Poetry Unbound in Conversation — Amanda Quaid
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What is Amanda Quaid’s background and how did she begin writing poetry?
Hi friends, Padraig O'Tooma here. Thanks very much for listening to Poetry Unbound. In between Poetry Unbound seasons, and we have season 11 that'll start later in 2026, we have a whole host of interviews that I've done with poets over the last two years. Poetry Unbound in conversation, we call them. I've loved the opportunity to talk to poets about their craft, how they see the world through the lens of poetry, and what this art form does for them. These Poetry Unbound in Conversation episodes deepened my curiosity about language and art. I trust they will for you too. In this episode of Poetry Unbound in Conversation, you'll be hearing from the poet, teacher and actor Amanda Quaid. She was raised in New York City, where she works as a dialect coach.
She also teaches at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. And after working in theatre for most of her life, Amanda Quaid began writing poetry in 2023 as a way to work creatively with illness. Her debut collection, No Obvious Distress, is out now with John Murray Press and was named Memoir of the Month and one of the best books of 2025 by the British newspaper The Independent. This conversation took place in May of 2026 at the Morgan Library in New York. Special thanks to Jennifer Calter, the magnificent director of education and programs at the Morgan. Brand new episodes of Poetry Unbound will be back later on this year. In the meantime, here I am with Amanda Quaid. Thank you very much. thank you very much good evening everybody and you're all very very welcome to amanda and my personal library great joy to have you here thank you very much to jennifer and to everybody at the morgan for this um beautiful opportunity to be here in this room of letters this room of learning um probably most of these books were written by people who spend time alone which is one of the activities of writing of course
In this room also, we acknowledge a much older history. We're on Lenape land. We honour the land, the waterways, the peoples, the elders, past, present and emerging of Lenape people. So, Amanda Quaid, I am thrilled to talk with you about this magnificent book, No Obvious Distress. there are a whole variety of ways in which you've created poems out of medical charts. And to kind of chapter this book, if that's the right word, because it has gotten acclaim both for poetry and as memoir, because it's a memoir in poetry. And one of the earliest found poems that you create in this says the following, created from a medical chart. She is a story, a great occasion. So, Amanda, could you tell us something of the story and great occasion of you?
Well, thank you. It's a delight to be with you, Padraig, and all of you. I started reading those medical charts and creating self-portraits out of them, sort of on my own terms. And that phrase jumped out to me, a great occasion, which came, of course, from the word occasionally, probably about some horrible symptom. The great occasions of my life have been around learning to love, learning to love well and better. I remember when I was a kid, I looked up the meaning of my name. It was a Latin name. I had some chart of Latin and the meaning was she who will be loved. And I remember being a bit disappointed that it wasn't, you know, the brave dragon slayer or something really, you know, macho. But over the course of my life, I've tried to live up to that name to receive love and give love better.
The great occasions of my life have been certainly the birth of my daughter eight and a half years ago, and also marrying my husband, who has been a wonderful friend and a great support through all of this.
I was wondering whether in the looking at that of the she, she is a great occasion. I wondered whether the she of that was you, but also not you. I'm thinking of the line from Mahmoud Darwish, you are you and not you at the same time.
I
wonder whether sometimes looking at these medical charts that were telling you something of you, you needed to fictionalize some versions of you.
That's right. I think the palpable fear that was coming up every time I would look at them told me that there was something really fertile there to play with and to take ownership of in a certain way.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is Amanda Quaid’s background and how did she begin writing poetry?
0:02–12:17
2
How did Amanda’s 2021 cancer diagnosis shape the creation of *No Obvious Distress*?
12:17–22:27
3
What are the three guiding principles Amanda uses to live with illness?
22:27–27:52
4
How does Amanda transform medical chart language into poetry?
27:52–32:52
5
What role does Shakespeare and the sonnet form play in her work?
32:52–38:16
6
How does Amanda teach the power of voice, speech, and timing to actors and students?
38:16–44:29
7
What does Amanda say about accents, code‑switching, and language privilege?
44:29–50:51
8
What final thoughts does Amanda share about poetry as a window to uncertainty?
50:51–51:25
Speakers
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