We are excited to announce as part of his Community Book Tour, Kae Tempest will visit Cardboard Citizens and share extracts from his new novel Having Spent Life Seeking. A decade since his last novel, Having Spent Life Seeking is about family and forgiveness; redemption and atonement; desire and abandon; selfhood and community. The things we seek when we are hiding, and what finds us, if we can let ourselves be seen.
This session offers a chance to experience the artist’s own creative practice and approach, and will be facilitated in a slightly different way to our regular Cardboard Citizens workshops. Our team will be on hand throughout to support the session and all Members are, as always, welcome to take part in the way that feels right for them, including stepping out at any point if they wish.
Kae will talk about his writing process before setting a few writing exercises. There may be an opportunity to share with your writing the group and get feedback from Kae. Each participant will receive a copy of Having Spent Life Seeking that Kae will be happy to sign.
Please note: Having Spent Life Seeking is a work of fiction that explores themes of addiction, gender identity and transition, mental illness, suicide, and violence. We wanted to share this in advance so everyone has the information they need to decide whether they’d like to take part.
About Kae Tempest
KAE TEMPEST is a poet, writer, lyricist, performer and recording artist. He has published plays, poems, a book-length essay called On Connection and the Sunday Times-bestselling novel, The Bricks That Built the Houses. He received Mercury Prize nominations for his albums Everybody Down and Let Them Eat Chaos, and two Ivor Novello nominations for his songwriting on The Book of Traps and Lessons. Tempest was named a Next Generation Poet in 2014 and received the Ted Hughes Award for his long-form narrative poem ‘Brand New Ancients’. His books have been translated into multiple languages and published to critical acclaim around the world. In 2023, the documentary Being Kae Tempest was broadcast on BBC Two.
