Celebrity Poetry: Who has the 'write'?

Megan Fox joins stream of celebrities publishing their poetry collections, but do they have the right to do so?

Jade Woods
27th October 2023
Image Credit: @meganfox on Instagram
I’m sure we’ve all seen various celebrities shamelessly plugging their supposedly pensive, idiosyncratic collections of poetry on social media. From Lana Del Rey, to Halsey, to James Franco to most recently Megan Fox, celebrities across the globe are becoming part of a phenomenon on what is known as “celebrity poetry”. So, should celebrities be allowed to publish poetry collections? 

I don’t think it is as simple as a yes or no answer, and there are valid points on both sides of the argument. For one, we have to consider the type of celebrity that is publishing a poetry collection. Should a celebrity, in terms of social media personalities or socialites, with little higher education and with what seems to be very little interest in literature, be allowed to publish poetry? Perhaps not, at least to figures of the literary world. But then again, education doesn’t necessarily equate to creative talent. However, another common example of 'celebrity poetry' books comes from singers and songwriters. Should they be allowed publication? They clearly have some form of expertise in the area as songs are not dissimilar from poems. They do seem to be a more acceptable celebrity to take on the task. But then, how can we penalise one form of celebrity and not the other? 

Whilst poetry is just not for the great literary minds, and your average person can write poetry as a way of expressing their emotions, I think it more comes down to the fact that these are published collections. Personally, I don’t find it just that these celebrities are exploiting their fame and fan base into buying these, let’s be honest, at times substandard collections of poetry. An average person can have immeasurable poetic talent but is unable to gain the same opportunities, simply because they are not famous. Where is the justness in that? 

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