Chasing The Curlew's Call
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What is Chasing The Curlew's Call and who created it?
Now the Curlew, we were speaking about education there, is at the centre of a new graphic novel aimed at getting children not just thinking about Curlew but about climate change. Chasing the Curlew's Call is a collaboration between University College Cork and Met Erin. It's the work of writer Dr Rosa Rogers and it's illustrated by artist Rosa Kelly. Dr Rogers joins us on the line now. Hello Rosa, how are you?
Hello, I'm great, thank you.
Well I'm delighted to speak with you. So tell us about the book.
Yes, so the book is called Chasing the Curlew's Call. It's a graphic novel and it's been created as part of Met Aaron's Translate project. So the Translate project is basically about climate science projections across Ireland but also translating this research for broader audiences. As a storyteller, we've created this book and it's about how the Curlew's been impacted by climate change. But in terms of engaging the reader, it's all about a family's life and how this family's life connects with the Curlew's life and the generations of the Curlewing Island community. And hence the title. It's really all about the sound of the bird as well. And about trying to find that kind of spellbinding sound that we've heard in the poetry of Yeats, John Moriarty, Mary Colwell, etc.
How does the Translate project connect climate science to storytelling?
Now, I believe you ran workshops with almost 200 people. You had farmers and teachers and community members. What do the participants tell you about the curlews call?
Yeah, we had these diverse workshops because as part of the project, I didn't just want to come in as a storyteller and say, this is the story that will resonate. We wanted to hear from people. And so we shared a few different Translate case studies and the one that really resonated with people was this one about the curlew. And yeah, the theme of kind of listening and the theme of the song came up over and over again in terms of kind of families' stories, stories of birdwatching and even kind of specifically going out and listening when they were younger and then hearing the absence then of the call or missing the absence of the call. So as a storyteller, I thought, how do we put kind of a voice to the voiceless here?
How can we almost signify through the story, this absence, but also this kind of yearning. So we balance kind of loss, but also hope to hear the sound again. And yeah, spoiler, but we do hear the sound at the end of the story as well.
Richard, well, I can't think of a better bird for your project than this. The most perfect song of all, the song that is most evocative of Ireland is the curlew's wonderful bubbling song, very wistful, rather sad, but it evokes a whole West of Ireland kind of post-famine kind of feel, you know. And of course, the call is beautifully, it's its name and it's gorgeous. And to To get children sufficiently interested to seek out that call, that is an achievement in itself. It is a marvellous thing to decide to do, I think. It's the wind in the willows you're doing, is it? I remember having to read the wind in the willows when I was at school all those years ago. Kenneth Graham, the mole and the rat was actually a waterhole.
But anyway, it's the same kind of thing. It's a story or stories, is it?
Yeah, it's one main story but it ends in this animation and actually you mentioned the audience being young people. We recently brought it into schools and the interest has been amazing because at the beginning we talk a little bit about how engaged the students are with climate change and there is a little bit of almost disconnection, like it feels huge, it feels multi-layered and then we bring this story in and you see the kind of you know, the sparkle in the eyes. And we ask as well, like, who was your favorite character? And it's funny because a lot of them say the Curly. The Curly is their favorite character. And yeah, I think as you say, we have these stories that resonate in our minds because I guess we engage our empathy, we engage our emotions.
And especially for something like climate change, like that's the kind of intention it brings it
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