The Power of Poetry, with William Sieghart, Jeanette Winterson and Helena Bonham Carter

Intelligence Squared: Arts & Culture

Poetry is the perfect medication against some of life’s challenges, so William Sieghart has found. In this accessible and warming exchange, from tea towel poems to T.S. Eliot, Sieghart brings to life a few of the experiences that inspired his book ‘The poetry pharmacy: Tried-and-True Prescriptions for the Heart, Mind and Soul’. Here he has collected poems that can each serve a different need: fear of the unknown, unrequited love, stagnation, purposelessness, convalescence and oppression, to name a few.

Joining Sieghart in conversation are actor Helena Bonham Carter, author Jeanette Winterson, comedian Sue Perkins, actor Jason Isaacs, and actor Tom Burke along with journalist Sarah Montague as your host for the night. Together they explore poetry’s remarkable ability to calm, console and, above all, connect us to the minds and experiences of others.

This event was recorded on the 2nd March 2018, in London and Produced by Executive Producer Hannah Kaye. Editing was by Executive Producer Rowan Slaney and Daisy Moll and your host was Producer Catharine Hughes.

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