What would you do if a stranger knocked on your door and offered to write you a poem?
Rowan McCabe wanted to find out. In doing so, he became the world’s first Door-to-Door Poet. He banged on people’s doors and asked what was important to them. He then went away and wrote a poem about it, free of charge, which he brought back and performed on their doorstep.
Rowan tried the project with his neighbours in Newcastle upon Tyne. Emboldened to find that nobody punched him in the face, he then set out on a tour of England, knocking on the doors of Moss Side in Manchester, Jaywick in Essex, the remote island of Lundy and many places in between.
This book is a funny and uplifting account of that journey. It tells the stories of the residents Rowan met and is punctuated by the thoughtful and often laugh-out-loud poetry that he wrote for them. The Door-to-Door Poet is a joyful and compelling portrayal of one very unusual mission and the many and varied voices that make up a nation.
‘Honest, whimsical, thoughtful and poetic. A cracking idea, well executed’Ben Aitken, author of The Gran Tour
‘A very funny, very charming book with lots of madcap adventures. It becomes a book about modern Britain in its diversity, and that’s what I love about it’ Stuart Maconie, BBC Radio 4 Loose Ends
‘It’s fabulous to see poetry brought to life in this way. It’s so relevant and meaningful’Rachel Burden, BBC Breakfast
‘I love all of this. I love this idea, I love the book’ Gaby Roslin, BBC The Make a Difference Show
‘Rowan McCabe’s memoir, peppered throughout with his warm and delightful poetry, displays the best of human connection and compassion’ Poetry Book Society
‘Absolutely riveting’ Attila the Stockbroker
'A book that knocks on doors of language, of possibility, of love and of humanity... it’s as though the angel of poetry has written a knock knock joke that finds its way to your heart’ Ian McMillan
‘A funny, self-aware chronicle of the year McCabe spent in pursuit of a madly brilliant project’ NARC Magazine
