Poetry Extra: The Poetry Editor

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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

The Poetry Editor

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Poetry Extra, The Poetry Editor

Daljit Nagra chooses the best programmes from the BBC's poetry archive.

Daljit Nagra chooses 'The Poetry Editor'.  TS Eliot was one for years, but what do they do?  With Hannah Sullivan. From 2019.

Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's poetry archive and to celebrate National Poetry Day (5.10.2023) he chooses 'The Poetry Editor'. 

The publishing house Faber and Faber, has been in existence for over 90  years. 

It  is famous for its poetry list - Seamus Heaney, Sylvia Plath, Derek Walcott, Philip Larkin, Marianne Moore, WH Auden and TS Eliot, who, as poetry editor, brought the work of some of these poets into the world. The poetry editor, then, has a significant role. 

Hannah Sullivan, winner of the TS Eliot Prize for her collection 'Three Poems', teases out what poetry editors actually do.

She talks to leading poetry editors, Neil Astley of Bloodaxe; Parisa Ebrahimi of Chatto & Windus and Matthew Hollis, who sat at Eliot's desk at Faber. 

They discover and nurture new voices, but also have to sustain their lists. Might there be figures so distinguished they are beyond editing? Paul Muldoon, who might fall into this category, argues no - he longs for the exercise of editorial authority. Is the relationship of editor to poet akin to that of doctor and patient? Is the editorial office like the confessional - strictly confidential? 

Hannah also speaks to several leading poets - Simon Armitage, Paul Muldoon, Julia Copus, Sarah Howe and Kayo Chingonyi - about being edited, and hears from people at the beginning of their careers such as Phoebe Stuckes. 

Producer: Julian May

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2019.

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