Ann Kelley
She lives with her second husband and several cats on the edge of a cliff in Cornwall where they have survived a flood, a landslip, a lightning strike and the roof blowing off. She runs courses for aspiring poets at her home, writing courses for medics and medical students, and speaks about her poetry therapy work with patients at medical conferences.
What are your hopes for The
Bower Bird?
"I hope that it will make people look at things in a different way and
appreciated every moment they are living. "
How did you feel when you got the news that you had been short-listed for a Costa Book Award? "I have nearly wet myself several times since I found out and we are having the door frames widened to allow by big head to fit through."
- taken from an interview in The Cornishman, 29 Nov 2007
Why did you write this book?
I didn't want to be where I was, literally on the edge of a remote cliff.
I started the story as an antidote to the way I felt at the time - fearful,
lonely. It started out as a cry for help. But then I began to see it as an
opportunity to write a story even closer to my heart: the story of a
chronically sick child who is living with humour and enthusiasm, her mind
open to everything. I hope it's a story of how to live fully until you die.
