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The New Japanese Poetry

The New Japanese Poetry: Rewriting Humanity

Rewriting Humanity

BBC Radio 4 - The New Japanese Poetry, Rewriting Humanity

Spotlighting the poetry of young people in migrant detention centres and juvenile prisons.

Migrants in US refugee detention camps and youth offenders in Japan explore their feelings about the world, and process their pasts, in a unique poetry experiment.

Poet and Editor Jordan Smith uncovers the unexpected skills of global poets who worked in detention centres and prisons, helping the youth detainees within them process their experience.

American poet Seth Michelson has been working with young children in migrant detention centres, who have been separated from their families and everything they know. Across the ocean, in Japan, poet RYO Michico brought poetry workshops to Nara Juvenile prison which housed youth offenders who have been convicted of crimes. While the young poets they work with are processing trauma of very different circumstances, both Seth and Michiko helped the children find a voice through which to narrate and grasp their own pasts, and to find hope. 

Jordan Smith brings Seth and RYO together in conversation to share their experiences, and to hear powerful poetic works that come from unexpected voices.

All the poetry in this programme is written by the young detainees. Seth's work culminated in the poetry anthology Dreaming America. RYO Michico's work has resulted in three poetry books in Japanese - Chose White because the Sky Is Blue, And Kindness Flowed Out, and For a More Beautiful World. An excerpt translation is available in the Tokyo Poetry Journal volume 10.

Produced by Anishka Sharma
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

Poet Jordan Smith explores how Japanese poets are pushing creative boundaries.

Poet and editor Jordan Smith explores how Japanese poets are experimenting with form, pushing poetry boundaries, and interacting with the rest of the world.

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