Kae Tempest is an award-winning poet, novelist, playwright and performer whose work has consistently explored voice, belonging and survival. In his first novel in a decade, 'Having Spent Life Seeking', Tempest traces his protagonist Rothko Taylor's return to a coastal hometown after 15 years away, drawing together family history, first love and the life once left behind. Moving between past and present, the novel asks what it means to remake a life without disowning what came before.

In a wide-ranging conversation, Tempest will reflect on the relationship between poetry, performance and long-form fiction and explore themes of community, forgiveness and the need to be seen.