Kate Tempest

Winner of the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry--a dazzling modern myth in verse from an under-30 poet set to be star.

Brand New Ancients

Kate Tempest is one of the most exciting and innovative performers to have emerged in spoken-word poetry in many years; her dramatic poem Brand New Ancients won the prestigious Ted Hughes Prize for innovation in poetry. Tempestâe(tm)s wholly unique blend of street poetry, rap and storytelling âe" combined with the spellbinding delivery of an open-air revivalist âe" has won her legions of followers all over the UK. Her remarkable stage presence is wholly audible in this poem, a spoken story written to be told with live music. Brand New Ancients is the tale of two families and their intertwining lives, set against the background of the city and braided with classical myth. Here, Tempest shows how the old myths still live on in our everyday acts of violence, bravery, sacrifice and love âe" and that our lives make tales no less dramatic and powerful than those of the old gods.

César Steven Toribio

'She's the kind of girl whose scars run deep
but if she smiles at you for a second it'll last you all week.'

---

'Yes, the gods are on the park bench, the gods are on the bus,
the gods are all here, the gods are in us.
The Gods are timeless, fearless, fighting to be bold, 
conviction is a heavy hand to hold.
grip it, winged sandals wearing up the pavement -
you, me, everyone: Brand New Ancients.'

Kyle Curry

Amazing. Almost life changing. No, scratch that. Life Changing.

If this is what poetry can be, then poetry is about to come back in a big way.

I can not stress enough the fact that this book is to be read aloud, as Tempest invites. 

Easily read it in one sitting. Probably could read it again. 

Honest, insightful, heart wrenching, fun, philosophical, angry, inspired, revolutionary, hopeful, ironic, and pragmatic all with an internal rhythm that you can't help but be pulled along into.

If you find yourself skittish at the idea of poetry, read this book. It's a poem with a plot. It's a poem about your life, no matter who you are. It's a poem about where we are as people. And it's never waving that in your face, it's just inviting you along.

With this dazzling modern myth in verse, Kate Tempest became the youngest winner of the prestigious Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry. Yes, the gods are on the park bench, the gods are on the bus, / The gods are all here, the gods are in us. / The gods are timeless, fearless, fighting to be bold, / conviction is a heavy hand to hold, / grip it, winged sandals tearing up the pavement -- / you, me, everyone: Brand New Ancients. Kate Tempest's words in Brand New Ancients are written to be read aloud; the book combines poem, rap, and humanist sermon, by turns tender and fierce. Set in Southeast London, Brand New Ancients finds the mythic in the mundane. It is the story of two half-brothers, Thomas and Clive, unknown to each other -- Thomas the result of an affair between his mother and Clive's father. Tempest, with wide-ranging empathy, takes us inside the passionless marriage of Jane and Kevin -- the man who suspects Thomas is not his son, but loves him just the same -- and the neighboring home of Mary and Brian, where betrayal has not been so placidly accepted. The sons of these two households -- quiet, creative Thomas and angry, destructive Clive -- will cross paths in adolescence, their fates converging with mortal fury. These characters' loves, their infidelities, their disappointments and their small comforts -- these, Tempest argues, are timeless. Our lives and our choices are no less important than those of history and myth. Awarded the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry, Brand New Ancients insists on our importance as individuals -- and asserts Kate Tempest's importance as a talent impossible to ignore.

Brand New Ancients

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