Faber is proud to announce staggering talent Kae Tempest’s first work of non-fiction: a meditation on the power of creative connection to act as the antidote to numbness.

Connection is the first step towards any act of acknowledgement, accountability or responsibility. It offers, whether fleeting or long-lasting, a closeness to all others. It is jubilant. Ecstatic. Without fear.

Beneath the surface we are 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 between 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.

‘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

On Connection will be the first work published under their new name and pronouns. Kate to Kae. She/Her to They/Them. Pronounced like the letter ‘K’. For more information visit kaetempest.co.uk.

Kae Tempest is an award-winning, Sunday Times-bestselling author, poet and recording artist. Tempest won the 2013 Ted Hughes Award, was nominated for a Costa Book Award and a BRIT Award, has been shortlisted for the Mercury Prize twice and was nominated for two Ivor Novello Awards. They were also named a Next Generation Poet by the Poetry Book Society, a decennial accolade. They released their fourth studio album, The Book of Traps and Lessons, in 2019, produced by Rick Rubin. Tempest grew up in South-East London, where they still live. @kaetempest