Shane Koyczan on TEDTalks

Last updated: March 13th, 2019

Beat poet Shane Koyczan isn’t everyone’s vision of a writer and poet. Being discarded—as he puts it—by his parents, he was raised by his grandmother and being “different” turned him into a bully. Eventually, he turned to his first love and, at the age of 19, wrote his first line of poetry: I will love myself despite the ease with which I lean towards the opposite.

He is controversial, often funny—his words rhythmic, powerful and haunting. Recently one of his poems “To This Day” about bullying, went viral on the Internet. Here he is on TEDTalks giving a bit of his background and sharing his achingly beautiful, yet thought-provoking poem “To This Day.”