Guestbook Project’s Director Richard Kearney talks to WGBH radio host Brian O’Donovan about Guestbook Project and the 20th anniversary of Northern Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement.

Richard Kearney remembers the powerful story of the unexpected empathic connection between a member of the IRA and a Loyalist in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, that is central to his philosophical work on peace and reconciliation and informed the creation of Guestbook Project.

In the words of Richard Kearney, “if you listen to the story of the enemy it can bring about an empathic change of imagination which can open doors (…) A set of stories that enable people to empathise with each other in a way that politics can’t. So sometimes a culture of storytelling precedes a political breakthrough.”

Guestbook Project is hosting a press reception on the 3rd of December in Boston to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement and the importance of storytelling in experiences of reconciliation and peace.

The interview – available here – took place on November 17, at the WGBH studios at the Boston Public Library.