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.

  • Aging,  An Ulster Twilight,  Castledawson,  Christmas,  Dispatch from the Diaspora,  Father Daughter Relationships,  Northern Ireland,  Northern Ireland Culture,  Ordinary Things,  Seamus Heaney,  Themes of childhood

    Another Ulster Twilight

    December 10, 2018 / 6 Comments

    It is Christmas morning, 1967, in a modest house on Antrim’s Dublin Road. With a big satin bow in her hair, the little girl is the picture of happiness, wrapped up in an outfit her mother knit for the occasion. Santa has left a new bicycle. It is her first, and it is equipped with stabilizers. Stabilizers – her first big word. Even…

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    Editor
  • "Crediting Poetry" - Nobel Lecture 1995,  British Army,  Dispatch from the Diaspora,  IRA,  Kingsmill Road Massacre,  Northern Ireland,  Sectarianism,  The Troubles,  Themes of Childhood,  Tree of Life Synagogue Pittsburgh

    “The Music of What Happens” – for Pittsburgh

    October 27, 2018 / No Comments

    They say he yelled “All Jews must die,” when he stormed into the Tree of Life Synagogue on the Sabbath in Pittsburgh this morning. Armed with an assault rifle and three hand guns, he slaughtered 11 people within minutes, silencing forever their joyful prayers. I read that when Rabbi Joseph Miller learned of the shooting, not quite a mile away from…

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    Editor
  • 9.11.2013,  9/11,  Anything can Happen,  Belfast,  Billy Collins,  Blogging,  bombing,  British Army,  cancer,  Diary,  Dispatch from the Diaspora,  Healing Field Tempe,  Loss,  Memoir,  Memoir,  Northern Ireland,  Northern Ireland Culture,  Ordinary Things,  Peace,  Poetry,  Remembering September 11th,  Seamus Heaney,  September 11,  The Peace Process,  The Troubles,  The Troubles,  Themes of Childhood,  Writers

    The Last Name on the List on the Eleventh of September

    September 10, 2018 / 2 Comments

    I have yet to be disappointed by what happens when my online world collides with its ‘real’ counterpart. Landing on the virtual doorsteps of people in the middle of lives parallel to my own, I have been beautifully blindsided by unexpected coincidences and exchanges of truths that may not otherwise have seen the light of day. In my virtual home, it…

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  • #MeToo,  Memoir

    in dublin’s fair city . . . edna o’brien

    September 5, 2018 / 1 Comment

    . . . if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world. In the particular is contained the universal. ~ James Joyce Every April, the Dublin: One City One Book initiative celebrates one book connected with the capital city. Led by Dublin’s public libraries, it encourages everyone to read…

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