A fundraising campaign has been launched to create a mural honouring the late journalist and activist Nell McCafferty in her hometown of Derry.
The internationally renowned writer and feminist, who grew up in the Bogside area of the city, died in August last year.
The fundraiser, organised by activist Shá Gillespie, plans to add a mural of the local icon to the city’s famous collection.
“As a young journalist with the Irish Times, her reporting from the family courts in Dublin opened a window into the lives of working-class families, particularly women,” Ms Gillespie said.
“For more than three decades, her reporting on the treatment of women and children in the Republic was vital in starting to undermine the Catholic ethos there.
“Her book about the Kerry Babies case, A Woman to Blame, still shines a light into the darkest recesses of Irish society in its treatment of women.
“It was at Nell’s mother’s house in Beechwood Street where she stood with her friends Bernadette Devlin and Eamonn McCann, as Bernadette phoned in her capacity as a sitting MP and got the names of all those murdered on Bloody Sunday.
“Nell’s place as a daughter of the city, an activist and voice for women all over Ireland rightly deserves her place on the people’s Gallery in the Bogside,” she added.
Ms Gillespie, who was friends with the late Nell McCafferty, is organising for the mural to be painted by local visual arts group Peaball.
Our Shá is fundraising to get a mural of Nell McCafferty in the Bogside.
— Alliance for Choice Derry (@a4cderry) February 16, 2025
Nell was a daughter of Derry.
She was an incredible journalist and a women's right activist.
We would appreciate your help in making this happen!https://t.co/wfYejOGsen
The campaign has already raised over £2,000 and has been supported by Ulster University’s Special Projects Team (funded by the Department for the Economy), the School of Arts and Humanities at Magee, and Gasyard Wall Féile.
The campaign is the latest event to honour Ms McCafferty in the city, following the announcement that this year’s ‘Femme Sesh’ event for International Women’s Day is also being dedicated to her.
Donations can be made to the GoFundMe here.
