A poetry collection edited by Jeremy Corbyn and Len McCluskey will be published in November, and will contain contributions from Russell Brand, Maxine Peake and Michael Rosen.
Poetry for the Many will feature the favourite poems of the former Labour leader and the trade unionist, along with their commentary.. The pair’s picks range from Shakespeare, William Blake and Maya Angelou to the Mexican nun Juana Inés de la Cruz.
“This book grew out of regular conversations Len and I hold about poetry: the enjoyment we get from it and the opportunity it provides for escape and inspiration,” Corbyn said. “When putting it together, the hardest part was deciding what to leave out.”
As well as Brand, Peake and Rosen, the writer Melissa Benn has contributed to the anthology, along with actor Julie Hesmondhalgh, director Ken Loach, film-maker and writer Morag Livingstone, comedian Francesca Martinez, journalist Gary Younge and trade unionist and political strategist Karie Murphy.
Poetry for the Many will encourage readers to “embrace poetry and shake off any notion that it is not something to be read, written, or appreciated by working-class people”, Murphy said.
“There is a poet in all of us and nobody should ever be afraid of sharing their poetry,” Corbyn added.
News that Corbyn and McCluskey were working on a poetry book was reported last month, but a formal announcement containing further details was released by publisher OR Books this week.
The New York-based independent press wrote that Corbyn and McCluskey “share a passionate belief in a fairer, more equal Britain, encapsulated in Labour’s election slogan ‘For the Many Not the Few’”. That slogan itself has links to poetry – it was inspired by Percy Bysshe Shelley’s The Masque of Anarchy.
“It should be mandatory on the national school curriculum to make poetry accessible to every child and student, so that the stigma in working-class communities about it being only for ‘posh people’ or ‘softies’ can gradually be eliminated,” McCluskey said.
Poetry for the Many will be available to buy from 14 November.
