The Poetry Exchange

Hello and welcome again to The Poetry Exchange! We're so pleased to be back with you sharing more stories of connection between people and poems in their lives. This month we have something very special to share with you: a live recording of our event at Latitude Festival in July 2025, celebrating Poems as Friends: The Poetry Exchange 10th Anniversary Anthology. This was our third visit to Latitud...

Hello friends Welcome back for another episode in this 'mini-series' of The Poetry Exchange podcast - Poems with Friends. In Poems with Friends, our producer John Prebble speaks with some of the amazing friends he has made through The Poetry Exchange over the last 12 years, inviting them to bring along a poem that's keeping them company at this time. It's a way of catching up and spending some qua...

Welcome back to The Poetry Exchange! It's very special to be here with you all again. We're excited to be returning with something a bit different...a 'mini-series' of conversations over the coming months, which we're calling 'Poems with Friends.' In 'Poems with Friends', our Producer John Prebble catches up with some of the great friends he's made through working on The Poetry Exchange over the l...

Friends - it is our 100th episode! We are so pleased to be here with you, sharing, listening, celebrating. We have a very special conversation to mark the occasion: our very own Michael Shaeffer, host of The Poetry Exchange, talks about the poem that has been a friend to him - 'Having a Coke with You' by Frank O'Hara. 10 years...100 episodes...countless more poems, stories, converastions...and now...

In this episode we talk with writer and academic Serena Trowbridge about the poem that's been a friend to her: 'A Shropshire Lad 31: On Wenlock Edge the wood's in trouble' by A.E. Housman. This conversation was recorded in April 2022 at the Birmingham & Midland Institute. It is very special to listen back to this converation now, particularly to hear Fiona with all her usual passion and insigh...

In this episode of The Poetry Exchange, poet Nick Makoha talks with us about the poem that has been a friend to him: 'White Egrets (I)' by Derek Walcott. Nick actually joined us back in 2017 at Pushkin House, London, and we are delighted to be sharing this conversation with you now. It is very special to hear Fiona in this conversation, with all her usual warmth and brilliance. Nick Makoha's lates...

In this episode, we are joined by acclaimed poet Tamar Yoseloff, who shares with us the poem that has been a friend to her: 'Morning' by Frank O'Hara. The conversation, like the poem, is full of joy and delight, as well as sadness and loss. Tamar spoke with Michael and Andrea in early May 2024, and the conversation takes on a new light now, as we continue to hold Fiona so closely in our hearts. Ta...

Dear friends We are mourning and missing our beloved Fiona, whilst also celebrating her extraordinary life and work, and everything she brought to all our lives. We continue to feel her with us in everything we do. This month, we pay tribute to Fiona by re-relasing the conversation in which Fiona visits The Poetry Exchange for herself, talking about the poem that has been a friend to her: 'A Kite...

READ TRANSCRIPT OF EPISODE - Dearest friends, We are so sorry to have to share the hardest news with you - something we could never imagine having to say... Our beautiful friend and the founder, co-host and guiding light of The Poetry Exchange, Fiona Bennett, has died after a short illness. We are so sorry this will come as a huge shock to you all. It is hard to begin to express the enormous sense...

In this special episode, we share a recording of our live event at Norfolk and Norwich Festival in June 2024, celebrating our new anthology: Poems as Friends. Michael Shaeffer is joined by contributors to the anthology Roy McFarlane and Hannah Jane Walker, to read a selection of the poems found within its pages, alongside the stories of the readers who have known them as friends. We are incredibly...

In this episode of our podcast, acclaimed writer Nick Laird talks about the poem that has been a friend to him: 'The Envoy of Mr. Cogito' by Zbigniew Herbert, translated by Bogdana Carpenter. Nick Laird was born in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. He writes poetry, fiction, screenplays, and criticism, and lives in London and New York. His poetry collections (from Faber and Faber) are: To a Fault (...

READ TRANSCRIPT OF THIS EPISODE. In this episode, our hearts are full as we are joined by the glorious poet Imtiaz Dharker, talking about the poem that has been a friend to her: 'Meeting Point' by Louis MacNeice. We are also thrilled to say that this episode will be with you in the month that Poems as Friends - The Poetry Exchange 10th Anniversary Anthology is published - on 9th May 2024. We are h...

In this episode of The Poetry Exchange, we talk with one of poetry's greatest leading lights, Malika Booker, about the poem that has been a friend to her: ‘The Domestic Science of Sunday Dinner’ by Lorna Goodison. Malika Booker, currently based in Leeds, is a lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, a British poet of Guyanese and Grenadian Parentage, and co-founder of Malika’s Poetry Kitche...

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF THIS EPISODE. In this special episode, we honour the poetry legend that is Benjamin Zephaniah by sharing this conversation with poet Roy McFarlane, talking about 'Dis Poetry' and the hugely influential part Benjamin Zephaniah has played in Roy's life. Roy McFarlane is a poet born in Birmingham of Jamaican parentage. He has held the roles of Birmingham’s Poet Laureate, Starbuck...

READ A TRANSCRIPT OF THIS EPISODE. In this very special episode of The Poetry Exchange podcast, journalist, writer and editor Simon Crompton talks about the poem that has been a friend to him: 'The Thrush' by Edward Thomas. This episode is dedicated to a dear friend of Simon and of The Poetry Exchange - the extraordinary Martin Heaney - who sadly died at the end of 2023. Martin has been a touchsto...

In this episode of The Poetry Exchange, we listen back to one of our previous conversations - with the extraordinary actor Andrew Scott, talking about the poem that's been a friend to him: 'Love (III)' by George Herbert. As 2023 draws to a close, this is the poem and conversation we want to lift up for you all... We are incredibly grateful to Andrew Scott for joining us back in 2018 to talk so ope...

READ TRANSCRIPT In this episode, poet, playwright, teacher and activist Jacqueline Saphra talks to us about the poem that has been a friend to her: 'Ceasefire' by Michael Longley. We are so grateful to Jacqueline for joining us at this time, to talk about this beautiful poem and the part it has played in her life. Jacqueline Saphra is a poet, playwright, teacher and activist. She is the autho...

READ TRANSCRIPT In this episode, poet, writer and doctor Gita Ralleigh talks to us about the poem that has been a friend to her: 'The Daughter' by Carmen Giménez. We're so grateful to Gita for sharing such an intimate, beautiful conversation with us, and to Carmen Giménez and The University of Arizona Press for allowing us to bring the poem to you in this way. Gita Ralleigh is a poet, writer and d...

In this episode, poet and criminal barrister Tim Kiely talks about the poem that has been a friend to him: 'Timothy Winters' by Charles Causley. READ A TRANSCRIPT OF THIS EPISODE. We are so grateful to Tim for joining us and sharing his story of connection with Causely's powerful poem. Tim Kiely is a criminal barrister and poet based in London. His work has appeared in 'South Bank Poetry', 'U...

FOR TRANSCRIPT CLICK HERE. In this episode, poet Michael Mark joins us to talk about the poem that has been a friend to him: 'Little Champion' by Tony Hoagland. Michael Mark is the author of  Visiting Her in Queens is More Enlightening than a Month in a Monastery in Tibet , which won the 2022 Rattle Chapbook prize. His poems have appeared in Best American Poetry, Copper Nickel, The...

FOR TRANSCRIPT CLICK HERE. In this episode of The Poetry Exchange, we are thrilled to be joined by the poetry tour-de-force that is Salena Godden, to hear about the poem that has been a friend to her: 'You Don't Know What Love' Is by Kim Addonizio. Salena spoke with Fiona Bennett and Michael Shaeffer about this elusive, gorgeous poem and the part it has played in her life. Salena Godden FRSL is an...

In this episode, poet, radio host and editor Lois P. Jones talks about the poem that has been a friend to her: 'What Survives' by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by A. Poulin Jr. Lois P. Jones is a luminous poet, radio host and editor, living in California. She won the 2023 Alpine Fellowship which this year takes place in Fjällnäs, Sweden. She was a finalist in the annual Mslexia Poetry Competition...

In this latest episode, writer Rosie Garland talks to us about the poem that has been a friend to her: 'My Dark Horses' by Jodie Hollander. Writer and singer with post-punk band The March Violets, Rosie Garland has a passion for language nurtured by public libraries. Her poetry collection ‘What Girls do the Dark’ (Nine Arches Press) was shortlisted for the Polari Prize 2021, & her novel  ...

In this latest episode of The Poetry Exchange, we revisit our conversation with the extraordinary poet & artist Rachel Eliza Griffiths about the poem that has been a friend to her: 'Remember' by Joy Harjo. This beautiful and transformative conversation was originally released in 2020 and has been a friend to many of our listeners so far. We felt it was one to bring into the light all over agai...

In this latest episode of The Poetry Exchange, we revisit our conversation about 'Poem (Lana Turner Has Collapsed)' by Frank O'Hara - A Friend to Harry Jelly. This gorgeous conversation was originally released in 2016 and has been a friend to many of our listeners so far. We felt it was one to lift up and enjoy all over again! We are hugely grateful to Harry for sharing his story of connection wit...