Pitchfork Festival London is part of Bershka Music, in collaboration with DICE. Kae Tempest is a musician who plays words.  They’ve written albums, song-lyrics, poetry collections, novels, non-fiction, and theatre productions. What binds everything they write, is a musicality of language, born from the years spent rhyming with friends, trying to get on the mic at parties and cyphers, and studying the craft of golden-era rap gods and London’s legendary MC’s.  At fifteen, Kae caught an obsession with words that changed the course of their life. Nearly twenty-five years later, they still have it, and it’s seen them go from busking by the food trucks at festivals, to playing the main stages.  With five studio albums, a novel, a book-length essay, five plays and five collections of poetry to their name, and with three more projects on the go, Kae Tempest has firmly established themself as one of the most unique, thought-provoking, and critically acclaimed voices of their generation.  They think of the movement between the different forms they work in as being like a fighter moving up or down weight classes. Each different form requires a different technique, but essentially the drive is the same. And everything they learn from battling one form, they can take into the ring when it’s time to battle another.  They’ve sold out shows all over the world from Brixton Academy to the Sydney Opera House. They were featured in Edward Enninful’s December 2023 edition of British Vogue, where they were photographed by renowned portrait photographer Tim Walker as part of their British Icons piece. Around the same time, BBC Arena aired a primetime documentary about their artistic and personal journey called Being Kae Tempest.  Kae’s albums have been shortlisted for the Mercury Prize twice. They have been nominated for two Ivor Novello Awards for their song-writing and their 2022 album The Line is A Curve was a UK Top Ten album.  Their long-form poem Brand New Ancients won them the 2013 Ted Hughes Award, making them the youngest to ever receive it. They were named a Next Generation Poet the following year by the Poetry Book Society, a once-in-a-decade accolade.   Kae’s 2016 debut novel ‘The Bricks that Built the Houses’ was a Sunday Times bestseller. In 2021, they won the Silver Lion at the Venice Teatro Biennale for their work as a playwright. Their books have been translated into eleven languages and published to critical acclaim around the world.  Tempest grew up in South-East London, where they still live. They hope to continue putting words together for a long time. The KOKO venue has limited space for accessibility. Accessibility tickets are only purchasable through the KOKO website and once these tickets have been sold, we cannot accept any further accessibility requests. If you require Accessibility tickets and these are no longer available, please do not purchase a GA ticket and expect to be accommodated as these will be refused. This is a strict policy to make sure the venue is safe for all customers. For further information please see https://www.koko.co.uk/faqs and if you have any questions regarding accessibility contact ACCESS@koko.uk.com Presented by Pitchfork Festival London. This is a 14+ event. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.