Bantam
19 October 2017Imprint: Picador
Synopsis
Jackie Kay’s first collection as Scottish Makar is a book about the fighting spirit – one, the poet argues, that we need now more than ever. Bantam brings three generations into sharp focus – Kay’s own, her father’s, and his own father’s – to show us how the body holds its own story. Kay shows how old injuries can...
Details
19 October 201780 pages
9781509863174Imprint: Picador
Reviews
Kay’s strength as a poet has always been her clear, plain style, and its fearless spoken poignancyDaily Telegraph
One of Scotland's most celebrated living writers.The Spectator
Home truths from a goddess of small things, Jackie Kay depicts a world of grief, joy, love and humour in the sparest terms. This collection is a pick-me-up – fresh, upbeat and sympathetic. There are so many delightful poems here.Guardian
These poems are bound together by a generous, humane spirit which encompasses childbirth, loving memories of her parents and grandparents, gratitude to the generations which fell in two world wars and the vision of an open, welcoming Scotland. Finding the transcendent in the mundane, and vice versa, Kay’s is a clear and resonant voice befitting the public role it now occupies, but one which communicates sentiments of universality while retaining its own distinctiveness and remaining rooted in Kay’s personal experience.The Scotsman
