Scottish writer to be star of Ledbury Poetry FestivalBy Gary Bills-Geddes
NEXT Year's poet in residence at the Ledbury Poetry Festival, will be the Scottish writer, Jackie Kay.
She has been asked to write a special poem for the event, perhaps with Ledbury as a theme, and she will also lead workshops and judge the 2008 poetry competition.
Festival director, Chloe Garner said: "There will also be a Jackie Kay Presents' evening, where she will introduce her favourite young poets."
She has been asked to write a special poem for the event, perhaps with Ledbury as a theme, and she will also lead workshops and judge the 2008 poetry competition.
Festival director, Chloe Garner said: "There will also be a Jackie Kay Presents' evening, where she will introduce her favourite young poets."
Ms Kay, who writes for both adults and children, was awarded the MBE in June last year, after publishing a considerable body of work including her autobiographical debut poetry collection, "Adoption Papers" (1991), which touches on issues of race and belonging.
The poet was born in 1961 and brought up on a Glasgow Housing estate, with her adoptive parents.
In August 2007, Ms Kay was the subject of the fourth episode of the BBC Radio 4 show, "The House I Grew Up In", where she talked about a happy childhood in a stimulating home.
Her adoptive father worked for the Communist Party and stood for a Member of Parliament and her adoptive mother was the Scottish secretary of CND.
Her natural father was a black Nigerian who was visiting Edinburgh when he met her white, Scottish mother.
In both her prose and verse, Kay challenges ideas of both racial and sexual stereotypes and the poem, "In My Country" concerns a black female speaker being asked, by a white woman, where she comes from.
Festival trustee, Jo Kingham, first developed her admiration for Jackie Kay while reading her 1998 novel Trumpet'.
She said: "It's an amazing tale, based on a true story, about a trumpeter in the early years of jazz who, when she dies, is found to have been a woman.
"I think that having Jackie Kay here will be a real coup for Ledbury."
Ms Kay has won a number of awards, including the Guardian Fiction Prize, for "Trumpet".
She has a teenaged son, Matthew, and for many years, until 2004 Ms Kay lived in Manchester and was the partner of the poet, Carol Ann Duffy.
The poet was born in 1961 and brought up on a Glasgow Housing estate, with her adoptive parents.
In August 2007, Ms Kay was the subject of the fourth episode of the BBC Radio 4 show, "The House I Grew Up In", where she talked about a happy childhood in a stimulating home.
Her adoptive father worked for the Communist Party and stood for a Member of Parliament and her adoptive mother was the Scottish secretary of CND.
Her natural father was a black Nigerian who was visiting Edinburgh when he met her white, Scottish mother.
In both her prose and verse, Kay challenges ideas of both racial and sexual stereotypes and the poem, "In My Country" concerns a black female speaker being asked, by a white woman, where she comes from.
Festival trustee, Jo Kingham, first developed her admiration for Jackie Kay while reading her 1998 novel Trumpet'.
She said: "It's an amazing tale, based on a true story, about a trumpeter in the early years of jazz who, when she dies, is found to have been a woman.
"I think that having Jackie Kay here will be a real coup for Ledbury."
Ms Kay has won a number of awards, including the Guardian Fiction Prize, for "Trumpet".
She has a teenaged son, Matthew, and for many years, until 2004 Ms Kay lived in Manchester and was the partner of the poet, Carol Ann Duffy.
2:05pm Friday 26th October 2007
FONTE: Ledbury Reporter - UK
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