bout ye, marie therese

"Everybody needs to know who they are because you’ll not move on until you do. And when I got to be published, I thought that's it."

A person sitting in a wheelchair, in her garden, wearing a flowery dress and has white hair. She is holding a cut-out of a museum object that is blue in colour and says Seamus Heaney North on it

I find the museum good – there’s all these different things going on and I’m thinkin’, ‘I didn’t know that’ – it’s about education. And then goin’ in for a tea, and watching all the different types of people who have an interest in whatever department. It’s a lovely museum.

Text in black font saying 'c'mon in' (Northern Ireland colloquial for come on in), exclamation mark, placed on a turquoise colour block background. And a second line of text saying 'let's have a wee catch up' also in black text but on a pink colour block background. Also a yellow arrow pointing downs towards the events section of the page.

A person with white hair, sitting in a wheelchair in her garden, wearing a flowery dress and black gilet. hair. Her fingers are loosely intertwined on her lap and she has a watch on her right wrist and a bracelet on her left wrist.

Photo credit: Sam Patton

Well, writing is important to me because I had no education. Then I started putting pen to paper and I kind of immersed myself. I thought, gee, I want to be a part of this. It may have taken a long time, but I did it. In the background, I think what was spurring me on was determination.

Writing my book, it felt like a confession. I was so nervous when I got called to meet a publisher. I had mixed feelings, but in the end I thought, you know, damn well go for it. And I'm so glad I did.

That's why Seamus Heaney artefacts in the Ulster Museum collection mean so much to Marie Therese.

Knowing your history is important. Children should be told who they are, where they came from. And I'm sure Seamus Heaney, in some of his poems, the start was also at the end.