“Sharp, beautiful and vulnerable. Chronic illness is so often written as cold and bleak, but in ‘Bed and Breakfast’, Taylor gives us a heartbreakingly warm and safe space to think about what it means to live with long-term health conditions. An essential read for all!“
– Kathryn O’Driscoll (2021 UK Slam Champion)
“This pamphlet shook me to the core. For heightened experience: read while listening to Phoebe Bridgers.”
– Ellie Jenkins (Verve-published Poet and UniSlam Finalist)
When Emma Taylor was nine years old, she and her mother went on a walk through the Scottish countryside. Midway through the walk, Emma asked if they could turn back. Her feet hurt, she said.
15 years later, in her debut pamphlet, Emma reflects on almost a decade of living with chronic pain and chronic illness. Navigating treatments under a collapsing NHS, mental health, relationships, and, at times misguided, efforts to take control in a body which feels more like it belongs to your illness than to you.
Emma is determined to live, not just survive, with CRPS and ME. But what do you do when the doctors tell you you’ll be sick forever?
'Bed & Breakfast' by Emma Taylor, a debut pamphlet featuring slam-winning poems: 'It's a Beautiful Day to be told You'll be Sick Forever' and 'Sacred Cow'. Available from 25th April 2024. Come to the launch!!