The Randalstown-native spent 70 days on hunger strike in 1981.
He survived after his mother requested he be taken off the IRA/INLA prison fast in early September 1981.
Mr. McKeown joined the IRA aged 17 and ended up in prison shortly before his 20th birthday after being convicted of causing explosions and the attempted murder of an RUC man.
An oft-published author and playwright he has worked on a range of peace-building projects including in Derry.
“I can write about the past because it is good to know where we have come from and how we arrived at where we are in order to be able to decide where we are going but always remember that that is the past,” he told the ‘Journal’.
Mr. McKeown visited Derry for the local launch of the book at Sinn Féin’s offices in Creggan.
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Laurence McKeown’s new prison memoir And Flowers Grew Up Through the Concrete, chronicles his time in the H-Blocks between 1981 and 1992. Mr. McKeown visited Derry for the local launch of the book at Sinn Féin’s offices in Creggan. Photo: Supplied
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Laurence McKeown’s new prison memoir And Flowers Grew Up Through the Concrete, chronicles his time in the H-Blocks between 1981 and 1992. Mr. McKeown visited Derry for the local launch of the book at Sinn Féin’s offices in Creggan. Photo: Supplied
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Laurence McKeown’s new prison memoir And Flowers Grew Up Through the Concrete, chronicles his time in the H-Blocks between 1981 and 1992. Mr. McKeown visited Derry for the local launch of the book at Sinn Féin’s offices in Creggan. Photo: Supplied
4. IMG20251210194205.jpg
Laurence McKeown’s new prison memoir And Flowers Grew Up Through the Concrete, chronicles his time in the H-Blocks between 1981 and 1992. Mr. McKeown visited Derry for the local launch of the book at Sinn Féin’s offices in Creggan. Photo: Supplied