Carolyn Forché, "What You Have Heard Is True"

Carolyn Forché discusses her book, "What You Have Heard Is True", at Politics and Prose.

A poet, editor, and activist, Forché gives the lie to the assumption that “poetry makes nothing happen.” From her own powerful collections to the landmark anthologies she edited, Against Forgetting and Poetry of Witness, Forché has spoken out fearlessly against injustice. Her work has earned her awards including a nomination for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, a precursor for the Nobel. Her new memoir is a compelling account of her coming-of-age as a poet of witness. In 1977, Forché made an extended visit to El Salvador. There she met military officers, impoverished campesinos, and clergy; stayed one step ahead of death squads; experienced the danger and tension of a nation on the brink of war; and formed uncompromising moral values about the worth of human life. Forché is in conversation with Maureen Corrigan, NPR book critic and author of So We Read On.

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Produced by Tom Warren