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BBC Radio 4 Extra

Poetry Extra

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Weekly opportunity for listeners to revisit the riches of the BBC radio poetry archive

A brand new poetry slot on Radio 4 Extra gives listeners a weekly opportunity to revisit the riches of the BBC radio poetry archive

Poetry Extra: The Poet and the Murderer

15/04/2018

The Poet and the Murderer

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Poetry Extra, The Poet and the Murderer

Poet Daljit Nagra introduces 'The Poet and the Murderer'.

4 Extra Debut. Poet Daljit Nagra introduces The Poet and the Murderer in which a criminal forges Emily Dickinson's handwriting. From April 2015.

Poet Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry archive with 'The Poet and the Murderer'.  

Simon Worrall reveals how convicted double murderer Mark Hofmann forged an Emily Dickinson poem so perfect it fooled leading scholars and experts.  A gripping true story of poetry, murder and the art of forgery. 

Dickinson famously lived much of her life as a recluse, producing her works of concentrated brilliance from the bedroom of her father's house in Amherst, Massachusetts. She chose not to publish during her lifetime and hand-sewn booklets containing some 1,800 poems were discovered in a locked box in her room after her death. 

Why does Dickinson continue to fascinate, and what might Hofmann's fake poem tell us about the true poet's work and life? 
 
Producer:  Mair Bosworth

First broadcast on BBC Radio in 2015.

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