Kae Tempest Telling Poems

Join us for an intimate evening with Kae Tempest to celebrate the launch of their new collection, Divisible by Itself and One.

A powerful poetry collection from Britain’s foremost truth-teller, in Divisible by Itself and One Kae Tempest masterfully steers a path between their more public-facing performance and dramatic work and the contemplative voice that came to the fore in Running Upon the Wires.

Questions of integrity – hence the prime number of the title – are addressed in direct, affecting terms: how can we be true to ourselves while under constant pressure to conform? Throughout the poems, ideas of form – of the body, gender, and in nature – resurface and resolve.

Stories of transformation hold a central place in Tempest’s work, their best to date; here, the poet considers the changes that are sometimes required to be oneself.

Books will be available for purchase on the evening and the event will be followed by a signing.

Kae’s bio:
Kae Tempest is a poet. They are also a writer, a lyricist, a performer and a recording artist. They have published plays, poems, a novel and a book-length essay, released albums and toured extensively, selling out shows from Reykjavik to Rio de Janeiro.

They received Mercury Music Prize nominations for both of the albums Everybody Down and Let Them Eat Chaos, and two Ivor Novello nominations for their song-writing on The Book of Traps and Lessons. They were named a Next Generation Poet in 2014, a once-in-a-decade accolade. Tempest also received the Ted Hughes Award for their long-form narrative poem Brand New Ancients and the Leone D’Argento at the Venice Teatro Biennale for their work as a playwright.

Duration:
1 hour

Tickets £18.50