Faith Lawrence
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Poetry, radio and listenings
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About Me
Welcome. I write poetry, and I'm a radio producer for the BBC.
My first poetry pamphlet is being published by Smith | Doorstop - more on this below.
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You can also find information on my interest in 'listening' here:
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I'm researching what it means to be a good listener, how to describe listening, and what role it plays in the writing process.
Sleeping Through
This is a detail from the cover of my new poetry pamphlet 'Sleeping Through', some kids and a (very nice) dog splashing about in St Albans in the 1980s. It's a stock-shot but I might be there somewhere, eating a packet of Monster Munch. There's a poem in my pamphlet which starts 'Heaven is a lido on the coast' - and I really hope it is. There are also poems about Delia Derbyshire in the pamphlet (the woman who wrote the Doctor Who theme), about early motherhood, and a darker one about being locked out of the house.
​http://www.poetrybusiness.co.uk/shop/1005/laureates-choice-sleeping-through-lawrence
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Many thanks to Carol Ann Duffy and Peter Sansom at 'smith | doorstop' for including me in the last quartet of 'Laureate's Choice' poets (along with Emily Cotterill, Thirza Clout and Victoria Gatehouse).
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An anthology of all the 'Laureate's Choice' poets has also been published:
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http://www.poetrybusiness.co.uk/shop/1001/laureates-choice-anthology
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Radio
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'Sound is void, fear and wonder' says David Toop in his beautiful book 'Sinister Resonance' and that pretty much sums up life as a radio producer. The void you start with - wondering how on earth you will capture and shape a story for the listener in a way that does it justice, fear of the broadcast deadline - which always comes too soon - and wonder - well, I still can't quite believe (even after two decades of sending audio out into the world) that hundreds of thousands of people (sometimes millions) listen to what we broadcast. Then there's always wonder at the peculiar intimacy of audio, how it lets us open ourselves up, both as listeners and speakers.
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Audiography
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Since 2012 I've been producing The Verb (initially on Radio 3, now on Radio 4) presented by
Ian McMillan. We explore language and the writing process, alongside specially commissioned work, with humour, curiosity and delight in words.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tnsf
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I also make documentaries for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 3.
See the radio page for more details.
Contact
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