Karen O’Reilly is a writer and human rights and humanitarian worker. She has worked as a human rights educator for Amnesty International, and in refugee protection and resettlement for the UN refugee agency in Uganda, the Central African Republic, Senegal, Guinea, Kenya and Jordan. In between UN deployments she writes expert witness reports for lawyers representing asylum seekers in the UK and the US. Much of her creative writing looks at the human cost of war, and is based on her experiences working with refugees, as well as travel in the Middle East and Africa. She has published several essays in the Dublin Review and several in other journals. She has also written and published human rights education materials including a textbook and drama and film resources for Amnesty International. Her book, Tell Me Why You Fled, is a memoir about working with refugees in Uganda.
Originally from Northern Ireland, she now lives in Albuquerque with her husband and two children. She regularly hosts women writers in her North Valley home for literary events (which mostly involve drinks and hot tubbing).
PLUME: When did you know you were a writer?
KO: I don’t know when I knew I was a writer, but I recently came across a bunch of books full of stories that I wrote when I was a kid. They have an “author’s note” at the beginning (“Karen O’Reilly is seven years old. She has one brother and five lights in her bedroom.”) The stories are mostly about plucky orphans and bear an uncanny resemblance to the plot of the movie Annie.
PLUME: Where do you get your ideas?
KO: I write about what I know (because I don’t have a very good imagination). And what I’ve known, for the last thirteen years, has been what refugees go through. I’ve worked with refugees all over Africa and the Middle East, and interviewed thousands of people about why they fled. I write a lot about that: about why people flee, about what they go through when they do. I also write about the crazy world of expat aid workers in Africa and what they are inevitably fleeing (a lot of dysfunctional lives people are trying to leave behind), the Irish bars, the maids, the privilege, the racism, the guilt.
PLUME: How supportive is your local community for writers?
KO: Very! There is a lovely community of supportive writers here, and I’m lucky to be a part of that.
PLUME: How do you define “success” for a writer? For yourself?
KO: Success… achieving work you’re proud of, you can stand over. Sitting down and doing it, and completing it. Pushing through it. Nice feedback from people whose opinions you value. Getting people to think about something differently. Of course money for doing it can be good too.
PLUME: Do you have a writing shero? A fellow woman writer from whom you get inspiration?
KO: There are a lot of writers I like, but I really admire Piper Kerman (who wrote Orange is the New Black) for what she’s doing with her writing. I love that she uses her platform for advocacy – about prison reform. I saw her speak, and it was electrifying. There were so many problems with the prison system that I wasn’t even aware of until I heard her talk. People showed up to see her because they liked the TV show based on her book. And she slyly used that opportunity to make them all much more aware – and outraged – about the problems with the prison industry in the US. And so they pretty much all (and it was a big audience) donated to an organization advocating on behalf of women prisoners before they left. That for me is a dream – to write something that is good in and of itself – but to use that too to achieve something much bigger. That would be my fantasy of course – my book being picked up by Netflix, made into a hit TV show, and then using that to trick lots of unwitting people into coming to see me give angry talks about the horrendous situations refugees are faced with, and get them so worked up so that they give money to organizations working with refugees, and advocate on their behalf. They wouldn’t even realize it had all been a ploy. (Another positive outcome of this fantasy Netflix-scenario: I’d be rich.)
PLUME: What are you currently working on?
KO: Some essays: in particular one about a traumatic experience while living on a kibbutz in 1994. And revisiting my book, Tell Me Why You Fled, which is a memoir about working with refugees in Uganda. It’s not as grim as it sounds.
Check out Karen’s website www.karenoreilly.org (She says, “I know it sounds like an organization of Karen O’Reillys. It’s a common name, so everything less obnoxious-sounding was already taken.”)
