Creative Lives was delighted to host the official book launch of Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health by Professor Daisy Fancourt at Somerset House on 8 January 2026.

Watch our interview with Daisy Fancourt, author of Art Cure, here: 

This important new book sets out how engaging with the arts and culture can impact on our physical and mental wellbeing - with robust scientific evidence backing up each claim.

Professor Fancourt has published over 300 scientific papers, won over two dozen academic prizes, and is listed as one of the most highly cited scientists in the world. However, Art Cure is her first publication written with everyday readers in mind - and its friendly, accessible style will appeal to everyone from academics and policymakers to members of the public keen to improve their own health.

"Art Cure feels special because it brings together everything I've witnessed and been able to work on across my career," says Daisy. "All the other books I've written looked at a particular field of arts and health, either from a policy perspective or a certain methodology or type of evidence. But now Art Cure brings everything that's happening in the field into one place."

There's not a single statement that I make in the book that doesn't have a scientific study behind it.

Part of the book's accessible style, is down to the way in which Daisy 'speaks' to her reader. Stepping outside the confines of academia, she was able to quote from personal experience - hers and others. But the final 60 pages of the book are all references, reassuring the reader that Daisy's advice is backed by robust evidence.

"Having the freedom to write in my own voice was such a luxury for someone who never normally gets that pleasure in work," she says. "And I think more and more we see that members of the public want to know how to live healthy, happy lives. But I think people also want to know what's actually evidence-based, because there are so many pieces of advice out there now. So I very much wanted to make sure that it was clear how good the evidence base is, and that everything is scientifically backed. There's not a single statement that I make in the book that doesn't have a scientific study behind it."

Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health is published by Penguin Books and is out now.

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