Wendy Cope: Life, Love and The Archers, Kings Place

As the people’s choice to succeed both Ted Hughes and Andrew Motion as Poet Laureate, and one of the few living poets whose work consistently climbs best-sellers lists, Wendy Cope translates the values of poetry into a modern society where cinema, television and the internet have usurped the role of literature. The London Review of Books called her a 'jet-age Tennyson', which goes some way towards defining the combination of popular culture, intricate artful poetic forms, and canonical literary references that make her verse so irresistible.
The glow of warmth and crackle of wit that underlies the poems are just are bright in Cope's prose. In this new collection of her published articles and unpublished personal writing, we meet the little girl obsessed with Enid Blyton and follow her through the family foibles that pepper her poetry. We discover an erudite journalist and a hilariously sharp television critic. And we hear Cope's reflections on what it is to write poetry that riles the literati with its humour, rhyme and apparent frivolity.
Not only is Life, Love and The Archers a delightful exentenison of Cope's charismatic charm that will delight her fans, it also offers an illuminating companion to her poetry.