An Evening with Kae Tempest (Part One)
About this episode
Kae Tempest discusses their creative journey and new novel in a live event.
Kae Tempest is widely regarded as one of Britain’s greatest wordsmiths. In a career of ferocious creativity, he has received multiple prizes and critical recognition across the many forms he works in. Beginning as a lyricist and songwriter in his teens, Tempest threw himself fully into whichever discipline he could find work in; gigging as a poet, writing for the theatre or busking with his band. A decade later, this obsessive compulsion to push his writing as far and as hard as he could, secured him a record deal with UK independent label Big Dada and a poetry publishing contract with Picador. Tempest’s work has always sought to pull the focus between the global or national concerns of a character, and the private, very intimate experiences of their lives; the minuscule and the mundane peering out from behind the incomprehensibly large and overpowering. Whether it’s austerity, addiction, communal disassociation, the planet in crises, or the death of our prevailing myths, the bigger picture is always made up of tiny parts. We were joined by Tempest live on stage at St George's, Bristol as he discussed his much anticipated return to fiction. His first novel in a decade, Having…
People in this episode
Guest: Kae Tempest
Topics covered
- poetry
- fiction
- identity
- redemption
- family
- belonging
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Big Dada, Picador
Books & works: Having Spent Life Seeking
Places: Edgecliff, St George's, Bristol
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