Try free for 30 days

  • Hold Your Own

  • By: Kae Tempest
  • Narrated by: Kae Tempest
  • Length: 1 hr and 31 mins
  • 4.9 out of 5 stars (15 ratings)

1 credit a month to use on any title, yours to keep (you’ll use your first credit on this title).
Stream or download thousands of included titles.
Access to exclusive deals and discounts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
Hold Your Own cover art

Hold Your Own

By: Kae Tempest
Narrated by: Kae Tempest
Try for $0.00

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $9.10

Buy Now for $9.10

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

New poetry from a fiercely talented, Ted Hughes Award-winning poet. 

Kae 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.

©2014 Kate Tempest (P)2014 Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Critic Reviews

"Hold Your Own is intellectually as well as emotionally exhilarating, yet unafraid to challenge the purveyors of wilful obscurity . . . With her poems about change and growth and passion, this girl is going places – and I’ll be glad to go with her." ( Daily Mail)
"Her reworking of the Tiresias myth has all of the form’s virtues . . . a powerful immediacy . . ." ( Belfast Telegraph)
"Her opening poem here is the longest, an updating of the story of Tiresias, and is both politically and emotionally stark, while the rest explore the human passion with a refreshing toughness." ( Sunday Herald)
"Tempest collection feels like a game-changer. Tempest has forged her own voice, unlike anything else in the mainstream poetry world . . ." ( The Independent on Sunday)
"What makes her work so irresistible, then, is her method of synthesis; the manner in which she brings her hands together. Her poems aren’t simply routine retellings of timeworn tales; rather, she picks up the fabulous, familiar characters, dusts them down and hauls them into the present . . . remarkable, powerful collection . . . These are acute and insightful poems that lodge in the ear and sear themselves on the vision." ( The Guardian)
"There are lots of things that make her special, but one of those things is that she produced a really powerful sequence of work, a sustained tour de force. Lots of people can write a good poem, but with her it’s the scale of ambition and the determination. That takes a lot. That’s dedication. And her ability to defy categorisation is a strength . . .A good writer can do different things, they can write lots of things . . . to me, I don’t mind where someone sits. There can be many chairs." (Judith Palmer the Director of The Poetry Society, The Guardian)

What listeners say about Hold Your Own

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    13
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    15
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    12
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing and inspiring

Kate's work makes me feel fully alive. So inspired.
Listen to what's beneath her work.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.