PinC Podcast Episode 2: Poetry and the Election

Poet in the City Podcast

In episode two, we ask whether poetry can give us another way of looking at the election and can tell us more about ourselves than the latest the poll-figures. We talk to two of the UK’s brightest contemporary poets about how they take on the politics of today - talking immigration and feminism with Hollie McNish, and looking at how issues of economic policy and the environment get translated into the poetry of Helen Mort. If language is having a crisis in politics at the moment with spin-culture taking hold, we find poetic antidotes with Edith Hall, Professor of Classics at King’s College London, looking to historical examples of political language with both style and substance. And when it comes to creating social change, we ask what role poetry today plays in the debate… This podcast contains some themes which some listeners may find upsetting.