find that kind of a bit difficult to deal with because it brings up issues of justice and equality and equity and poverty.'
And she emphasises the importance of empathy and care in political poetry.
'I think a lot of the time I try to just see the person, see the picture. Picture what's happening in the most simplest form. To connect to what's happening.'
(https://www.instagram.com/fionnuala_oco/)
With thanks to the Arts Council of Ireland (https://artscouncil.ie/) for funding support.
Produced by Bairbre Flood : @bairbreflood (https://www.instagram.com/bairbreflood) // bairbreflood.org (https://www.bairbreflood.org)
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Spotify
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 27 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
11
Social presence
94
YouTube
0
Engagement
60
Contact Wander
Guest appearances
Does not typically book guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Wander?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
