Fear Less

The Pulitzer Prize–winning poet reveals how poetry is a powerful tool of connection and understanding in a fractured world

Drawing on deep passion and personal experience, former US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith demystifies the art form that has too often been mischaracterised as “inaccessible”, “irrelevant” or “intimidating”. She argues that poetry is rooted in fundamentally human qualities innate to our capacities to love, dream, question and engage across diverse cultures and backgrounds. Lifting the veil on her own creative process, Smith shows us how reading and writing poetry allows us to confront life’s many uncertainties and losses, to build camaraderie with strangers and to understand ourselves. She grounds readers in the technical elements of the craft and provides close readings of the works of contemporary poets, alongside classic poems. By reimagining and re-examining the age-old art form, Fear Less is a warm invitation to find meaning, consolation and hope through poetry.

• A Norton Short