Cupid Loves Eros

An exploration for Valentine's week of queer love poetry across the millennia, presented by renowned crime writer and proud lesbian Val McDermid. With the help of actor and writer Stephen Fry, the Makar (National Poet of Scotland) Jackie Kay and theatre director and author Neil Bartlett, they all choose their favourite poems that explore same-sex love. We discover that some of the most famous love poems in history from some of our most famous writers are actually about same-sex love. Of course, many of the poems are coloured by the struggles to be open or express love for your same-sex partner, the consequences of being caught in a queer relationship and the hostility shown to same-sex relationships over the centuries. But universal aspects of being in love and the unstoppability of LGBTQ+ people to continue having and celebrating loving relationships shines through. Val and her guests take us from the ancient Greeks to today, presenting from various symbolic locations including Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, taking listeners on a moving and witty poetry tour through time and place of secret and openly celebrated LGBTQ+ love. From Sappho to AE Housman, Aphra Behn to Carol Ann Duffy and Frank O’Hara to Edwin Morgan, the diversity of queer relationships and manifestations of same-sex love are painted in huge variety through the selected poems. With only a minority of countries and cultures in the world today actually protecting and celebrating same-sex relationships, this is a bittersweet exploration of the history of LGBTQ+ love poetry that shows how far we have come and how far we still have to go for queer love to be truly, freely expressed everywhere. Producer: Turan Ali A Bona Broadcasting production for BBC Radio 4