The Poetry Pharmacy: Tried-and-True Prescriptions for the Heart, Mind and Soul

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He is founder and Chair of Forward Thinking, a charity that seeks to mediate conflict in the Middle East and to improve relations between the Islamic and Western worlds. He is Vice-President of the Hay Festival of Literature, Chair of CIVIC Libraries Initiative, founder and Chair of Street Smart, Action for the Homeless, Founding Trustee of the Forward Arts Foundation and Trustee of the Grenfell Foundation. He is a former Council Member of the Arts Council England and Chair of its Lottery Panel. He has been a Trustee of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, The Arts Foundation, the RSA, the British Human Rights and Reprieve, among other voluntary posts. Visit Stonehouse Brewery. Learn about the brewing process and sample some of their award-winning beers. I thought that was really sad,’ says William, ‘and I asked him what he thought that was about. He said, “I don’t know, I’m kind and loving, I’m upbeat and positive and so on. But, I’m Muslim and I’m gay, and I can’t be both.”

William’s book is selling well, and he is delighted with the idea that it is being found in the self-help section of bookshops.A matchless compound of hug, tonic and kiss’ Stephen Fry on William Sieghart’s bestselling Poetry Pharmacy.

Our third session will be about finding magic in the mundane and fortifying ourselves with small moments of beauty: noticing the sunlight as it falls across a wooden floor or the sound of water as it's poured into a teapot, appreciating the small kindnesses in a waiting room or tiny epiphanies that can happen in the supermarket.It’s a strange world we live in now, where almost nothing is like it is. Social media is full of avatars, people putting up a fake sense of self. They’re not saying, “I’m miserable”, “I’m lonely”, “I’m being betrayed” or “I’m sexually frustrated”– the last thing they’ll do is say how they might feel”. Pat Edwards, who works at the Poetry Pharmacy and also runs the Welshpool Poetry Festival, says the experience is “just as beneficial, if not more so, than any drug”. She became more involved with poetry, even writing her own, after a serious illness six years ago. Her partner, Jim Sheard, is an academic – and of course a published poet. He is supportive of her work, but it still took a while to convince him that they should buy the building, and live above the shop.

or in a waiting-room a face reminds you that the colour supplements have lied and some have pleasure and some pay the price. And there are some superb poems, for me some new ones, old friends and a few regulars. There's a lovely variety of poetry modern and traditional, which includes works by Phillip Larkin, Maya Angelou, Rumi, William Carlos Williams, Whitman, Carver, cummings, Millay, Mary Oliver, Berry, Keats and Cope. Poetry is soul food so of course some will taste better on your tongue than others.

From i’s Poet in Residence: ‘I find that poetry helps to lower my stress levels’

Poetry is at its best when it can help to make some sense out of what it is to be alive and give us some of the meaning we seem to be searching for.” The Poetry Pharmacy in Bishop’s Castle What it’s like to be prescribed a poem The Poetry Habit is an online course held on zoom over five weekly sessions, led by artist and writer Sophie Howarth , and organised by the Poetry Pharmacy.

This anthology of anthologies draws on the ten Forward Books of Poetry published to accompany the prizes between 2001 and 2010. I suppose it also changed my life because I realised how powerful it can be, if you get the right poem to the right person when they need it. It’s a message that you can hang on to. So it led to the work I do now. Did you ever feel like giving up? This is the second audio book I have ever listened to. The first was We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda ngozi Adichie. Evening walks had me trying this out, in favour of repetitive lyrics, or rhythmic footsteps and labored breathing. It seems to work for me. The Poetry Pharmacy is also a new centre in the Midlands for poetry and creative writing; The Distillery space upstairs is host to regular reading and writing workshops, as well as arts for health workshops, book launches and open mic’s, with an emphasis on good mental health and well-being.

So what are you waiting for? Book your Shropshire escape today and experience the beauty of our county in autumn! Having finished this collection, it was a great pleasure to listen to the touching testimony of William Sieghart about the project and the power of poetry, in which his love for the Persian poet Hafez shines through. I make it fun and easy, usually, with exercises which are slightly silly. Each session we do something that’s frivolous, and I might give a prize or something.