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On Connection
On Connection | Kae Tempest
9 posts | 5 read | 1 to read
Staggering talent Kae Tempest's first work of non-fiction: a meditation on the power of creative connection 'Powerful and merciful.' Ali Smith 'Tempest . . . doesn't just leap off the page, but leaps into your throat and demands to be shouted all the way out.' Marlon James '[Kae's] language hits like lightning. It illuminates and it burns.' Guardian Beneath the surface we are all connected . . . This is a meditation on the power of creative connection. Drawing on twenty years' experience as a writer and performer, Kae Tempest explores how and why creativity - however we choose to practise it - can cultivate greater self-awareness and help us establish a deeper relationship to ourselves and the world. Honest, tender and written with piercing clarity, On Connection is a call to arms that speaks to a universal yet intimate truth.
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quote
charl08
On Connection | Kae Tempest
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Put yourself away. Let go of yourself. Tune in to other people. To the movement of the branches, the sudden coming of rain or the patterns in the waves. To how those two lie on the grass. To how that one sits on the bench with their hands clasped, looking up... To how that young one shifts the weight of those shopping bags and tries to keep up with their mother's strong legs. This is it. This is the thing. This is the beautiful thing.

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charl08
On Connection | Kae Tempest
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The reader is the gate that has to open to let the meaning through.

Bookwomble Lovely photo 💖 I really enjoyed this book - I should try to fit in a reread. 2y
charl08 @Bookwomble I've been meaning to read it for ages. Photo is from visit to RHS Bridgewater: beautiful garden. 2y
Bookwomble @charl08 Ah, Mrs Bookwomble and a friend went there last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it, too. 2y
64 likes1 stack add3 comments
review
Emilymdxn
On Connection | Kae Tempest
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Panpan

I think I‘m just gonna give up on Kae Tempest. I think this was the opposite of their intention, but this felt like a collection of overgeneralised platitudes about ‘art is this‘ and ‘creativity is that‘ and I felt judged for doing any errands or activities that aren‘t building symbolic creative fires in the wilderness, and that having a soul is incompatible with having Spotify and all media is bourgeois and hollow. Just exhausting to read.

Smrloomis Ugh, I‘m sorry that sounds terrible! 2y
fredthemoose That sounds tedious, but great review! 2y
quietlycuriouskate Oh dear! "... building symbolic creative fires in the wilderness..." ? Well, someone's got to do the dishes, the laundry, the drudge. I also have Spotify (frankly, it's a sanity-saver) and am fairly certain that I have a soul, too. 2y
See All 11 Comments
DieAReader @kathedron 🙋🏻‍♀️I second on Spotify being a sanity saver 💯%. I‘m also pretty sure that I have a soul😁🎧📚 2y
TrishB I gave up after one too, I can‘t remember which one it was. It made me feel very old. 2y
Emilymdxn Haha @TrishB I just looked it up and found I‘m ten years younger than Kae but they still make me feel old! 2y
Bookwomble I loved this book, and also do ironing and have Spotify 😁 @TrishB If you feel tempted to try something else by them, I'd recommend the tagged poem, assuming it wasn't the one you gave up on! 2y
batsy That's too bad this didn't work for you, but your review gave me a chuckle 😆 2y
TrishB Phew….not just me then. 2y
TrishB @Bookwomble it was their novel I tried. I may go back for a try at some poetry! 2y
Bookwomble @TrishB I've not tried their novels or plays, but do love their poetry (other than Running Upon the Wires, which I wasn't keen on, but should probably read again to give it a chance). 2y
66 likes11 comments
blurb
Christinak
On Connection | Kae Tempest
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Up next...

35 likes1 stack add
quote
Bookwomble
On Connection | Kae Tempest
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"The work that I do on myself may not be evident in my daily exchanges, but little by little, if I continue, I hope that my actions will reflect my changing mindset, and next time, I promise myself, I'll do things differently. Getting on top of my shortcomings is not immediate; it's endless."

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Bookwomble
On Connection | Kae Tempest
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"If we give as much as we expect to take from a novel, a poem, an image or an album (or a conversation, or a relationship), it has a greater chance of becoming profound. As readers, we feel this happen when something speaks directly to our experience and we feel the words burning themselves into us... ??

Bookwomble ...You may forget the exact words, but you carry a relationship with the text through your life. You may think this was entirely because of the quality of the text, but it was also about the quality of your reading.” 3y
Heideschrampf Kate is queen! 👑 3y
Bookwomble @Heideschrampf They rule! (Kae has changed their name, and uses the pronouns they/them 🙂) 3y
Heideschrampf @Bookwomble oops, i hadn‘t heard! They are regent! 👑 3y
Bookwomble @Heideschrampf They only announced it in August 🙂 3y
18 likes5 comments
quote
Bookwomble
On Connection | Kae Tempest
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"Words on a page are incomplete. The poem, the novel or the non-fiction pamphlet are finished when they are taken up and engaged with. Connection is collaborative. For words to have meaning, they have to be read.”

Trashcanman 💕 3y
26 likes1 comment
blurb
Bookwomble
On Connection | Kae Tempest
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Relevant to the subject matter 😸

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks 🤣🤣🤣 this is my Fiona!!! My Felix wants to be up under me!! 🖤🖤🖤 3y
JanuarieTimewalker13 Hahaha!!! Great 3y
GingerAntics That is my life! 3y
30 likes3 comments
blurb
Bookwomble
On Connection | Kae Tempest
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Pausing my other books to read this one - Kae Tempest's latest. This is their first non-fiction prose work, about how artistic creativity fosters inter-personal connection, deepens our relationship with the world, and develops self-awareness.
Although I was a little disappointed with their last poetry collection, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this one. It starts with a William Blake epigram, so that's promising: "Unknown, not unperceived".

Graywacke Love the cover 3y
Bookwomble @Graywacke Me, too. I really like the Faber and Faber design style. 3y
17 likes2 comments