Poetry Cure

Julia Darling (1956-2005) was a poet, playright and fiction writer. She was a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics at Newcastle University. In 2003 she became the second winner of the the UK's biggest literary prize, the £60,000 Northern Rock Foundation Writer's Award. Fiona Ellis, the Foundation's Director, paid tribute after Julia's death: 'We were incredibly proud when Julia became the second holder of our Award. She was a wonderful writer and a quite extraordinary ambassador for writing.' In 2005 she lost a long battle with cancer. Her published work includes: a collection of short stories, Bloodlines (Panurge); two novels, Crocodile Soup and The Taxi Driver's Daughter (Penguin); and two collections of poetry, Sudden Collapses in Public Places and Apology for Absence (Arc). A new edition of her poetry, Indelible, Miraculous: Collected Poems, was published by Arc in 2015. With Cynthia Fuller she edited The Poetry Cure (Bloodaxe Books/Newcastle University, 2005), an anthology about illness and health. Her work for theatre and radio was collected in Eating the Elephant and Other Plays (New Writing North).Cynthia Fuller was born in Kent, but has lived in the North East since the 1970s. She has published five collections with Flambard: Moving Towards Light, Instructions for the Desert, Only a Small Boat, Background Music, and Jack’s Letters Home, a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. Her most recent collection is Estuary (Red Squirrel Press, 2015). With Julia Darling she edited The Poetry Cure (Bloodaxe Books/Newcastle University, 2005), an anthology about illness and health. She was poetry editor for the magazine Writing Women for twelve years. She works freelance in Adult and Higher Education, teaching literature and creative writing, and runs writing workshops with different groups in the community. She is also involved in research into poetry and health at Newcastle University, and developing courses in this field.

When we're ill we're forced to recognise that we've become another person - unfamiliar, frail and mortal. The adjustment is painful and it's well-nigh impossible to find the words to describe how alien our sick self seems. These poems magically supply the images and emotions that help us to accept our inexpressible vulnerability.