Rachel Kelly is a journalist with a long standing interest in mental health. Rachel worked at The Times for ten years as a reporter, feature writer and columnist on alternative health. In October 2011, she co-created iF Poems, a children’s poetry app for the iPhone and iPad with Allie Esiri. iF Poems was on the Apple Editor’s Choice: All-Time Favorites apps list and has sold in over thirty countries. A book version of the app, If: A Treasury of Poems for Almost Every Possibility, was published in 2012 by Canongate and is now in its fourth edition. Rachel’s book ‘Black Rainbow’ describes how poetry helped her overcome depression and will be published by Hodder & Stoughton in April 2014. All author proceeds are going to the charities SANE and United Response.
2 Minute Interview:
How does your workshop relate to being in the NOW?
I believe that being in the now is the key to beating depression. Since depression manifests as crippling worries about the past and future, mindfulness techniques and keeping oneself occupied in the now leaves the mind with less room for anxiety. As great, accessible poetry can command a reader’s attention, I believe it can work in a similar way to mindfulness techniques: it’ll keep you in the present, even if the writing itself comes from the distant past.
What are you most looking forward to doing within your slot at NOW?
I am most looking forward to sharing what I have learnt with others at my own workshop, and taking away what participants come up with in response. One day I may be turning to their advice in times of need.
At Deptford Lounge:
How can poetry bring us out of our busy minds and more into the present? Rachel Kelly is a author and poetry enthusiast whose playful workshop with NOW Live Events will approach and champion poetry as a way of savouring the moment. You will hear Rachel’s own approach to the process of using poetry based on her memoir Black Rainbow. You will be encouraged to explore classic verse from the ancient to modern age. Participants will write and take away their own poetry.
Black Rainbow is published by Hodder & Stoughton. All author proceeds are going to the charities SANE and United Response.