Kate Tempest

Kate Tempest's first full-length collection for Picador is an ambitious, multi-voiced work based around the mythical figure of Tiresias. This four-part work follows him through his transformations from child, man and woman to blind prophet; through this structure, Tempest holds up a mirror to contemporary life in a direct and provocative way rarely associated with poetry. A vastly popular and accomplished performance poet, Tempest commands a huge and dedicated following on the performance and rap circuit. Brand New Ancients, also available from Picador, won the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry and has played to packed concert halls on both sides of the Atlantic.

Hold Your Own

Risa C

Reading this collection rather than listening to it probably took a lot away from the experience, and I found myself just kind of skating by a number of the poems without letting them really sink in, but overall, I really enjoyed it. The first poem was exhilarating, breathless stuff and set up the entire framework for the collection so beautifully. The themes of growth, gender, and fate were explored with a deft hand and poignant, but exacting language. There were so many lines that had me stop and marvel at how they were crafted. I can definitely see myself going back to this collection, but probably to read only a select number of poems.

A rhythmically hypnotic tour de force-and a hugely ambitious leap forward for one of the most broadly talented and compelling young writers today.

Emily Perkovich

It was hard for me to rate this. The subject matter and tying it in to mythology was beautiful and intelligent. Rhyming poetry is always so restrictive to me that I feel so much is missed by trying to adhere to a guideline or template. This was a 4 for me because of that. I felt too much missed opportunity to love it the way I thought that I would, but the actual quality is a 5.

zilver 

Carolina Lopes

2,5*

The first poem was amazing, a 5 stars for me. I was hoping they would all follow the same structure, but most of the following poems didn't connect to me, and some I found completely indiferent, unfortunately.

Dearna Mulvaney

Kristen Thomas

Monicap

puroi

Ned Summers 

Hold Your Own, Kate Tempest's first full-length collection for Picador is an ambitious, multi-voiced work based around the mythical figure of Tiresias. This four-part work follows him through his transformations from child, man and woman to blind prophet; through this structure, Tempest holds up a mirror to contemporary life in a direct and provocative way rarely associated with poetry. A vastly popular and accomplished performance poet, Tempest commands a huge and dedicated following on the performance and rap circuit. Brand New Ancients, also available from Picador, won the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry and has played to packed concert halls on both sides of the Atlantic.

Bo Jeanes

Izza

Christine

Kate Sigrist

From playwright, novelist, spoken-word star, and the youngest-ever winner of the Ted Hughes Award, an electrifying poem-sequence based on the myth of the gender-switching prophet Tiresias. My heart throws its head against my ribs, / it's denting every bone it's venting something it has known since I arrived and felt it beat. Walking in the forest one morning, a young man disturbs two copulating snakes--and is punished by the goddess Hera, who turns him into a woman. So begins Hold Your Own, a riveting tale of youth and experience, wealth and poverty, sex and love, that draws ancient figures into a fiercely contemporary vision. Weaving elements of classical myth, autobiography and social commentary, Tempest uses the story of the blind, clairvoyant Tiresias to create four sequences of poems, addressing childhood, manhood, womanhood, and late life. The result is a rhythmically hypnotic tour de force--and a hugely ambitious leap forward for one of the most broadly talented and compelling young writers today.

Hold Your Own

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