Laurence McKeown—Irish Republican, former hunger-striker, writer—was on Montreal community radio station CKUT’s Prison Radio Show recently to discuss And Flowers Grew Up Through the Concrete, his second prison memoir. This book covers the period after the 1981 hunger strike on which 10 republicans died in the struggle against British criminalization. In the conversation, Laurence discusses the shifting strategies adopted in this new period, and how they built on lessons learned during the blanket protest to achieve the substance of their demands. He also discusses how the prisoners used this strength and autonomy to pursue the continuation of the republican struggle with the walls, in the form of a mass escape in 1983 and in a radical education program that lasted until the release of all Republican prisoners and the closure of the prison in 2000.

As Laurence summarizes, it was the shift from rebels to revolutionaries.

The interview is divided into two parts and aired on June 2 and June 16, 2026. You stream or download those episodes on CKUT’s website.

Many related books are available from LeftWingBooks.net.

Time Shadows: A Prison Memoir [1976–81]

And Flowers Grew Up Through the Concrete: A Prison Memoir 1981–1992

Nor Meekly Serve My Time: The H-Block Struggle, 1976-1981

“John Lennon’s Dead”: Stories of Protest, Hunger Strikes and Resistance

See the whole Ireland collection at LeftWingBooks.net