Carolyn Forché

Poet, Memoirist and Human Rights Advocate

Carolyn and I spoke for the podcast in 2020. Below is an edited version of our conversation. You can listen to the full episode here.

What approaches do you pull on to take care of yourself and well-being?

It was years before I had realized I had been traumatized. For me the greatest cure, the thing that pulls you out of it, is doing something for others outside yourself and focusing on others. And committing yourself to something that is beyond the self. So the self doesn’t have a chance to get so much in control, and so dominant…

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t do self care but sometimes, the greatest cure for depression that comes from experiencing certain events,  is to do something, to make some difference somehow to have a positive effect on the world, in even a small way.

Who are some lesser known artists you especially admire?

I think a lot of the most interesting writing that is being done right now is by young writers of color in the United States. Natalie Diaz the poet, and Jericho Brown, Fernando Valverde, Reginald Dwayne Betts who wrote Felon... there are many, many, I could just go on. Young, vibrant poetry and prose communities are really impressive right now. 

These are a few of my favorite things…

Book: When I was a child there was a book called A Girl of the Limberlost and that had a big effect on me. And W.G. Sebald’s work, particularly The Emigrants had a very strong effect on me.

Album or Song: I’m an old 60s child so I would go way back to Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix…

Place: El Salvador of course was life changing for me but there are other places that have been very meaningful. Whidbey Island because of Hedgebrook, and Ireland is a refuge for me.