Author: Allan LEONARD

Writer & Photographer.

My interest is in efforts to address ethnonational and other identity based conflicts, appreciating the power of belief and one’s adherence to particular world views. So, while it is useful to ascertain facts, realities are influenced by traditions and customs. I seek to learn and interpret this phenomenon, by making images and storytelling — documenting events and experiences of peacebuilding in Northern Ireland and beyond. There are many stories to tell.

Co-founder and editor of Shared Future News, which reports on peacebuilding in Northern Ireland. Co-founder and editor of FactCheckNI, Northern Ireland’s first fact-checking service. Co-founder and secretary of FCT Belfast, a local member of the Forum for Cities in Transition, which is an international network of local government, business, and civil society representatives assisting each other with peacemaking. I also contribute to Northern Slant and Slugger O’Toole.

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@SharedFuture

Lost Lives: Beauty from sorrow

Lost Lives: Beauty from sorrow
by Allan LEONARD for Shared Future News
1 October 2019

At Queen’s Film Theatre, Dermot Lavery and Michael Hewitt welcomed guests to a preview screening of Lost Lives, inspired by the acclaimed book of the same name, one which Lavery described as a monumental achievement: “Lost Lives was always at my side when I was making documentaries.” In the film, they sought to do justice to the book. This included ensuring that every person named in the book appeared in the film.

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@MrUlster

Book review: Great Thinkers (The School of Life)

Great Thinkers is a compilation of 60 short essays — about 1,500 to 3,000 words each — published by The School of Life, which dedicates itself to “developing emotional intelligence through the help of culture”. It describes the book as a volume of some of the most important ideas of Eastern and Western culture, drawn from the works of philosophers, political theorists, sociologists, artists, and novelists “whom we believe have the most to offer us today”.

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@NorthernSlant

Book review: Anna Lo: The Place I Call Home

Book review: Anna Lo: The Place I Call Home
by Allan LEONARD
15 August 2019

Anna Lo writes with a crisp and concise manner, demonstrating her fine skills in English that she makes reference to in her memoir. The Place I Call Home is a chronological story, from her childhood to current retirement. It gives a valuable, firsthand insight of the experiences of an immigrant to Northern Ireland.

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@SharedFuture @SluggerOToole

The role of media in conflict: A Féile discussion

Sean MURRAY and Trevor BIRNEY. (c) Allan LEONARD @MrUlster

The role of media in conflict: A Féile discussion
by Allan LEONARD for Shared Future News
8 August 2019

Hosted by Féile an Phobail, the campaign group Time for Truth organised an event to examine the role of the media in conflict and to listen to the account of those journalists in the front line who helped shape and influence the narrative. The panellists were Amanda Ferguson (journalist), Sean Murray (film director), Trevor Birney (film producer), and Barry McCaffery (journalist).

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@SharedFuture @SluggerOToole

Shared housing and integrated education: Building good community relations

Christine DAVIES and Grainne MULLIN. Lecture: Shared Housing and Integrated Education: Building Good Community Relations. Feile Festival. St Mary's College, Belfast, Northern Ireland. (c) Allan LEONARD @MrUlster

Shared housing and integrated education: Building good community relations
by Allan LEONARD for Shared Future News
7 August 2019

A panel discussion on how shared housing projects and the integrated education movement are contributing towards good community relations was held at St Mary’s College, Belfast, as part of the Feile Festival. The panellists were Deborah Howe (Equality Commission), Christine Davis (Housing Executive), Grainne Mullin (Radius Housing), and Jill Caskey (Integrated Education Fund). The event was chaired by Gerry McConville.

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@SluggerOToole

Reporting the Troubles: A swirl of emotions

Deric HENDERSON. (c) Allan LEONARD @MrUlster

Reporting the Troubles: A swirl of emotions
by Allan LEONARD
6 August 2019

As part of the EastSide Arts Festival, the editors read from Reporting the Troubles, their book compilation of stories of the Northern Ireland conflict. Deric Henderson (former Ireland Editor of the Press) and Ivan Little (UTV, ITN, Belfast Telegraph) were joined by guest Eamonn Mallie (RTE, BBC, Downtown Radio). Several dozen attended in a warm, upper floor room at the EastSide Visitor Centre.

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@SharedFuture

For Northern Ireland: Parity of esteem and reconciliation

Professor Peter SHIRLOW (Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool). Lecture: For Northern Ireland: Parity of Esteem and Reconciliation. Feile Festival. St Mary's University College, Belfast, Northern Ireland. (c) Allan LEONARD @MrUlster

For Northern Ireland: Parity of esteem and reconciliation
by Allan LEONARD for Shared Future News
1 August 2019

As part of the 31st annual Féile festival, Jim Gibney (a member of the Féile Debates and Discussions Committee) welcomed the audience of a couple dozen attendees of a panel discussion on what parity of esteem, reconciliation, and mutual respect means from those who are pro-Union. The panellists were Professor Peter Shirlow (Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool), Dr James Wilson (Initiative for Civic Space), Alison Grundle (Initiative for Civic Space), and Terry Wright (a civic unionist commentator).

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Photography Projects

Post-Agreement identity narratives: A photographic essay

It won't always be like this. Mural in tribute to Lyra McKee. Kent Street, Belfast.

The 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement gives legal recognition to the coexisting and overlapping national citizenships in Northern Ireland, entitling those born in the jurisdiction to be British, Irish, or both. The devolved administration codifies the traditional political identities of “Unionist” and “Nationalist”, as well as an opportunity for “Others”. The accord has also pledged greater protections for human rights and a development of equality for all.

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@NorthernSlant Essays Photography

“In my imagination, it was true”: Margins of Excess exhibition talk by Max PINCKERS

Exhibition: Margins of Excess. Talk by artist: Max PINCKERS. Belfast Exposed, Belfast, Northern Ireland. (c) Allan LEONARD @MrUlster

“In my imagination, it was true”: Margins of Excess exhibition artist talk by Max PINCKERS
by Allan LEONARD
14 June 2019

As part of the Belfast Photo Festival, Belfast Exposed is hosting an exhibition of Margins of Excess, by Max Pinckers. The artist gave a talk about this project in the gallery, describing how he approached the topic of intersecting news story truths from investigative facts and subjective realities.

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@NorthernSlant Essays Photography

Belfast Exposed exhibition talk: Post Truth: The new normal of the undefined, abstract, and make believe

From the series, Phantom Parks. (c) Abbey BATCHER

Belfast Exposed exhibition talk: Post Truth: The new normal of the undefined, abstract, and make believe
by Allan LEONARD
30 May 2019

Belfast Exposed is hosting a group exhibition displaying the work of graduate students of the MFA Photography programme at Ulster University (UU). The theme is “Post Truth”, which aims to explore how we find our truths in a reportedly “post-truth” society, through the medium of photography. As UU Professor Donovan Wylie explained on the information flyer, the works collectively represent collisions of faith, identity, and history, which “take us to a place of post truth, a world where there is a new normal: undefined, abstract, and make believe”.

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@SharedFuture @SluggerOToole

Is ethical journalism possible in a contested place?

Professor Steven YOUNGBLOOD. Lecture by Professor Steven YOUNGBLOOD (Park University, Missouri): "Is ethical journalism possible?". Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland. (c) Allan LEONARD @MrUlster

Is ethical journalism possible in a contested place?
by Allan LEONARD for Shared Future News
27 May 2019

At a public lecture event hosted by the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, at Queen’s University, Professor Steven Youngblood (Director, Center for Global Peace Journalism, Park University, Missouri) discussed the ethics of journalism in a contested place like Northern Ireland. Youngblood also spoke at Ulster University and held separate workshop sessions, all supported by the US Embassy.

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@NorthernSlant Essays Photography

Book review: The Colour of Time (Dan JONES & Marina AMARAL)

Book review: The Colour of Time (Dan JONES & Marina AMARAL)
by Allan LEONARD
26 May 2019

Released in hardcover in August 2018 and now available in paperback, The Colour of Time, by historian Dan Jones and artist Marina Amaral, is a collection of 200 colourised photographs taken between 1850 and 1960. With accompanying extended captions, this is a visually rewarding overview of personalities and major moments in world history, from the Crimean War to the space age.

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