Postcards from the Asylum

In this her fifth collection of poetry, award-winning poet Karen Knight captures with disarming skill, sensitivity and piercing black humour her experiences as an inmate at the Royal Derwent Psychiatric Hospital (RDH) in 1969.

Postcards from the Asylum arises from Knight’s resolve to come to terms with being sent to live at the RDH as a young woman who, like many of her era, was perceived to be challenging the system and the status quo of the 1960’s. For concerned parents who saw their authority being questioned, the hospital was seen as providing a more stable environment for a teenager to deal with her rebellious nature.

Postcards from the Asylum encapsulate’s Knight’s frustration and confusion where her everyday is askew. She reflects on the confronting experiences of being institutionalised and submitting to the power of the doctors and medication, reminding us that although the patients may be sick they are neither childish nor stupid.

The anxiety and unease in some of the poems describe a devastating experience and yet were written for cathartic reasons. Read more