Sally Hayden: ‘Sometimes you need to remind yourself there is goodness in human nature’

Irish Times journalist Sally Hayden is an author and seasoned international reporter who has covered human rights abuses, inequality and the effects of war on many different countries around the world. However, a few years ago she realised that the scope of her reporting doesn’t always “tell the whole story”. For this reason, Hayden decided to write her second book: This is also a Love Story: Searching for Good in a Divided World. The book is a reflection on how love can endure, even in the most difficult of times and has given Hayden the space to share the uplifting and deeply personal stories of the people she meets in the course of her work. Speaking on the latest episode of The Irish Times Women’s Podcast the reporter describes how writing the book was cathartic at a time when the world “feels like it’s burning”. “Sometimes you need to remind yourself that there is goodness in human nature,” she tells podcast presenter Róisín Ingle. Hayden is hopeful that this book may also help others who are feeling disillusioned by global conflict to “connect and reflect on the ways that we can be the same as people that are so far away”. “It’s a book to remember that people exist at the centre of geopolitics,” she says. Hayden highlights how she has witnessed horrific situations where people are forced to make unthinkable decisions. Yet, she has seen so much love and compassion throughout it all. “Not just love for romantic partners but love for family members, for friends, even for community ... what I describe [in the book] as being love for humanity”, she explains. For the book, the journalist selected nine stories from different countries across Europe, Africa and Asia which she says are all examples of “places that I’ve seen love”. The pair discuss some pivotal moments from the book which range from the love of mothers in Nigeria forced to live under the terror of Boko Haram, to a couple separated by the war in Ukraine. You can listen back to their conversation in the player above or search The Women’s Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.