92. POETRY: A FRIEND FOR LIFE With poet Pelé Cox and mental health campaigner Rachel Kelly

Break Out Culture With Ed Vaizey by Country and Town House

This week we talk to the poet Pelé Cox and best-selling author Rachel Kelly about the power of poetry to comfort and support us. Rachel’s new book, ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone: Poems for Life’s Ups and Downs’ is far more than an anthology – it’s a practical guide to how to use poetry as a tool to help us cope with our daily lives.

Rachel Kelly is a tireless mental health campaigner, following the success of her memoir ‘Black Rainbow’. Black Rainbow was about depression and how reading poetry helped her to recover. She’s remained a passionate advocate for the therapeutic power of poetry ever since. Pelé Cox is a poet, poet, dramaturgist and literature tutor and was one of the first poets to be accepted into Andrew Motion’s Creative Writing MA at the University of East Anglia. She’s been Poet in Residence at the Tate and Royal Academy of Arts, among other institutions. She’s also made a widely acclaimed film about Keats starring Damian Lewis and Nicholas Rowe.

Listen in to a fascinating conversation about what poetry can bring to all our lives and hear how Rachel constructed her book to cover every season so there are poems to help in the depths of winter gloom and others to celebrate the joys of summer.