Donna Ashworth on making poetry popular again
The UK’s bestselling contemporary poet talks about finding huge success in later life and why Christmas is her lifeline.
The UK’s bestselling contemporary poet talks about finding huge success in later life and why Christmas is her lifeline.
Five years ago, Donna Ashworth was an unknown mother of two running a children’s play centre in Manchester with her husband, former Coronation Street producer Robert.
Today, she is the UK’s bestselling contemporary poet with 11 books to her name and two million followers on social media, plus celebrity fans including Davina McCall, Michael Sheen, Fearne Cotton and Cat Deeley.
Her poems – read at countless funerals and weddings – are designed to guide her readers through life’s challenges, focusing on emotions, self-esteem, mental health and personal growth. She has completely rewritten the poetry genre, with her collections Wild Hope and Growing Brave both being best-sellers.
When we meet on Zoom to talk about her new book, Joy Chose You (an anthology of her poems), Donna – wearing a white sweater with the word ‘Love’ across the front in vibrant colours – is at her desk in the bedroom of her Victorian house near Stirling in Scotland.
"This is my inspiration place where I do all my writing," she says holding up a white iPad. "Remember the little jewellery boxes we had as kids? We would open them, the light would come on and the music would play and the dancer would dance. That’s what happens to me when I open it. It’s a magic portal. It pulls me in and the poems start arriving.
"People get very disappointed that I use an iPad when a paper and pen might seem more whimsical and romantic, but I feel so emotionally attached to it. I get goosebumps when I open it, I feel this energy and there is nothing that could not happen."
So, what did happen to turn her into an incredibly successful poet?
"Everything happened! The world tipped upside down and the pandemic affected our business hugely as our play centre was closed," she explains.
"I was terrified. My husband and I didn’t know what we were going to do financially. I did what I always do, which is run back home to my mum, but this time with my family and dogs and my tail between my legs."
It is something she’s done many times before. "There is this pattern in my life of rising up, big and loud and fun, and things crashing and burning and starting again," she admits.
A gifted schoolgirl, she left her childhood home in Stirling to go to Glasgow University, hoping for a career in music. But the anorexia that had plagued her from the age of 17 meant that she wasn’t eating properly, and the suicide of a fellow student affected her.
"That was a trigger for my own mental health and suicidal thoughts," she says. "I didn’t want to be here or be part of this world. Everything was already in the throes of a breakdown for me. I wasn’t going to my lectures or looking after myself. That crash was coming."
She did a midnight flit back home, leaving all her belongings, and never returned. Over the years, the ‘crashes’ kept coming, with periods in between where she struggled to return to normal life.
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Joy Chose You by Donna Ashworth (Bonnier Books) RRP: £20
[Hero image credit: Robert Ormerod]
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