Lost Voices - Rosemary Tonks

BBC Radio 4's Poet in Residence, Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry archive.

'Lost Voices' features Rosemary Tonks. For a female poet in the 1960s Rosemary Tonks was unusually candid about adventures in steamy cafes and illicit hotel bedrooms. She published two extraordinary books of poetry which were heavily influenced by the eroticism of 19th century French poets. And then she fell silent. By the end of the 1970s, she'd disappeared from public life. Brian Patten talks to some other poets about Tonks's writing and asks if it has survived the 1960s. Then, right at the end of the programme, he receives some new information.

Producer: Christine Hall

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2009.