Emergence Magazine Podcast Making Light: An Invitation… – by Kerri ní Dochartaigh
Mar 31, 2026
Kerri ní Dochartaigh, an Irish author known for evocative writing about place, grief, and our ties to the natural world. She revisits childhood in Derry and explores holding light and darkness together. She describes Celtic Bealtaine rituals, tender domestic moments amid wider suffering, and how making light can be an act of care and world-making.
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Light And Darkness Are Interwoven
- Darkness and light coexist as interwoven forces rather than opposites.
- Kerri ní Dochartaigh frames her childhood in Derry during the Troubles as a 'thin time' where brightness and terror braided together, shaping a widened heart.
We Are Part Of The More Than Human Web
- Human beings are deeply entangled with the more-than-human world.
- Kerri lists moss, lichen, oak, starfish, whale, clay, sky and fire to emphasize we are part of a single living web, not isolated individuals.
Scarcity Narratives Heighten Separation
- Scarcity and separation narratives mirror violence by fragmenting belonging.
- Kerri argues that framing light as scarce severs the 'we' and aligns with fear, while alternative stories restore connection.