Mar 31, 2021
Michael Rosen, or Dr Michael Rosen due to his own PhD and the numerous honarary degrees bestowed upon him, is one of the world’s best loved children’s writers - with over 150 books, spanning 40 years in publishing. As a poet, broadcaster, performer, teacher, academic, polemicist he has been a consistent ambassador for literacy and imagination, and the value of education - and the spoken word - as a tool for social justice and civil progress. Michael was appointed the Children’s Laureate from 2007 to 2009. Michael Rosen hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons in spring 2020, when he became one of the first high profile figures to become seriously unwell with Covid-19. As a man in his 70s, taken ill as the pathology of the virus was only starting to be understood, people and the media started thinking the unthinkable and it became a waiting game - with his family patiently asking for space whilst they cared for him. Michael spent 47 days in intensive care at Whittington Hospital in north London. In June, he was able to begin his long recovery at home and the world was grinning again when Michael was able to start writing again, and talking about what had happened. We spoke to Michael about his new book, ‘Many Different Kinds of Love: A Story of Life, Death and the NHS’. This series of poems, letters and conversations charting his recovery and the people who have been helping him recover is his most emotionally raw book since writing about the death of his son Eddie to meningitis in 1999. We also chatted about the education and health systems, and Michael’s anger at decisions made in the early stages of the pandemic - and what comes next, when he is fully recovered and the world is able to emerge from this collective trauma. —- Useful links: - https://www.michaelrosen.co.uk/ - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/13/michael-rosen-this-book-is-about-what-it-feels-like-to-nearly-die - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1wOZJ1B77M - https://www.waterstones.com/book/many-different-kinds-of-love/michael-rosen/2928377051471 ---- For more information on how you can get involved with The Possibility Club – an inclusive community of professionals working out what’s next, have a look here > www.thepossibilityclub.org You can also receive Finding Chances, a free weekly letter from Richard Freeman, looking behind-the-scenes at business, culture, community and education by signing-up at www.findingchances.substack.com/ We’d love to know what you think of this podcast. Please review and share your responses to this podcast on your favourite podcast platform. This is an always possible podcast. The interviewer was Richard Freeman for always possible and the producer was Chris Thorpe-Tracey for Lo Fi Arts.