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Poet Rachael Boast explains why the ‘Book of Job’ from the Bible has been so important to her; how it has informed her experience of writing poetry, and her experience a rare genetic condition called ichthyosis.

In this series, artists, writers and thinkers tell us about the ways they have been shaped by their ‘ways of being’, their individual bodies – what freedoms they allow, and their sensitivities or limits. They also explore how their work has been shaped and informed by the body, its freedoms and limits. And as many creative people have discovered - limits can lead to originality, and freedoms can offer ‘more of the same’.

Rachael is the fourth essayist to let us into their particular 'way of being' and into their relationship with a cultural touchstone - whether it’s a poem, a singer, a television series, or a story from the Bible – each tells us about something that has enriched their own creativity, and brought them closer to understanding their own way of being.

Rachael Boast
Poet Rachael Boast's Sidereal won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection - she's a poet whose work gives us ‘the kind of layered time-travel only the best lyric poems allow’ as one reviewer put it. Her fourth poetry collection ‘Hotel Raphael’ is named after the patron saint of healing and pilgrims, and lets us brush against the worlds of artists, writers and filmmakers – as well as the biblical figure of Job. Rachael talks about how Job has informed her experience of ichthyosis - a rare genetic condition that puts her skin under great pressure. She has also come to see the poem itself as language placed under pressure.

Producer: Faith Lawrence