Clodagh Finn: Hitting a high note for ordinary women

Fiona Kennedy celebrates strong and independent women in her new work 'Natural Women', inspired by tales of the Irish 'pirate queen' Anne Bonny and even Fiona's mother, Aileen, writes Clodagh Finn

Sat, 23 Mar, 2024 - 01:00

Clodagh Finn

Clodagh Finn is a journalist, writer and collector of stories. Her recent book, The Irish in the Resistance, co-authored with John Morgan, shines a light on the forgotten contributions of the Irish who resisted Hitler during WW2.

THE wonderful Kinsale memorial to Anne Bonny, the cursing, swearing machete-wielding Cork-born pirate, includes this line: “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” “Ain’t that the truth?” says Cork singer-songwriter Fiona Kennedy who has written the 18th-century seafarer into a song about pirate queens for her new show, Natural Woman.

And there was certainly very little that was well-behaved about Anne Bonny, born Anne Cormac around 1698 near Kinsale. As a young woman, she ran off with Irish sailor Jim Bonny to the Bahamas intent on plundering ships on the high seas in the golden age of piracy.