Yvonne Watterson Writing
Yvonne Watterson Writing

considering the lilies & lessons from the field ©

More About Yvonne

More About Yvonne

More about Yvonne

Yvonne Watterson is a Northern Irish-born writer and educator, now based near Guadalajara, Mexico. Her career in public education spans 30 years, during which she led school reform initiatives featured in national outlets including The New York Times and Education Week. Her work as a high school principal in Arizona focused on equity, inclusion, and student advocacy, earning both local and national attention. Yvonne's writing life began in November 2011, after an invasive breast cancer diagnosis sent her searching for answers online. What began as survival grew into a practice of storytelling, with her work appearing beyond this blog in The Irish Times, Irish Central, Reading Ireland, and other outlets. Yvonne's essays and reflections explore themes ranging from The Troubles in Northern Ireland and the poetry of Seamus Heaney to personal experiences of illness, loss, and resilience after being widowed in 2013. She compiled and edited Documented Dreams, a bilingual collection of letters documenting her advocacy with young immigrant students, and she contributed to Bravados: An Anthology, featuring 21 personal narratives by expats living in the Lake Chapala region. Most recently, she collaborated with Stephen Travers on The Bass Player – Surviving the Miami Showband Massacre. Yvonne’s social justice advocacy has earned her numerous honors, including the City of Phoenix Martin Luther King “Living the Dream” Award and the YWCA Tribute to Women Social Justice Leader Award. She is also a musician, performing with her partner, Scott Henrich, in The Old Souls Band, a six-piece Americana ensemble based in Ajijic, Mexico and she plays violin in the Lake Chapala Community Orchestra. Her daughter, Sophie, also a writer, lives in Arizona. “If you have the words, there's always a chance that you'll find the way.” ― Seamus Heaney

About Yvonne

From there to here . . . Yvonne Watterson is a Northern Irish-born writer and educator, now based near Guadalajara, Mexico. Her career in public education spans nearly 30 years, during which she led school reform initiatives featured in national outlets including The New York Times and Education Week. Her work as a high school principal in Arizona focused on equity, inclusion, and student advocacy, earning both local and national attention. Her writing life began in 2011, after an invasive breast cancer diagnosis sent her searching for answers online. What began as survival grew into a practice of storytelling, with her work appearing in The Irish Times, Irish Central, Reading Ireland, and other outlets. Her essays and reflections explore themes ranging from The Troubles in Northern Ireland and the poetry of Seamus Heaney to personal experiences of illness, loss, and resilience after being widowed in 2013. She compiled and edited Documented Dreams, a bilingual collection of letters documenting her advocacy with young immigrant students, and she contributed to Bravados: An Anthology, featuring 21 personal narratives by expats living in the Lake Chapala region. Most recently, she collaborated with Stephen Travers on The Bass Player – Surviving the Miami Showband Massacre. Yvonne’s social justice advocacy has earned her numerous honors, including the City of Phoenix Martin Luther King “Living the Dream” Award and the YWCA Tribute to Women Social Justice Leader Award. She is also a musician, performing with her partner, Scott Henrich, in The Old Souls Band, an Americana ensemble based in Ajijic, Mexico and she plays violin in the Lake Chapala Community Orchestra. Her daughter, Sophie, is also a writer, living in Arizona.

  • Anahorish,  Dispatches from the Diaspora,  Joseph O'Connor,  Memoir

    a rainy day kind of woman

    September 29, 2023 / 1 Comment

    The other day a Facebook memory popped up to remind me that my actual memory just isn’t what it used to be. There I am in the boots i’ve owned since 1982, perched on a freeway wall with my camera focused on something in the distance. But what? Unable to let go of this – and another thing that I’ll…

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    Editor
  • Belfast,  Blogging,  Brian Baird,  cancer,  Education,  Fathers and sons,  favorite teacher,  Memoir,  News,  Northern Ireland,  Seamus Heaney,  Sectarianism,  Social Media,  television,  The Diviner,  The Forge,  The Troubles,  Walter Kronkite,  Writing

    credit to a newsman: teacher appreciation day 2022

    May 3, 2022 / No Comments

    Once upon a time, before news traveled at break-neck speed to our smart phones and our Cable TV networks, we waited for it. We had no choice, and when “the news” came on at teatime, it was a serious affair that demanded our attention. It was rarely, if ever, about  a new animal born at the zoo or a celebrity’s wardrobe…

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    Editor
  • Antrim,  Belfast,  Belfast Peace Lines,  bombing,  British Army,  Bruce Springsteen,  Castledawson,  Good Vibrations,  IRA,  Joe Strummer,  La Mon House Hotel Bombing,  Memoir,  Mix tapes,  Movies,  Music,  Northern Ireland,  Omagh,  Pop-in Records,  Record Shops,  Regrets,  Sectarianism,  Sherman Alexie,  Terri Hooley,  The Clash,  The Miami Showband,  The Troubles,  The Undertones,  Themes of childhood,  UVF,  Vinyl Records

    for the record . . . a reprise

    October 9, 2020 / 1 Comment

    When Terri Hooley decided – again – to close down the Good Vibrations record shop in the summer of 2015, I wrote this for him. Again. I rarely watch movies when I’m flying, but that changed one November night on the plane from Chicago to Dublin. Perusing my options for in-flight entertainment, I paused when I heard the unmistakable hiss…

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    Editor
  • Alex Haley,  Charlottesville,  James Baldwin,  Nazis,  People Get Ready,  Race in America,  Racism,  Trump,  White Supremacy

    People get ready …

    May 26, 2020 / No Comments

    We may be able, handful that we are, to end the racial nightmare, and achieve our country, and change the history of the world – James Baldwin This is for George Floyd. I came to Arizona in the late 1980s. Something of a cliché, part of the “brain drain,” I was a well-educated immigrant who had over-stayed her welcome in…

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